Dude - you rule! I am a retired football player who has taken up golf. After you get done laughing, give me some awesome moves to hit it a mile. I work hard on my legs - especially HAMS, also ABS, and FOREARMS and BACK. Of course I still do bench work, and other stuff too, but I must admit my left - non-dominant shoulder - is killing me since the start of the season. Doubt you golf, but keep in mind I want to make a powerful, explosive, and BALANCED move through the ball.
Hank,
Golf??? What the hell is wrong with you? Just kidding.
It’s funny that you ask this question. All of the serious golfers at my gym are now begging me for workouts and training tips. They’re finally realizing that if you train properly, it will improve your golf game - not hurt it!
Anyway, it seems like you’re on the right track. Legs, lats, core and forearms! Don’t overdue the rotational core work either. Remember that when you play golf you are getting a tremendous amount of rotational work on your dominant side. If you go to the gym and do more, you will develop bad imbalances. If you’re going to go to the gym after 18 holes, start with some rotational ab work on your non-dominant side to balance out all of the work that you just performed. Ironically, I just met a pro golfer yesterday with one of the most severe muscular imbalances you’ve ever seen. His lat on his dominant side was so overdeveloped you can see the difference through his baggy t-shirt! I never saw anything like that!
I don’t know how advanced you are, but if you have a good base level of strength, try some dynamic work for your lats and legs. Dynamic squats will help with your overall power as will dynamic chins. I’ve been experimenting more and more with dynamic chin-ups performed with a mini band. If you can do these, it will definately help with your power. “Choke” a mini band around a heavy dumbell that’s on the floor and then attach the band around your weightlifting belt. The band will accelerate the eccentric portion of the chin-up and provide extra resistance for the concentric portion. Perform multiple sets of low reps for increased lat power!
And train your forearms with heavy dumbell and thick bar holds, wrist roller and radial and ulnar flexion.
You can do some bench-pressing but DON’T overdue it! It can have a detrimental effect. If you like bench-pressing that much, give up golf and take up powerlifting!!!