The history of golf as a sport can provide us with an overview of current trends and their effects on physical development for golfers. Strength and conditioning for golf has only taken center stage in the last 15 years. This is largely due to Tiger Woods, and in addition to the growing popularity of the sport among younger players. Consider that there were only a handful of PGA professionals utilizing strength training back in the late nineties now virtually 90 percent of professional golfers are utilizing some form of resistance training whether with a physical therapist or personal trainer.

Defining Function: What is functional training? Function is clearly defined as a "purpose" following this definition functional training can be defined as performing a function or a skill. Strength training is still relatively new to many golfers. Many misconceptions and fallacies among players still exist today, even though significant research in the realm of exercise science has proven otherwise. Common fears that lifting weights will cause unnecessary muscle mass, that their swing mechanics will be altered; Resistance training will cause a loss of flexibility.