Women’s Golf Workout: 10 Great Exercises To Improve Your Game

Strength training is an essential component of any athlete’s training program. It can substantially affect overall performance no matter what sport you are involved in. 

Not only does weight training improve your strength, power, mobility, flexibility, and stability, but it can also help lower the risk of overuse injuries. 

Golf is no exception. 

Adding a couple of strength training sessions to your weekly schedule can take you and your game to the next level. 

In this guide, we will discuss the benefits of adding strength training to your weekly program and give you a complete women’s golf workout routine for your next trip to the gym, complete with step-by-step instructions and videos. 

• The Benefits of A Women’s Golf Workout Routine
• The Ultimate Women’s Golf Workout To Improve Your Game

Ready? Let’s jump in! 

The Benefits of A Women’s Golf Workout Routine

There are plenty of benefits to adding weight lifting into your training that will improve your golf game and your health and well-being in general.

Here are some of the most important ones: 

• Boosts driving distance, swing power, and ball speed.
• Increases endurance for those long days on the course.
• Reduces the risk of golf-related injuries due to the repetitive movements of the internal and external rotation of the swing.
• Improves muscle imbalances.
• Enhances overall fitness.

Convinced? I thought so! Let’s jump into our ultimate women’s golf workout!

The Ultimate Women’s Golf Workout To Improve Your Game

Add two days of weight training to your schedule for maximum results, preferably non-consecutive days. In addition, if you can fit another day in for mobility, that would be ideal.

Warm up with 5 minutes of low-impact cardio and dynamic stretches before beginning our women’s golf workout. Perform 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps of each exercise listed below. 

If you are new to strength training, begin with just two sets of 8 reps and gradually work your way up.

Rest for 30 seconds to a minute between each set to give yourself enough time to recover.

Most of the exercises in this women’s golf workout routine call for some type of weight, such as dumbbells or kettlebells. 

You want to ensure you use enough of a load where the last few reps feel challenging. If you are breezing through the reps without effort, you must up the weight. 

Let’s get to it! 

#1: Dumbbell Thrusters

The dumbbell thruster is a compound exercise that works your entire body, and the “thrust” portion on the way up will add power to your follow-through.

1. With a dumbbell in each hand, bend your elbows at 90 degrees, palms facing one another, and hands directly in front of your shoulders. (Do not rest the dumbbells against your chest).
2. Lower down into a basic squat position, keeping the dumbbells in place.
3. As you extend your knees and hips, explode up to your initial standing position, simultaneously pushing the dumbbells up overhead, extending your elbows. This should be a fluid, powerful movement.
4. Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
5. Complete all of your reps.

Note: Make sure you choose heavy enough dumbbells that you really need to work to push them up overhead.

#2: Single Leg Hip Thursts 

You can perform regular hip thrusts with both feet on the ground; however, single-leg hip thrusts add a bit more of a challenge, being a unilateral exercise. It can also help fix muscle imbalances.

You can use a barbell, kettlebell, or heavy dumbbell for the weight across your hips. 

1. Place a bench behind you.
2. Sit on the floor and place your upper back or the center of your shoulder blades against the bench.
3. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor at hip-width apart. 
4. Lift your right leg and extend it to parallel your left thigh. 
5. Place your weight in the center of your hips.
6. Squeeze your glutes, engage your core, and lift your hips toward the ceiling until fully extended. Make sure your neck is relaxed and does not strain with the movement. Let your gaze move naturally with the hip extension.
7. Continue to squeeze your glutes and hold this bridge position for a second or two.
8. Slowly lower your hips down to the starting position. 
9. Complete your reps and switch sides.

#3: Kettlebell Swing 

This women’s golf workout exercise is a staple to develop power and strength, both of which can improve the power of your swing. It works the posterior chain muscles in your legs, along with your upper body, resulting in a full-body workout. 

1. Stand tall with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, holding the kettlebell’s handle with both hands. 
2. Extend your arms and allow the kettlebell to hang in front of you.
3. Bend your knees slightly, engage your glutes and core, press through the heels of your feet, and extend your hips to bring the kettlebell up to chest height, arms fully extended in front of you. This movement should be explosive and powerful! 
4. Control the kettlebell as it comes back down and swings through the opening between your legs.
5. At the end of the kettlebell swing, extend your hips forward again and drive the kettlebell back up to chest height.
6. Complete all of your reps.

