Getting Your Body Ready For the Golf Season

Getting Your Body Ready For the Golf Season

The days are starting to stretch, the daffodils are starting to bloom and there is faint hum of Masters talk. Spring is in the air and the golf season is looming. Hoorah, I hear you cry. It has been a long winter.

How is your body fairing? Is your body ready for the golf season? At this time of year, we see lots of golfers, getting Winter niggles sorted. Whether that is a hangover from last season that they hoped would go away with a bit of rest, or a little ache from starting to swing their clubs again.

Here are our top tips for getting you ready for the golf season: –

· Don’t go from zero to hero. The body hates going from nothing to activity at full pelt. “It did not mind when I was younger”, I hear you say. No, it didn’t. Our capacity to manage load on the body and navigate through peaks and troughs was greater when we were younger. As we get older, for numerous reasons, we need to pay more attention to gradually increasing load. What does that mean for golf? Don’t go and hit 200 balls in your first trip to the range. Get a bucket of 50 and start with some gentle chip shots and gradually build up. Maybe leave anything with a cover in your bag in your first outing. Also maybe have a day of rest between outings to the range initially.

· Now the light nights are incoming, get out and walk more. A study round Royal County Down found golfers walked between 6 and 8 miles over an 18-hole round. Have you been walking over the Winter? If not, get the legs ready for the golf course by walking in the evenings or walking on the treadmill in the gym may be useful.

· Few daily activities involve rotation; therefore, it is not uncommon for the body to struggle with the rotational aspect of golf when we start to play. This is perfectly common because the body has not been used to doing it. Going from wedge up the irons gradually in your first session at the range will help this, but perhaps start with some rotational exercises at home or in a warmup. Try putting a golf club behind your back, get into your address position, and gently rotate back and forth to begin with and gradually work into range. This will help you gradually work into rotation.

Hopefully you find these top tips useful. If you need more help, our Physio team is at hand at The Paul Lawrie Golf Centre on a Monday to Thursday and are happy to help you with any of your aches and pains in preparation for the golf season.