The Warm Up

Golfers are strange athletes. Yes, golfers ARE athletes, whether they acknowledge it or not. And most amateur golfers don’t ever acknowledge the athletics necessary to excel at golf.

Golf is the most self-deprecating sport and many golfers defeat themselves before getting to the first tee.

Regularly, I notice players of all skill levels walk on the range, select their sand wedge and start hitting golf balls. No stretches, no calisthenic, they just start hitting.

And without fail, one or two strikes in — duff, thin, chunk and disgust. Already, the golfer’s mind is defeated. “This is going to be a rough round.”

Like breakfast in the morning, every practice session, every round, needs a good start – physically AND mentally.

Remember, golf is a FULL body sport, so to be effective, you must wake up your body.

Toes to Head

There’s no ‘right’ way to warm up. Your body is different than mine and what works for me isn’t a guarantee it will work for you. Find your preferences for loosening up. Also, importantly, use this time to mentally “tune in” to your body.

Most of the moves below are easily searched on Google for images and how to’s.

My routine is to start at my feet and legs and work up:

10 forward kicks, each leg. This is more like a knee locked leg swing up. Think of David Lee Roth! Maybe not as dramatic!
10 leg swings backward, each leg. This looks a little bit like the ballet move: arabesque. Just not as elegant! This move wakes up one of the most important muscle groups in your back: iliocostalis lumborum.
10 legs side swings – right leg straight right away from your body and vice versa on the left. A standing side scissor kick -if you will. The important of these first three moves as all about back, hips and hamstrings. These moves begin to wake up your key golfing muscles.
Forward Fold. This is a classic yoga move. I hold this position to stretch my lower lumbar spine and muscles. And at times I turn this into leg rows where I bend one knee then the other back and forth. This also activates the lower lumbar and iliocostalis.
Quad stretch. Here I am grabbing my foot behind my back and pulling upward stretching my quadricep muscles.
10 squats, as I stand up I reach up stretching my torso, shoulders and arms. I will also incorporate a side bend here to start loosening up my lower back and side.
Next I grab my swing trainer, and do torso twists with my arms out in front of me holding my swing trainer chest level. At this point, I am also tuning into how I feel — tight, good, loose? Where might I need a little extra stretch?
Arm circles – self-explanatory, arms outstretched forward and backward circles.
Swing strainer swings – I am a big proponent of some kind of weighted swing stick or trainer. There are many on the market and this is the one I use and like. My routine here is start with easy swings. At my age (50), I am not exactly warmed up yet, so the swing trainer will really find those areas that are not quiet awake. As I continue to swing 10 to 20 swings, I focus on a few key swing mechanics that are important to my swing:
- Get my hips involved and rotate my right hip back (rotate, not sway)
- Leave my hands behind as I begin my swing forward
- Move my body forward as I swing (I will go into more detail with future posts on drills)
- Hands to my target
Begin to set up mentally — by this time my body is awake and I should be warm. It’s now time to set my mind as I continue to with the trainer for a few more swings:
- Swing with no tension — mentally and physically.
- Begin to tune out outside distractions: work, chatter on the range (music helps here), etc.
- Focus on breathing, slowing the heart rate and focus. Be here and no where else.