Fit for Golf : How a Personalized Conditioning Routine Can Help You Improve Your Score, Hit the Ball Further, and E - Hardcover

A customized conditioning program for dropping strokes and losing pounds--from one of the most successful personal trainers on the PGA Tour

Until very recently, golfers rarely hit the gym. The workout facilities along the PGA Tour were empty because many golfers didn't consider themselves real athletes. Today it's a whole new ballgame--and golf-fitness guru Boris Kuzmic is heading up the revolution.

The much sought-after personal trainer for several world-class PGA Tour professionals--including David Duval, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, and Robert Allenby--Kuzmic has used his own proven approach to help his clients lower their scores, raise their rankings, and tighten their belts, demonstrating that time spent in the gym definitely improves your scorecard. And while working out is great for the pros, Kuzmic believes it can do even more for the amateur.

In Fit for Golf Kuzmic brings his expertise to you in a streamlined format, outlining a simple fitness regimen that--if followed faithfully--will have you dropping strokes and pounds in no time by using the very same techniques he used while training those top PGA players. He begins with his basic philosophy of working out--namely, that every muscle is a "golf muscle" and only the steady development of all of them will help make you a better player. One of the things that makes the sport so difficult is that it requires you to use your entire body to perform a very precise task. From quadriceps to deltoids, and from heart to head, Kuzmic will take you through the basics of building a better golf body. He'll show you how to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and, with that knowledge, how to customize your own personal workout. Accompanied by detailed instructions and helpful photographs, sample workout programs designed to fit different needs, abilities, and schedules are provided.

From stretching and strength training to cardio and good nutrition, Kuzmic's Fit for Golf strategy will help you:

• Hit the ball farther
• Gain control over your swing
• Improve your flexibility and range of motion
• Increase your stamina
• Lose weight
• Minimize your risk of injury
• Decrease post-round muscle soreness
• Gain self-confidence
• Improve your overall level of fitness and health
• And compete like the pros

"Working out can enhance your game and life in so many ways beyond just knocking a few shots off your score. On the golf course it will increase your strength, flexibility, stamina, and energy. You'll be able to make a bigger turn and get to a better finish while feeling more balanced throughout the swing. And you'll not only hit the ball harder with less effort, but you'll still feel fresh as you approach the end of your round and have reserves of power and control necessary to pull off any kind of shot when it counts most."

--Boris Kuzmic, from Chapter 1

Want to shave five shots off your scorecard? Drop ten points from your handicap? Add twenty yards to your drive? It may sound like a golfer's dream, but it's not impossible. In fact, all of this and more has been achieved, time and again, by players who have followed pro-trainer Boris Kuzmic's Fit for Golf formula for success--a simple combination of weight-training, cardio, stretching, and nutrition.

Now, for the first time, Kuzmic brings his professional secrets from the PGA Tour to you, so you can follow the same workout strategies that monumentally changed the games--and the lives--of top players such as David Duval, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Jesper Parnevik, and Robert Allenby.

With inspiring and easy-to-follow instructions, sample workouts, and helpful illustrations, Fit for Golf shows you how to:

• Assess your individual strengths and weaknesses
• Tailor a fitness program to meet your specific body-type needs
• Customize each workout using weights, stretching, and cardiovascular training
• Improve your "muscle memory"
• Avoid injuries
• Make the most of good nutrition
• Exercise your mental muscle
• Train your way to better scores and more enjoyment on the course

Boris Kuzmic, a former professional golfer, received his personal-trainer certification from the Scandinavian Institute of Physical Fitness. He currently works as a personal trainer with a select cross-section of professional and highly ranked amateur golfers. He lives in Sweden.

Jim Gorant is the deputy golf editor at Sports Illustrated. His articles have appeared in national magazines, including GQ, Men's Journal, Outside, Golf, Travel and Leisure Golf, Golf for Women, and Popular Science. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey.