Warming Up For Golf

Saturday, April 10, 2021

Here’s a silly question: Are you interested in improving your golf game? Who isn’t, right?! Every golf magazine, blog, and website has an article with tips on keeping up with your game during the off season -- it is almost overwhelming. However every expert agrees that adding a fitness routine that incorporates strength and flexibility is one of the very best ways to increase golf performance. The PGA newsletter says it will “undoubtedly improve your game”. Golf Week asserts that learning golf-focused stretches can help players “avoid injury and play better overall when the weather improves”.

To help you reach your goals for the new season, we’ve partnered with Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) Certified Trainer, Kristen McAuliffe, who owns and operates It’s Working Out, located in the Columbia Tusculum neighborhood of Cincinnati. She has helped golfers of all levels increase distance and decrease injury since 2001 and was introduced to the Titleist Performance Institute in2015.

“I love working with golfers because the results are guaranteed… if a golfer puts in the work, they increase distance AND feel better doing so! This is different than training someone who is looking to lose body fat where what one eats often has a bigger impact than how one exercises. Golfers see results almost immediately which is so rewarding!” according to Kristen.

Currently, It’s Working Out has four TPI Certified Trainers on staff and offers a wide variety of golf-focused programs and personal training tailored to individuals and groups as well as high school teams.

Over the next few newsletters, we will feature an article from It’s Working Out to help you make the most of your workout. These articles will be relevant for all ages, body types and will help you learn how the way you move correlates to:

-increased distance

-reduced risk of injury

-improving golf game longevity

Articles will include photos as well as links so that you can easily replicate any exercises at home. If you would like to learn more about Kristen and It’s Working Out, you can find her, and her team, at:

https://www.itsworkingout.com/golf-performance

Why You Want To Lose More Golf Balls

What the heck? What golfer wants to lose more golf balls?? Of course no golfer wants to lose more balls but all golfers want to be able to play golf as long as they are able. Since the average golfer loses 1.3 balls per round (who is now sad that they are way “above average” in this category?), it stands to reason that the longer you play, the more balls you will lose. And the secret to increased golf longevity as well as improved distance, a more consistent golf swing, and preventing injury is...WARMING UP with dynamic, not static, stretches.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever pulled up to the golf course, jumped out of your car and into the golf cart and headed straight for the first tee. You may now be thinking, “I know better than that. I head to the range first”. Time on the range is, undoubtedly, critically important to a good golf game. However, it is equally important to warm up before you even pick up a club. In the golf program at It’s Working Out we like to say, “warm up to swing, do not swing to warm up”. The proper warm up technique will increase the number of rounds of golf that you can play injury/pain free which means more golf (and more lost balls!) for you.

Golf is hard on the body. The swing is one-sided, highly explosive, and rotational. This combination creates the perfect storm for low back and shoulder issues. Add repetition to that and you can start to see why golf-related injuries are so common. For example, a golfer with a 15 handicap takes about 60 full swings per round, add in 2 practice swings and this golfer is swinging 165-180 times per round, not counting any driving range practice beforehand! Golf Monthly reports that, when analyzing the injury rate among players, golf is more dangerous than rugby or boxing and falls right behind football. How crazy is that?

So before you take that first swing, take time to incorporate a five minute dynamic warm up into your routine. The link below will take you through a full body pre-range warm up. Challenge yourself to learn this warm up now and practice it at home two or three times per week. Some of the moves will feel goofy at first (especially the pelvic tilt around minute four in this video), but you will feel results when you do pick up your clubs.

Link to It's Working Out's Golf Performance (warmup video on right side of page)

Contact kristen@itsworkingout.com if you would like more information on the importance of warming up before you swing.