You need to test your Golf Swing Fitness and Mobility

Hi, I'm Michael, and I'm a nervous golfer. For a long time, I play competitions under such a high level of fear, I have no idea how I can even get the ball around. This year, we're going to change that.

Cuz I'm also founder, head of performance, PGA professional, and gym owner here at DRVN. And to start, we're actually going to look at the physical side of the game. So, we just released our best-ever golf fitness handicap.

We've got 10 tests, five mobility, five fitness, and we're going to run you through them right now and get my handicap score. First of all, we tested my swing speed recently. My swing is going pretty well, okay?

Up at these kind of numbers, well over the 120 mark. So, we start out with a five-point score there. So, 10 tests, one down, five out of five.

Now, we're going to look at the mobility aspect. The body's been feeling a little tight lately. We've been a lot of time on the laptop over the winter months.

So, coming out into the season, we really need to start getting moving. So, we're going to run you through the mobility assessment right now. And as soon as you do it, you can do it yourself.

It's going to take you five minutes, and you're going to understand how well your golf swing functions, and where you can improve. So, the five mobility assessment pieces. We're going to go set up, backswing, downswing, impact, and follow-through, which is balance as well.

All right, so each movement is worth five points, one through five based on the grading criteria. Let's go, okay? So, first of all, for posture and setup, we have the bodyweight squat, okay?

So, this is really focusing in on the hips, how well you can actually move through that basic range of motion. It's going to be incredibly impactful for your posture, and also for injuries. You know that tight lower back that we always get?

So, the better you are here, the less injury-prone you'll be, less tension on the lower back, more work going to your glutes. And happily, that mobility work I've been doing the last couple of weeks,, is paying off. You can see here, we're getting a full range of motion, the hip is going to the knee, maybe slightly below, and the spine angle is standing up, all right?

So, that's a four-point score so far. We're going to go ahead, grab that club, and we're going to go to the overhead squat. So, this really brings in the middle of your back.

So many of us are tight there from day-to-day living. We all get some tension. Can we maintain that position?

So, I'm actually doing pretty well. So, we look at this position on the side, and I think we can give that a five. Let me know in the comments there if you like that in terms of the club being behind the knees and the shoulders being behind the knees as well.

So, we're not going forwards too much, but we can see hips are tracking down, they're in line with the knee, and I'm straining there to get it. We still did pretty well, all right? So, that's a good start, okay?

I'm actually pleasantly surprised there. The squat isn't always my best cuz I sit down a lot with the work that I do. Then I play a lot of golf and train a lot, there's a lot of pressure going on.

So, to get that five is a big deal, okay? Moving on from there, we're looking at backswing rotation. We've got the static windmill.

So, looking to get up to 180°. You can anchor to the opposing foot, reaching up and around. And yeah, we cross through on that left side of the body, switch to the right.

I mean, we're getting it there as well, okay? We're winning so far, guys, all right? So, we're really taking in an understanding of how well the body moves, and how that relates to your golf swing.

So, we're going to work on this, obviously, to the course. We're going to do the fitness test as well, see where we're at. So, split stance rotation.

Remember, you can be doing all of these at home. Would love to hear some of your scores. Hit me in the comments below.

Split stance rotation. This one's relatively comfortable. I've played so much golf for such a long period of time, I can separate the upper and lower body with stability pretty well.

So, we're going to flash through this test. That club's getting through that 90° range of motion. We've got four points of rotation, internal, external.

We aced that one, all right? So, that's five out of five three times through so far, okay? Down to the ground, this is your impact position.

So, we're actually focusing on the glutes, okay? You are the butt cheeks. This is what really works in the hips.

The hip flexors on the front need to be flexible enough, and the glutes on the back need to be working to give you power, stability, and just good positioning all the way through. So, we've got the glute bridge test. We've got a 10-second hold at the glute, both legs, pretty comfortable.

[snorts] Little questionable on that positioning for the single leg, but the actual hip that's working, despite flaring out there, as you can see. We've got a nice straight line from the shoulder through the knee. The glutes are functioning, and we've got that hold, okay?

We've done it all the way through, guys, all right? And that last test, again, proprioception as much as anything else, the foot working against the ground. We're in a good position here.

Our single balance test into the Superman overhead hold. We can work on that positioning, but we've got a nice straight line, and we've got that club out overhead, okay? I'm not going to lie, that's a little bit of a surprise.

I have very much upped the practice on course, the mobility, over the last couple of weeks, and it's clearly paying off. We've got all fives there, all right? So, we passed through, got that 25 mark.

