2024 preview: Train for your Opening Drive with same gear used by TOUR pros

Editor’s note: The PGA TOUR is celebrating the start of a new year with Opening Drive, a two-week kickoff to the 2024 season. Players will be refreshed and ready to shine when they start their season at The Sentry and Sony Open in Hawaii, and they’ll need to bring their best from the start because of the season’s condensed time frame. PGATOUR.COM is helping fans prepare for the Opening Drive of their golf season, whether that’s this week or still months away, by introducing them to ways they can improve in the offseason. This story and the accompanying gift guide highlights technology and training aids that amateurs can use to play their best.

During his peak years on the PGA TOUR, Tiger Woods’ daily routine seemed akin to that of an Olympian or professional football player rather than a golfer.

Each day before even picking up a club, Woods would run four miles then go to the gym to lift. After that, he’d hit balls for two to three hours, play a round and come back to work on his short game. But his daily work wasn’t done, as Woods would cap it off with another four-mile run and potentially some basketball or tennis.

Tired yet?

The "Tiger Effect" not only inspired an entire generation to pick up a golf club, but it redefined what a golfer looked like based on how he or she ate, trained, worked out, recovered and slept.

“He changed the game forever,” said three-time PGA TOUR winner Scott Stallings, who has transformed his body and game, becoming among the TOUR’s fitness fanatics after once weighing 252 pounds. “Health, wellness and fitness and looking at it from more of an athletic mindset and understanding what that looked like was something that hadn’t really been done before. Now it’s to the point where if someone says they aren’t doing something, they’re lying because you can’t not do anything at this level and just go through the motions.

“Everyone is trying to do something.”

Woods’ winning regimen motivated and inspired other professionals to elevate their off-course routines, especially in the offseason. Rory McIlroy cut down on his favorite guilty pleasure foods of chocolate and ice cream in favor of a high-protein diet to decrease fat and gain muscle. Justin Thomas added 15 pounds of muscle to his frame prior to his FedExCup-winning season of 2017. Injuries caused him to overhaul his training routine, leading him to focus on core-strengthening workouts as well as mobility and flexibility exercises.

Players are spending more time in the TOUR’s state-of-the-art mobile fitness centers, which were enhanced and upgraded in 2019 to reflect the growing importance players are placing on their fitness. The trailers are staffed by physical therapists, chiropractors and athletic trainers who assist players in rehabilitative and preventive care, as well as personal conditioning and stretching programs.

The pros aren’t the only ones who have benefitted from this emphasis on health and wellness. Much of the same technology and training tools that the pros use are available to amateurs – and at affordable prices.

With the holiday season behind us and New Year’s resolutions aplenty – including many aspiring to break a certain score and lower their handicap in 2024 – golfers around the globe are grinding during the winter months in anticipation of their triumphant return to outdoor golf once the snow thaws.

“Honestly I think where people kind of miss the boat the most in the winter months is going months without swinging a club because all fitness is very, very specific to the demands of the activity you’re doing, so if you go months without swinging a club, you’re going to be getting deconditioned to that specific activity,” Fit For Golf founder Mike Carroll said on the PING "Proving Grounds" podcast. “When you come back out as the weather gets a bit better, which is typically Masters weekend for most people, you could have five or six months of not swinging a club so even if you stay in generally good shape from whatever type of workouts you’ve been doing, it’s not the same.

“You’ll be in a much better state than if you hadn’t been doing anything, but try and find some ways to keep swinging the club, even a couple of times per week.”

Besides swinging away in the winter months, here are some other ways that you can train in the same ways as the pros to prepare for your Opening Drive.

RELATED: Opening Drive gift guide

Data and technology

Consistently swinging a golf club during the winter is easier said than done, especially if you live somewhere where the sun sets before 5 p.m. and it’s unbearably cold out. Traveling to warmer locales like Arizona, Florida and the Caribbean can be costly and time consuming, so leveraging technology either at home or at a local simulator can make a big difference in getting those consistent offseason reps in.

Indoor simulators aren’t just places to perfect your swing over the winter months. Backed by technology galore thanks to launch monitors from brands like Trackman, Rapsodo and Flightscope, they offer an endless amount of data and metrics to study, analyze and dissect in the quest for improvement. The best news is that indoor simulators, which used to come at a price point only a few could afford, now come at price points that make them available to many more.

“Golf technology is a game-changer, empowering golfers at all levels to play with tech once exclusive to the pros,” said Shawn Curtis, Rapsodo’s director of golf. “The democratization of launch monitors marks a significant shift in the sport, offering amateurs performance data and insights like those enjoyed by tour professionals.

“As golfers gear up for the 2024 season, especially during the offseason, incorporating such technology can help golfers play like never before.”

While there is an endless amount of data, launch monitor manufacturer Trackman says there are six key factors that amateurs should focus on: face angle, club path, impact location, attack angle, low point and carry.

Sensors and accompanying apps from brands like Arccos and Blast Motion can make recording and analyzing key swing and shot data a breeze whether you’re stuck indoors for the winter or flocking to warmer weather.

