Golf stretches- warm up before you tee off
As the warmer weather and longer days are upon us, I thought it timely to cover some basic preventative actions we can use ourselves or prescribe to our patients that enjoy getting out on the golf course. For such a low impact sport, it often surprises us how many people we have coming to see us at The Physio Nook with golf-related injuries.
Why do it?
Interestingly, what does a pro golfer do? He or she stretches, practises putting for around 30 minutes, warms up hitting with various clubs for another 30 minutes, maybe finishes off with some more putts, then finally heads off to the tee. What do most of us do? Arrive at the golf course, unload our clubs, have a couple of practice air-swings and then go to the first tee and hit the cover off the ball! I wonder why we don’t feel warmed up until the 3rd or 4th hole…
While we don’t all expect to play like a pro (even if we’d like to…) we do want to make the most of the playing time we do get. We want to perform as well as we can, maybe get our handicap down, and certainly avoid niggling injuries or worse, affecting our game or even into our working week. Regular stretching exercises such as those suggested below, performed regularly and properly, will increase range of motion, power, and help achieve all the things I just listed. Give them a try, or recommend them to your golfing friends.
1. Neck rotations-
Stand tall and relaxed, drop your chin towards your chest. Roll your head gently toward one shoulder in a semicircular motion, pause, then roll it back to the front and around to the other shoulder. Continue this for 30 seconds.
2. Arm swings (“huggers”)-
Stand tall and hold your arms out to the sides. Bring your arms across the front of your chest simultaneously as though you are hugging yourself. Then take them out to the sides again. Repeat this for 30 seconds.
3. Trunk rotations with a club-
Stand with a shoulder width stance and place a golf club across your shoulders (behind your head), holding it at each end. Bend at the waist slightly with your knees slightly bent, as though you’re addressing the ball for a swing. Now rotate your trunk from side to side, aiming to get the ends of the club in front of you each time. Repeat for 15 to 20 swings.
4. Side bends with a club-
Again stand with a shoulder width stance and a club across your shoulders as above. Tilt your trunk down to one side so the club end points towards the ground. Don’t bend forwards or backwards. Hold this stretch for 3 seconds then do the same on the other side. Complete 8 to 10 stretches on each side.
5. Leg swings-
Again stand with your feet shoulder width apart and standing tall. Holding onto something if you wish, swing one leg forwards and backwards gently. Don’t swing so far that your upper body has to lean over. Repeat for 10 full swings and then do the same for your other leg.
As you can imagine, there are a number of other stretches we could cover, but these six address the main movements required for a golf game and are simple to perform. I would then recommend finishing up with a few golf swings holding one or two clubs before you hit the first tee. Remember- timing is key, not hitting the cover off the ball!
I hope this summary will help you or someone you know. As always, we are here at The Physio Nook to help out with any musculoskeletal disorders you may have, golf related or otherwise! Feel free to call us, email, or drop in for a great service.
Paul Woodward
Principal Physiotherapist
The Physio Nook.
Interestingly, what does a pro golfer do? He or she stretches, practises putting for around 30 minutes, warms up hitting with various clubs for another 30 minutes, maybe finishes off with some more putts, then finally heads off to the tee. What do most of us do? Arrive at the golf course, unload our clubs, have a couple of practice air-swings and then go to the first tee and hit the cover off the ball! I wonder why we don’t feel warmed up until the 3rd or 4th hole…
While we don’t all expect to play like a pro (even if we’d like to…) we do want to make the most of the playing time we do get. We want to perform as well as we can, maybe get our handicap down, and certainly avoid niggling injuries or worse, affecting our game or even into our working week. Regular stretching exercises such as those suggested below, performed regularly and properly, will increase range of motion, power, and help achieve all the things I just listed. Give them a try, or recommend them to your golfing friends.
1. Neck rotations-
Stand tall and relaxed, drop your chin towards your chest. Roll your head gently toward one shoulder in a semicircular motion, pause, then roll it back to the front and around to the other shoulder. Continue this for 30 seconds.
2. Arm swings (“huggers”)-
Stand tall and hold your arms out to the sides. Bring your arms across the front of your chest simultaneously as though you are hugging yourself. Then take them out to the sides again. Repeat this for 30 seconds.
3. Trunk rotations with a club-
Stand with a shoulder width stance and place a golf club across your shoulders (behind your head), holding it at each end. Bend at the waist slightly with your knees slightly bent, as though you’re addressing the ball for a swing. Now rotate your trunk from side to side, aiming to get the ends of the club in front of you each time. Repeat for 15 to 20 swings.
4. Side bends with a club-
Again stand with a shoulder width stance and a club across your shoulders as above. Tilt your trunk down to one side so the club end points towards the ground. Don’t bend forwards or backwards. Hold this stretch for 3 seconds then do the same on the other side. Complete 8 to 10 stretches on each side.
5. Leg swings-
Again stand with your feet shoulder width apart and standing tall. Holding onto something if you wish, swing one leg forwards and backwards gently. Don’t swing so far that your upper body has to lean over. Repeat for 10 full swings and then do the same for your other leg.
As you can imagine, there are a number of other stretches we could cover, but these six address the main movements required for a golf game and are simple to perform. I would then recommend finishing up with a few golf swings holding one or two clubs before you hit the first tee. Remember- timing is key, not hitting the cover off the ball!
I hope this summary will help you or someone you know. As always, we are here at The Physio Nook to help out with any musculoskeletal disorders you may have, golf related or otherwise! Feel free to call us, email, or drop in for a great service.
Paul Woodward
Principal Physiotherapist
The Physio Nook.