Time to test some fitness. Okay, so that was a mobility assessment. You can see just how easy that is to get done.

It's an incredible marker of how you move. Go and give it a try. Hit your scores below.

Now, we're going to the fitness test. We have strength, power, athleticism, and endurance. We've already tested speed.

We aced that one as well. So, now we go into strength. For strength, we use the deadlift, preferably trap bar for golfers, always the best way to go.

And in this metric for the male side, we are looking for 1. 5x of bodyweight, okay? I'm pretty heavy right now.

We're up around that 225, just over 100 kilos currently. So, we're looking for at least 150 in this test in, all right? So, we're going to rip through.

It should be pretty comfortable. Little 80-kilo warm-up, and in building the golf fitness handicap, this is from over a decade's experience working with golfers, people in the gym, and basically looking at performance. Now, these numbers are not strength numbers.

We put this together to give golfers the ultimate guide for physical preparedness. So, at 1. 5 times your bodyweight, you're strong.

You're not going into those realms of real strength training. You can do, but which point that then changes from a golf perspective, that's up to you, okay? So, it depends how you balance out your training, your time, and everything around that.

If you can get to 1. 5x, you can hit it long, and you can play some good golf. So, that's what we're aiming for today.

And we're going straight to it. So, I've strength trained for nearly two decades now, which actually definitely two decades, which,, feels weird to say. But that means that my strength numbers are pretty solid, okay?

So, this actually is 154 kilos. Quick maths, it's around 350 lb. That's where we're trying to get to.

So, set the feet, maintain your form, good neutral spine, and push the ground away. >> [snorts] >> All right, strength testing done. We aced that one.

Onto the bench press for power. Here, we're looking at three reps. So, the deadlift for strength is an absolute test.

That is a one-rep max, essentially, making sure your form's good. 1. 5 times achieved, this is going to be three reps looking at power output through the upper body.

And this one, we need to get to bodyweight, okay? So, this one's going to be more of a test. Three reps at 101 kilos.

Let's get to work. Comfortable, as you can see. So, we're gaining a little weight in the off-season as well.

Doesn't help on that one, but we just got it over the line, okay? That's another five-pointer. Now, we can see if this big rig can jump as well.

Now, we're looking at athleticism. This is going to be a broad jump, okay? How far you can actually jump your body, and you're looking at jumping your height, okay?

So, for me, I'm about a 184 cm, pretty much bang on 6 ft, at least on a good day. So, we're going to set that up right there. And we'll see if we can jump it, okay?

So, jump mechanics are important. There is different levels of the handicap for different ages, etc. But for our athleticism test, I've got to try and get my body over that length, okay?

So, jump mechanics generally pretty good. I've been working on this as well. So, we should actually be pretty good shape headed into that open season, and headed to the course.

So, wouldn't necessarily do these back-to-back, you certainly can do, but we're doing it today, okay? So, toes behind the line, I've got to clear that line over there to get maximum points. Look at that.

Flying through this today, guys, all right? So, I'm actually in good shape to start the season. And that's where a metric like this is so important.

That's why the golf fitness handicap can be a huge thing for you and your game. You know your baseline, you know your strengths, your weaknesses, you have a plan on how to actually improve, and then once you see that number coming down, just like your on course handicap, you know you're getting better, okay? So, that's all the fun stuff done.

Now I've got to do some cardio, okay? Endurance, we got a 1-mi run or 2. 5-mi bike.

We're not going to drag the camera around with me there out there running today. I would like to, but we're going to jump on a bike. And we're trying to go to that 6-minute mark, all right?

So, we're going to throw a little montage together. I'm going to sweat it out. We'll see where the time comes out.

Ah. Ah. Ooh.

Ooh, I don't like too much. >> [sighs and gasps] >> I got to prefer the run. We'll test that again soon, so >> [sighs] >> ooh.

6:56 4 km, 2. 5 mi. >> [sighs and gasps] >> Agonizingly, that gives me a four out of five on the final test, which means a total score 49 out of 50.

And right now we miss out on elite status, so plus means category one for the handicap. That starts at six. I take that handicap down by training in the gym, logging workouts, logging drills, practice sessions.

That's what I intend to do, so >> [sighs] >> what does that all mean? >> [snorts] >> Means we're in good shape headed into open season, so back to the course, part two's upcoming. If you haven't yet, head over, get the DRVN app, test for yourself, get your own golf fitness handicap, give yourself something to really work on alongside your golf handicap, so then you know you're making real progress.

Right now, I need some water. Hey.