How often do you jump out of your car after the 30min or so drive to
the course and then jump right out on the first tee?
I bet you don’t hit the ball very straight for a least a few holes.
Maybe you don’t even get warmed up until the back nine.
What you need to do is spend 15min stretching before you start play or
before you start hitting practice shots. Making practice swings, even
with two or three clubs at once, is not an effective method of warming
up.
Golf Fitness Tips -
Fitness Components for Golf
Buttocks stretch:
In order to loosen up your hips and to help promote a full range of
motion in your golf swing, stretch out your glut muscles. You can do
this by crossing your leg over your other leg when you are in a sitting
position and then pulling your knee up to you chest. You should feel
the stretch in you buttock. Now switch legs and make sure both sides
get stretched out.
Upper and middle back
stretch: Also to help you free up your swing, you will
want to have nice loose back muscles. To do this you should stretch out
your middle and upper back by putting a golf club behind your back and
through your elbows like you are doing an elbow drill. Now keeping your
hips in place, rotate your shoulders to one side and hold. Then repeat
on the other side. Try to move the club up or down to isolate a
different segment of your spine.
Neck stretches:
Right now you are probably thinking, What the heck, why do I need to
stretch my neck? It is actually very important that you neck is nice an
loose since it will allow you to fully turn your shoulders around your
head while maintaining your spine angle. To stretch your neck you
should rotate it to the right and hold for 5 seconds then rotate to the
left and hold for 5 seconds. Do this 3 times per side. Also, you will
want to tilt your head down into your chest as hard as you comfortably
can. Hold this for 5 seconds and repeat 3 times.
Ankle, Knee and Hip
rotation stretch: All three of these areas are important
to ensure your swing gets the full range of motion. To start, rotate your ankle
clockwise and counter clockwise each for 5 seconds switch to your other
side and repeat. Do each side 3 times. Now for your knee rotations,
put your knees together and couch down so that your knees are bent
almost to a 45 degree angle. Put your hands on your knees and rotate
your knees in a circular motion both clockwise and counter clockwise. Lastly for your hips,
put your hands on them and do the classic hip rotations both to the
left and to the right, nice and slow. Now your lower body is ready to
make a swing.
Shoulder stretch:
To hit the ball as far as you want, it is important to have nice and
relaxed shoulders. The best way to accomplish this is to rotate each
shoulder individually up, back, down and then forward and keep going
around 3 times. Reverse direction and repeat. Now switch shoulders.
Once your shoulders are good and loose, you will be ready to snap the
club through the impact zone sending the ball souring.
Wrist rotations:
Last golf fitness tip but not least your will want to loosen up your
wrists to ensure you optimize your swing. To do this, rotate your
wrists both at the same time in clockwise motion for a count of 5. Then
reverse direction again for a count of 5. Shake them out when finished
and get out there and start your round.
Remember, despite what some people think, golf is a physical sport when
performed at a reasonable level of skill. In order to perform at a
reasonable level, you will want to prepare to play at a reasonable
level.
Do you think the pros just step out of their car and play? Of course
they don’t. They do their stretching and even get to have a massage
before each round if they want. Start implementing these golf fitness
tips and see your play improve.