By Emmet Kennedy, Chartered PhysiotherapistÂ
The start of the golf season will be here before you know it. Now is the time to start thinking about implementing physical strategies that can help you have a successful year.
Perhaps due to playing and practising less over the winter, you will have some more time to work on other physical aspects of golf. It would be useful to consider using this time to work on targeted exercise.
As you age you might find that you get stiffer and more restricted in your movement. Golf is a rotation-based activity. Most of the rotation in our golf swing comes through out hips and thoracic (middle part) spine. Keeping these areas mobile and flexible is key to maintaining a fluid swing. Doing simple mobility exercises a few times per week is enough to be effective.
There is a growing trend in the game towards distance and club head speed. A key component in generating good distance and speed is having adequate strength in our legs and ‘core’. A strengthening programme that targets these areas, done twice a week can see impressive improvements in 6 weeks. There is still time to see gains before the season kicks off!
Being mobile and string in the right areas can also make our bodies more robust in general and reduce the risk of picking up niggles and injuries during the season.
In the clinic we tend to see an increase in golf related injuries in the 1st couple of months after the season starts. This is typically due to overuse. The most common reason people get injured when returning to any sport or activity they haven’t done in a while is because of doing ‘too much, too soon’. There are ways we can mitigate that risk in golf;
- Space out your return to play over a few weeks, build up how much you play gradually.
- Continue to play and practice through the winter. This helps the body to avoid becoming ‘unaccustomed’ to the demands of golf.
- As mentioned above, try to integrate a strength and mobility programme into your week.
- Try to maintain general fitness. Don’t underestimate the fitness required to walk around a course for 4 hours and the impact that fatigue can have on performance and injury risk. If not playing regularly through the winter then try to stay fit with activity such as walking or jogging.
At Life Fit Wellness we have a number of services that can help you with your golf game, from Physiotherapy to address any injuries you have, and Pilates to help with golf conditioning, to Golf Screening to help identify physical impairments affecting your swing.
For further information about our services then please contact us at 01324 614044 or info@lifefitwellness.co.ukÂ