Note: Ensure you do not bend your knees and turn the kettlebell swing into a squat. Your knees should only bend slightly, as the real power will come from the hip snap.

#4: Kettlebell Forward Lunge With Rotation

This women’s golf workout exercise is a unilateral exercise like the single-leg glute bridge, which is, again, ideal for fixing muscle imbalances.

This compound exercise also focuses on working your core, stability, balance, and obliques, essential core muscles for your golf swing.  

1. Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart, chest up, and shoulders back, looking straight ahead. 
2. Hold a kettlebell straight out in front of you, arms parallel to the floor. 
3. Engage your core and take a big step forward with your right foot, placing your foot on the floor in front of you. 
4. As you take this step, bend both knees until they reach 90 degrees. Your left knee will be just above the ground, and your right thigh will parallel the floor. 
5. In this lunge position, rotate to your right, your arms still extended arms, and bring the kettlebell to your right side. Then, still in the lunge position, bring the weight back to the center and look straight ahead.
6. Push off your right foot and return to your starting position. 
7. Repeat the same lunge beginning with your left foot and rotate to the left side, alternating sides.
8. Complete all of your reps.

#5: Push Up 

Push-ups are an all-around excellent exercise for strength and can be scaled for any fitness level. 

1. Lie on your stomach, palms on the ground lined up on either side of your chest, and your feet hip-width apart as you balance your weight between your hands and your toes.
2. Push through your hands, extending your elbows as you raise yourself up, keeping your body as straight as a board.
3. Lower yourself back down in a controlled manner, bending your elbows until your body is barely above the ground.
4. Complete all of your reps

#6: Bent Over Rows

Just as we want a push exercise in our women’s golf workout, we also want a pull exercise to work our back muscles.

In this case, we will use the bent-over row. This exercise can be done bilaterally, as we will demonstrate here, or unilaterally, one side at a time. 

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing in, and hands by your sides. 
2. Bend at the waist, keeping your back completely straight. 
3. Pull the dumbbells up to your chest, your elbows bending behind you.
4. Hold this position briefly, squeeze your shoulder blades back, and lower the dumbbells with control back to your starting position.
5. Complete all of your reps.

#7: Dumbbell Sword Pulls

This women’s golf workout exercise is excellent for upper body and core strength. It will also improve the range of motion in your shoulders to help improve your swing. 

1. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand at your left hip, elbow extended.
2. Bring the dumbbell across your body from your left hip to above your right shoulder, extending your elbow completely. 
3. Return to your starting position by lowering the dumbbell back to your hip in a controlled manner.
4. Complete all of your reps and then switch sides.

#8: Bird Dog 

We added the bird dog to our women’s golf workout to continue with our core and stability work.

1. Begin on your hands and knees in a tabletop position. 
2. Engage your core.
3. Simultaneously, extend your right arm in front of you and your left leg behind you. 
4. Move in a controlled manner and ensure your hips and shoulders stay squared to your mat, and you do not rotate.
5. Pause for 2 seconds in the extended position, and then bring your arm and leg back under your tabletop trunk so that your elbow and knee touch in the middle under your body.
6. Then, extend them all the way back out again.
7. Complete all of your reps and then switch sides.

#9: Half-Kneeling Paloff Press 

The fact that this exercise is done in a half-kneeling position makes it an excellent exercise to work on stability.

1. Begin in a half-kneeling position, holding a kettlebell to your chest.
2. Engage your core and push the weight straight out in front of you without moving the rest of your body or tipping over to one side.
3. Hold the weight in the extended position for a second or two. 
4. Return to your starting position. 
5. Repeat for the total number of reps.
6. You can switch legs with each set.

#10: Side Plank With Weighted Thoracic Rotation 

This exercise takes the side plank to a whole other level, as it will take a lot more work to stabilize your body due to the rotation and weight added. 

1. Begin in a forearm-side plank position, ensuring your body is in a straight line from head to toe. 
2. Hold a light dumbbell in the hand on top.
3. Slowly rotate forward from the side plank position while reaching your top arm with the dumbbell underneath your body.
4. While maintaining your balance, rotate back to the starting position, lifting the weight all the way back up.
5. Move in a controlled manner.
6. Complete all of your reps and then switch sides.

There you have it! Your women’s golf workout for your next trip to the gym! If you are looking for a warm-up before your next round, click here.