The Need
for Speed
(continued from page 25)
Fit For Play
by TOM CUNNEFF with LANCE GILL, Titleist
Performance Institute-certified instructor
Illustrations by BARRY ROSS
H
ere are six words you’ll never hear
a golfer utter: “I want to hit it
shorter.” Everyone wants to hit the
ball longer. Most try to buy distance
with a new driver, and certainly
getting properly fit for a driver can help, but it’s
imperative that you gain strength in four basic
areas: upper-body push, upper-body pull, lowerbody vertical and body rotation.
“The golf swing involves some basic athletic
movements and can be improved with the
appropriate exercises,” says Lance Gill, who
works with professionals from all the major
tours and oversees their development.
FLOW ROW
This is a great exercise for increasing rotary
speed, particularly in the hip. With a lightweight
setting on a cable-cross machine, position the
pulley at chest height, grab the handle with your
right hand, and stand back facing the machine
with your right leg raised. Perform a row
(pulling the handle in) as you rotate your trunk
and leg to the right, away from the resistance,
before returning to the starting position. Do
two sets of 12 reps and then switch sides.
HALF-KNEELING BOUNCE PASS
Get an appropriately weighted medicine ball
that bounces a little. Kneel down on your left
knee. Bring the ball over your right shoulder
with both hands and bounce it diagonally
across your body straight down on the ground
to a partner who is standing diagonally behind
you to the left. Try to bounce the ball over
his or her head while staying stable in your
posture. Progress to the point where you’re
almost bouncing the ball behind you. Do two
sets of 12 reps and then switch sides.
KNEELING CHEST PASS
While holding an appropriately weighted
medicine ball in front of your chest, get into
a tall kneeling position with your glutes and
core engaged, and make a chest pass to a
partner or against a wall. At first, try to just
use your arms without diving forward. Once
you’ve warmed up, put your whole body
into it by rocking back a little first and even
falling forward onto your hands after tossing
the ball. Do two sets of 12 reps.
90-DEGREE BOX JUMPS
This is a difficult exercise, so be sure to try it
with a trainer first before attempting it on your
own, because a controlled landing is important
to avoid injury. Stand at a right angle to a soft
box or step with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Your foot should almost be touching the box.
Squat down, jump, rotate and land with both
feet in a soft, stabilized position. Avoid loud
lands. Do two sets of 12 reps. With time you
can increase the height of the box.
Co-author Lance Gill is co-director of the Titleist Performance Institute Advisory Board and the lead instructor
for TPI Level 1 and 2 fitness seminars. Co-author Tom Cunneff is a writer from Hilton Head, S.C., and
a regular contributor to Virginia Golfer.
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The Virginia Golfer
Conversation
and e-mails and telephone calls; it’s
one of the best things we ever did.
A man in Iowa sent an e-mail and I
phoned him from my ranch in South
Africa because I was so impressed.
He said ‘I’m 40 pounds overweight,
my children are little porkies and
after looking at you at nearly 80
and seeing no body fat I’m now
exercising and watching my diet and
my family are as well.’
This is my passion to speak to
the world about this terrible obesity,
because more people are dying of
obesity-related diseases than all the
wars put together. It’s very simple:
get everybody to walk and eat half of
what they eat. That’s the secret. Eat
only when you’re hungry. Don’t eat
like it’s the Last Supper.
VG: Your three Masters wins
(1961, 1974 and 1978) were all
very different. What did each one
mean to you?
GP: In the first one I was playing
against the icon of Amer