The Best Golf Exercises for Junior Golfers with Shaun Diachkoff

Shaun Diachkoff spent his first career as an avionics engineer on Seahawk and Black Hawk helicopters in the Australian military. He left in to start Fairway Performance and now coaches golfers across the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South Africa, and Shaun is TPI certified in both fitness and power.

In this episode I sit down with Shaun to work out what golf parents should actually be doing, for their kids and for themselves. He is a golf dad too. His 5 year old just hit a 93 yard drive on a launch monitor. And Shaun says the most important thing you can do for your child's training has almost nothing to do with your child.

🎯 Key Takeaways

- Why your lower back is where golfers feel pain but almost never where the problem actually is
- The 10 to 20 minute daily mobility routine Shaun gives most clients, and the 3 areas it targets: hips, thoracic spine, shoulders
- The rep range mistake: 8 to 12 reps builds size, 4 to 6 builds the strength golfers actually want, and most of us have been doing the wrong one since university
- Core bracing is not pulling your stomach in. Shaun's Coke can explanation reframes it completely
- Why he calls the deadlift the most underrated exercise in golf, plus the Pendlay position 1, 2, 3 method for learning it without wrecking your back
- When to introduce weights to a junior golfer, why "swing as hard as you can" is the instruction before that point, and what puberty has to do with the timing
- Squat, hinge, push, pull: what each one gives a golf swing, from holding posture to keeping the face square at impact
- The Bulgarian split squat standard that separates most people from tour level lower body strength
- Shaun's advice for parents: look in the mirror first, because kids copy what you do, not what you tell them

⏱ Episode Chapters

00:00 Welcome to The Golf Parent
01:36 The fitness mistake almost every golf dad makes
03:31 Three movements to master if you only have 20 minutes
04:39 What the thoracic spine is and why your swing depends on it 05:04 Undoing the modern hunch: posture, desks, and daily habits
08:38 What actually goes first as golfers age
09:20 Why your lower back hurts when your lower back is not the culprit 10:29 Building your bomber's blueprint: assess before you build
13:19 The rep range mistake: 8 to 12 builds size, 4 to 6 builds strength 16:29 What Rory does, and what is actually worth copying
19:52 Training kids by age: what comes before weights
21:01 Look in the mirror: your kids copy what you do
21:51 Cooper's first 93 yard drive and the case for many sports
22:30 When to introduce weights, and what puberty changes
23:20 Squat, hinge, push, pull: what each one gives your swing
29:17 Why coaching is an investment, not an expense
32:57 The most underrated exercise for golfers: the deadlift
35:35 The Pendlay method: learning the deadlift in three positions
39:54 Core bracing is not what you think: the Coke can explanation 43:02 How to breathe through a heavy lift, and whether it belongs in your swing
46:46 The Bulgarian split squat and the TPI strength standard
50:18 Shaun's advice for golf parents: make it frictionless

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🔗 Resources

Atomic Habits by James Clear - jamesclear.com/atomic-habits Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) - mytpi.com ETPI, the European Tour Performance Institute - instagram.com/etpi_performanceunit Dr. Dan Coughlan, Head of Strength and Conditioning, DP World Tour - informperformance.com/blog/dr-daniel-coughlan-pga-european-tour-head-of-strength-conditioning Glenn Pendlay on the deadlift - setantacollege.com/glenn-pendlay-deadlift-blog The Fairway Performance App and coaching - fairwayperformance.com

📲 Connect with Shaun Diachkoff

Instagram: @shaun.diachkoff
Website: fairwayperformance.com
Email: shaun@fairwayperformance.com
Podcast: Fairway Performance Podcast
YouTube: youtube.com/@fairwayperformance

📲 Connect with The Golf Parent

Instagram: @golf.parent
Tik Tok: @thegolfparent
Website: www.thegolfparent.com