Ron Kaspriske

Most gym-goers are well educated on concentric training, which is exercise that requires muscles to contract to perform the movement. Think of a dumbbell arm curl. It’s the opposite of eccentric training, which is the lengthening of muscles to perform a movement. Using the same dumbbell curl as an example, the lowering porition of the curl, if done slowly, is an example of eccentric training.Both are useful in gaining strength, power, mobility, etc., but they also increase risk of injury, especially as the person doing them increases external loads or pushes his or her body to its maximum capability. You might be able to jump on a box that is 24 inches high. Then you try a 30-inch jump and, bam, you end up on your back.The point is, golfers can greatly benefit from strength training but also risk cutting golf season short if they get injured. That’s why Jonathan Avalos, one of Golf Digest’s Best Fitness Trainers in America, says isometric training is a great alternative.If you’re not familiar, isometrics are exercises where there is no movement, but the muscles needed to perform it are firing like crazy. Think of a plank. You’re not doing anything but holding the position and yet, your abs feel like someone set them on fire. Your shoulders, too.”I’m a big fan of isometrics because they let golfers produce a lot of force without a lot of moving parts,” says Avalos, who trains golfers at Athletic Golf Fitness in Charlotte and is a Golf Digest Certified Fitness Trainer. “That means fewer chances to lose form when effort goes up—and you can target strength and stability in key positions without feeling wrecked the next day.” Avalos divides isometric exercises into two categories and offers some examples of each—all of which are beneficial to golfers.The first category is “overcoming isometrics,” which are short in duration (5-10 seconds, maximum effort, 3-5 reps) and require the golfer to push or pull against an object that won’t move. An example is pushing laterally against a wall or similar with the foot closest to the wall off the ground.

The Rules of Golf get specific about what constitutes a stroke, and that comes into play in just this situation

The Rules of Golf get specific about what constitutes a stroke, and that comes into play in just this situation

It's bad enough you missed the fairway by 50 yards, but now your ball is up against one of the course's boundaries.

There are many relatively new terms in the Rules of Golf that regular players are still getting used to saying. Matches, for example, are no longer "all square" when neither side is up. It's now called "tied." Another one that might trip you up, especially if you've been playing for a long time, is that there is now no such thing as an "outside agency." It's now "outside influence", and it covers things that might move your golf ball like animals or someone who tries to pocket it.

It can be incredibly frustrating to spend hours each week stretching, foam rolling and strength training with a focus on the big muscles of the hips and low back—and you still have tightness and soreness there. You begin to think, W hat's the point? Golf Digest Certified Fitness Trainer Courtney Weber feels your pain, and says the reason you might not be getting the results you want is that you're ignoring a tiny muscle that can wreak havoc on this region of the body when neglected.

The Rules of Golf require a club to be damaged for you to be able to swap it out. But what constitutes damage is a fine line

During the first round of the final stage of U.S. Open qualifiying in June, tour pro Stephan Jaeger ( above ) noticed his driver wasn't behaving. He suspected it was damaged and wanted to replace it mid-round. Rules officials were called in to inspect it, but they informed Jaeger that he could not switch it out because the damage wasn't obvious. They could not see anything wrong with it, nor hear that something was amiss.

During the first round of the final stage of U.S. Open qualifiying in June, tour pro Stephan Jaeger ( above ) noticed his driver wasn't behaving.

To say lower-body strength is an important factor in generating swing speed is kind of like saying water is an important factor in staying hydrated. Simply put, no matter how much weight you can curl with your biceps, no matter how fast you can swing your arms, no matter how light your driver is, it's your legs, hips and glutes that do much of the real work in powering a golf swing.