The perfect golf warm-up
How do YOU warm-up for a round of golf? Oftentimes, I see golfers get out of their car, check-in at the pro shop and then go to the driving range or go to the first tee. But even if you are one of the few who go to the driving range to hit a few balls before a round, what do you do to prepare your body?
The golf swing is a high speed, dynamic movement that involves your whole body. Rotation can occur at the torso from 500-1000 deg/sec. This can put a great deal of stress through the spine, neck, shoulders, and hips. Properly preparing your body to move quickly will reduce your risk of injury and improve your performance.
No one likes going to the first tee cold. So what's the perfect golf warm-up? Before I get to that, let me tell you how the body works.
The joint by joint approach
The body works on an alternating pattern of stability and mobility. When this pattern is disrupted, injury or pain is the result. In regards to the golf swing, a majority of the rotation should occur in the hips, mid-back (t-spine), and shoulders. Too often, players lose their mobility in their hips and mid-back due to joint range of motion restrictions or tissue extensibility deficits.
How does that happen? Loss of mobility can occur due to a pre-existing injury, poor posture or movement patterns, or because the player just doesn’t know how to stretch properly. If a player finds that their body’s stability-mobility pattern is dysfunctional, my advice is to always consult a medical professional to get to the root of the problem.
To further understand the perfect golf warm-up, we also need to discuss golf swing mechanics.
The golf swing
The golf swing, like any other athletic movement, has a “kinematic sequence”, power and speed generation starts from the ground up. Footwork, weight shift, core strength, and speed are all components of the golf swing. A good golf swing starts from the ground.
From the top of the backswing, the feet push against the ground to start a rotatory force that is transferred to the hips and pelvis, then that force is transferred to the core and trunk, and finally to the arm and club. This kinematic sequence is the hallmark of an efficient and consistent golf swing. Oftentimes, players will focus only on the club position and arms with their golf swing. Starting the downswing thinking about swinging the club first in the sequence results in faulty swing mechanics and poor swing planes.
For the majority of players who warm-up, they focus on swinging a couple of clubs for weighted swings, or place a club behind their back and focus only on rotating through their trunk. This type of warm-up doesn't address the entire kinematic chain. It only helps the top half, the torso and arms. Which in my opinion is too active in most amateur golfers.
The perfect golf warm-up
The perfect golf warm-up is comprised of dynamic stretches. A dynamic stretch is defined as an active form of stretching that uses momentum and movement to activate muscles and stretch them to their end range. It differs from traditional static stretching which is a stretch that is held in a position at end range without movement.
Studies show that static stretching prior to sports activities decreases a muscle’s ability to create torque and force. Therefore, dynamic stretching is more beneficial prior to sport than static stretching.
The perfect golf warm-up consists of 4 movements that can be done in 8 minutes:
Dynamic leg swing forward and backward
Dynamic leg swing side to side
Retro lunge with torso rotation
Forward lunge with trunk side bend
Perform each movement for 30-60 seconds per side. Focus on stability, control, and technique.
Click here to see the full instruction of all the movements.
If you’re having an issue with playing golf or want to increase your clubhead speed, contact PAR 5 PT for a free consultation.