Your body is the best and most influential part of your golf equipment. A lot of players don't understand the importance of fitness in this sport. By achieving a proper fitness condition, you will gain more golf swing power, increase the distance of your shots and reach higher level of consistency. Of course, golf is not as physically demanding and challenging as other sports like soccer, football or basketball, but nevertheless fitness matters in golf. Golf requires a lot of flexibility and as wikipedia.org puts it - "coordinated movement of coordinated muscles." Injuries occur in golf, just like in any other sport. Common golf injuries include back pains (because of the stress during a swing), knee pain, golf elbow, shoulder pain.

Golf fitness or golf conditioning was first brought to the public by the world's best golfer Tiger Woods. In the book by Pete Draovitch and Wayne L. Westcott, golf fitness was defined as sets of exercises that are designed specifically to improve the muscle groups and parts of the body most required when golfing. Those exercises increase muscular strength, improve flexibility, balance and coordination.

Playing golf is something your body is not naturally meant or prepared for. Golf fitness prepares and conditions your body and muscles to take the punishment and strain that golf inflicts on it. Golf Fitness is critical for your game, including swing mechanics, stamina, mental acuity and good judgment. Before you start with a golf fitness program, you should have an idea of your physical condition. Are you feeling weak or tired? Do you feel mentally sharp? The answer to these questions is what will help you set the right goals and move forward. Flexibility, stamina, strength are some of the most important factors. Just one of them can lead to bad results. You need a combination of things to achieve a good level in golf. Once you set your golf fitness goals, start with your weak points, not strengths. In that way, you will improve your game the quickest.

On the Internet, you can find plenty of websites offering free golf fitness programs, so it's a good idea to start by making a google search. Any golf fitness program starts with an assessment of your orthopedic and functional abilities. A swing analysis should also be performed in order to determine the golfer’s needs in comparison to the demands of the sport of golf itself. This first part will determine a golfer's fitness priorities - on which aspects should be devoted more time. It creates the action plan, because to attempt to improve one's performance without a complete concept of what will be done is like a shot in the dark.