The Effects of an Eight-Week Plyometric Training Program on Golf Swing Performance Characteristics in Skilled Adolescent Golfers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an eight-week plyometric training 2 intervention on measures of golf swing performance in highly skilled, adolescent golfers. Sixteen 3 male golfers were recruited to this study, being placed into two handicap and age-matched groups: 4 intervention and control. The intervention group completed an eight-week plyometric training 5 programme in addition to their golf-specific practice to study effects on clubhead speed (CHS), ball 6 carry distance (BCD) and other associated measures. The control group continued to undertake their 7 golf-specific training with no plyometric training. The intervention group demonstrated significant 8 (p<0.05) improvements in CHS and BCD between pre and post trials. The control group showed no 9 significant (p>0.05) changes in golf performance. The results suggest that in highly skilled adolescent 10 golfers, eight-weeks of plyometric training may help to improve CHS and BCD by approximately 3%. 11However, large between participant performance differences were observed after the training 12 intervention. It was concluded that, for golfers wishing to improve their CHS and BCD, a golf-specific, 13 plyometric training programme could play an important part in the athlete's training programme. 14 KEY WORDS 15Clubhead speed, ball carry distance, handicap, teenage athletes, adolescents, training.

Effects of Physical Training and Associations Between Physical Performance Characteristics and Golf Performance in Female Players: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

“…However, it should be noted that there was an extremely small sample size (n 5 6), which again somewhat prevents the findings from being extrapolated to other female players. Furthermore, given the low sample size and the fact that golf is an individual sport, it would have been useful to have some individual data analysis conducted (e.g., are changes in CHS greater than each athlete's own measurement error), which has been conducted previously in male studies (6,45). This study also aimed to determine the effects on putting distance control, which showed noticeably smaller changes postintervention.…”

Twelve Weeks of Progressive Resistance Training Positively Improves Physical Fitness and Golf Swing Performance in Talented Youth Golfers

“…Despite the continued interest in long-term athletic development (15), the need for national governing bodies to identify and develop young prospective players (28), and the beneficial effects that resistance training offers to sport-specific performance (14), there is a distinct lack of research that has investigated the effects of strength and conditioning interventions on golf swing performance in youth golfers. To the best of our knowledge, only 4 studies have investigated the effects of resistance training interventions on golf swing performance in junior-level golfers (2,5,27,31). Although all 4 interventions showed increases in physical fitness (e.g., strength, power, or mobility) and golf swing performance (e.g., CHS, ball speed, and handicap), none of the studies considered maturation within their analyses, despite one of the studies measuring maturity status (27).…”

“…Previous research has predominantly used simple performance metrics such as jump height to assess physical fitness, which typically fail to provide practitioners with insights into the kinetic changes underlying training-induced adaptations. Of the available evidence, countermovement jump (CMJ) height has typically been used to reflect lower-limb power (2,5,27); however, as a standalone measure, CMJ height does not provide insight into the underpinning kinetic strategies. Similarly, muscular strength has been assessed through a single-leg progressive squat depth test (31) and modified push-ups (5), with both tests not reflecting maximal force production, which has been identified as one of the strongest predictors of 6-iron and driver CHS in youth (30) and adult golfers (36,37).…”

The Influence of an 8-Week Strength and Corrective Exercise Intervention on the Overhead Deep Squat and Golf Swing Kinematics

“…The crossover from the EMG evidence (24) to the muscles involved in the OHS may imply that increases in the strength and flexibility of specific muscles could influence the kinematics of the swing. Various studies have analyzed the effect of exercise interventions on the outcome measures of the golf swing (e.g., clubhead speed [CHS] and ball speed [BS]), with both home-and gym-based programs prescribed (5,14,16,23,29). Intervention session frequency ranged from once per week (55% adherence over a 7-week period (29)) to 3-4 sessions per week (for an 8-week period (23)).…”