The utilization of artificial intelligence has also entered the golf space thanks to companies like Sportsbox AI, which leverages the latest methods in computer vision and deep learning to provide 3D models of your body and swing mechanics from six different angles via 30 key points on the body, club and ball. What once required a visit to a high-tech laboratory, now can be captured on one’s phone.

That’s the power of technology.

Fitness and nutrition

In today’s power game, players know that adding strength is vital to shooting low scores. And with that comes an emphasis on nutrition, because players can’t perform at their peak if they aren’t properly fueling their body.

While golf-specific workouts often prioritize mobility, flexibility and strength over adding bulk or mass, there are plenty of training tools on the market that offer exactly what you need while helping you move beyond your standard session at the gym. And not only are the same tools that the TOUR pros use available to amateurs, but also is the wisdom that guides the players’ training. Many of the items listed below give access to TOUR trainers through their app or website.

The GolfForever swing trainer, which is used by by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, doubles as an at-home workout tool and a swing-weight optimized heavy warmup club which can provide benefits in the offseason and as you tee it up for your next round. GolfForever’s app and golf-specific tools are meant to optimize flexibility, strength and movement patterns for your swing.

“If you go from sitting at a desk all day on your computer or phone right out on the course, you’re going to have problems,” GolfForever founder Dr. Jeremy James said. “Your body’s just not ready for that. GolfForever has several 5-7 minute routines where we just get mobility in your shoulders, getting blood flow in your core and in your hips, and getting you moving so that you’re really ready to take that first shot.”

Carroll’s Fit for Golf app gives you access to the same programs he provides for PGA TOUR players like Seamus Power and Stephan Jaeger.

The Stack swing-speed system is one tool that’s received increasing attention, especially after Matt Fitzpatrick credited it with helping him win the 2022 U.S. Open. The weighted clubs combined with a custom-engineered shaft and hardware to help players increase their swing speed. The system was developed by golf’s foremost biomechanist, Dr. Sasho MacKenzie, His area of expertise is the training and biomechanics of speed generation. The Stack allows him to share his findings and training wisdom directly with consumers, using the same tools and techniques that he’s used to train the TOUR players with whom he consults.

Proper nourishment and nutrition is key to maximizing the gains that golfers see from their physical training.

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth is one of the many athletes who rely on LivPur Nutrition for the proper amino acids, vitamins, minerals and glucose on and off the course, which also boost digestive health and immune support.

Featuring 75 intentionally curated ingredients, one scoop of AG1 in eight ounces of water a day delivers optimal amounts of nutrients in forms that help your body thrive, whether it’s gut health, focus and energy or immune defense.

Easily available online and in stores, these supplement and nutrition brands are as accessible to amateurs as they are PGA TOUR players.

Recovery and sleep

So you’ve properly fueled up and worked on your fitness and golf game. Mission accomplished. Or so you think.

Equally as important to the other two pieces of the routine is recovery. It’s hard to get back after it the following day or shortly thereafter if you’re too sore or not rested enough to continue your routine and progress.

Seen on the practice range at TOUR events and on the sidelines of other professional sports, massage guns and percussive devices aren’t just for pro athletes going through the rigors of a lengthy season. This equipment gives you the ability to massage away muscle tension and relieve stiffness from a tough workout or long range session. Hyperice is the official recovery device of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions, but players were using its devices well before a formal partnership was in place.

“Hyperice technology has been a mainstay with TOUR players even pre-dating our partnership with the PGA TOUR, which began in 2020,” Hyperice CEO Jim Huether said. “Across the golf community at large, we’ve seen a significant increase over time of the commitment to the body through a more thoughtful approach to warm up, recovery, and overall fitness to maximize performance while mitigating injury risks.”

Obviously amateur golfers don’t have the same access to saunas, cryotherapy, therapeutic massages or athletic trainers as TOUR professionals, so these handheld devices and suite of products can help amateurs recover from the prior day and much as they can help you prepare for the following one.

And the straw that stirs the drink is sleep. A necessity for athletes and non-athletes alike, sleep allows the heart to rest while giving an opportunity for cells and tissue to repair from the day’s activities. Sleep also helps everyone retain and consolidate memories. That means it helps athletes retain what they’ve practiced or learned during the day, contributing to improved future performance.

The democratization of personal health data gives power to the people in the palm of their hands and on their phones. Since 2021, WHOOP has been the official fitness wearable of the PGA TOUR, giving players and their support system key metrics to perform at their best, especially around sleep. The same device is available to amateur golfers.

“We’re always honored to support the world’s best golfers on and off the course, but we’re equally proud to provide a membership that helps everyone improve their health and optimize their performance,” WHOOP founder and CEO Will Ahmed said. “Amateur golfers who wear WHOOP will find that their game improves as they sleep more and improve their recovery.

“We’ve also made it easier than ever before to try out. The same WHOOP device that you see pros like Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas wearing is now available to try for free.”

With so much equipment, technology, data and resources at amateurs’ disposal, there are a plethora of ways to improve even when the weather doesn’t allow players to get on the course.