The annual ritual of the start of golf season is coming up fast. If you want to have a better season than last year (fingers crossed!), then here are some tips for preparing in advance. And I am not simply talking about getting your golf shoes out of the garage to clean them off. Rather, you need to prepare your body itself for golfing. You might thing that playing golf itself is enough to qualify for your fitness goals. Certainly there are some moderate benefits, but even more important is preparing your body for the new golf season after a winter of too much sitting around. And this year, why not take the leap and if you are physically able, walk the course instead of using a global-warming culprit and money guzzling golf cart? If you do that, and avoid on most occasions the call of the 19th hole grease pit, you will find it easier and easier to walk the full course as the summer goes along. It's true! However, well before the season begins, you can do a bunch of things to prepare your body for what lies ahead. The key is to get yourself prepared to tackle the long bouts of walking and standing around waiting on the course, and to slowly build strength in muscles that are used repetitively by golfers. Aerobic and stamina-building exercises are the key to beating the long walks in the heat of summer. And flexibility and muscle training will help you achieve longer drives, better swing consistency, and overall mid-torso strength. You won't need to become a heavy lifting body builder at all! No, the goal is to tackle the repetitive, asymmetrical movements of golf by gently strengthening your muscles in advance. Rotational flexibility, hip flexibility, lower back muscles, and shoulder strength all play a role in each golfer's swing. And working these areas will also help you avoid getting spasms in your leg or back muscles during a long day on the links. If you have been cramped up in an office desk and chair all winter, then this is even more important. Don't feel intimidated by the time commitment, because you can perform many of these exercises during your lunch break, or at home in the evening in front of the television. You also don't necessarily need to break a sweat doing most of them. The rotational power in your torso relies on the hips, buttocks, thighs, abdominals, and lower back muscles all working in coordination. So begin by stretching those core areas. Later you can begin strength training, but still maintain the emphasis on the core power zone areas. The muscles, ligaments, and bones of the core area are those between your chest and knees. There are thousands of various exercises that can help you target those areas, but some of the more common ones include gentle trunk rotations, abdominal crunches, gentle torso twists, side rotations using resistance, hamstring stretches, and cat arches and hunches for the lower back. Be sure to start slowly if you have led a sedentary existence during the winter months. The risk is that you may injure a core muscle, and your golf season would be pushed back by several weeks. Take a few minutes to warm up before each strength building session, using whatever aerobic method you prefer such as a treadmill, elliptical trainer, or stair climber. I'll outline some specific exercises in another article, but the key is to get started early! Don't wait until the day before your first tee-off of the season. Get going on some of these easy, brief, daily exercises well in advance of when you will need them, and you will reap the rewards of greater torso strength, and stamina to play well from tee-off to final putt.
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The annual ritual of the start of golf season is coming up fast. If you want to have a better season than last year (fingers crossed!), then here are some tips for preparing in advance. And I am not simply talking about getting your golf shoes out of the garage to clean them off. Rather, you need to prepare your body itself for golfing.
Morgan Fobbs is a golf lover and expert teacher. For more great advice and to get an absolutely free copy of a report that is guaranteed to take strokes off your golf game, visit as soon as you can. Click here for other unique golf articles.
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