Complete Conditioning for Golf (Complete Conditioning for Sport)

Pete Draovitch, personal trainer and physical therapist to PGA Tour star Greg Norman, has teamed up with internationally acclaimed strength training specialist and golf conditioning researcher Wayne Westcott to develop the first truly comprehensive golf fitness manual. Draovitch and Westcott provide 105 exercises and drills to develop a swing that produces greater distance and control with each club.

Also included is a special 15-minute workout developed specifically for busy people who want to maintain strength and flexibility for that next round of golf. The authors even include a nutrition chapter, truly making Complete Conditioning for Golf the complete golf fitness book.

First, there are many areas in the book where seemingly important concepts are introduced, but then never fully explained or developed in context. For example, there is a section discussing the dichotomy between flexibility and stability as it relates the golf swing, but the authors never seem to relate this important issue to any other material or instruction in the book.

Also, and perhaps most maddeningly, there are a number of exercise descriptions in the book that are incomprehensible or appear to be just plain incorrect. Some of these descriptions don't have accompanying pictures to aid the reader, and often the pictures that do appear with some descriptions are not entirely helpful or descriptive. One apparently important exercise that is part of the centerpeice "Greg Norman's Workout Routine" section in the book is not even described at all...the reader is told to consult with a personal trainer to find out how to do it (PNF "Travoltas"....nobody I've talked to has even heard of such an exercise). Would it have hurt the authors to take a stab at describing it for the benefit of the readers who have plopped down their money to buy this book?

Finally, the book just doesn't seem to be put together in a logical and systematic format. In places, it seems somewhat like a hodge-podge of information.

It's a shame, because I think this book goes beyond the basics by touching on some interesting theories and exercise routines that are critical for golf fitness. I guess the best way to put it is that this book seems "incomplete" and appears hastily put together.


Complete Conditioning for Golf   January 23, 2002
 7 out of 10 found this review helpful

Did an OK job in explaining what exercises to do and how to do them.

Could've done a better job in explaining how the specific muscle groups and exercises for these related to the improvement of the golf swing.

Did a good job in laying a a few sample routines.

Same obligatory chapter on nutritional information as seen in 2 dozen other fitness books.


Eratic - Great in some parts, poor in others   December 15, 1999
 28 out of 30 found this review helpful

Especially good was the section on posture and stance, well thought out. However, the section on weight training exercises was a bunch of nautilus machine stuff, not very creative, and my club doesn't even have that stuff anymore.