Do you find yourself thinking about what you should be doing as a warm up prior to your next round?
Maybe you have considered adding a warm up to your pre-round routine, but don’t want to look foolish around your playing partners.
Warming up prior to a round can help improve performance, but most golfers don’t do any type of warm up. Of those that do warm up, usually less than two minutes is dedicated to warming up, and the majority of golfers just swing.
This is all despite the fact that most golfers think that warming up prior to a round will help reduce injury risk and enhance performance.
So it should be a no-brainer right?
One major barrier that stops golfers from completing a warm up is that they don’t know what to do.
While we may have many excuses, for those of you who are looking to get the most out of your round by doing a proper warm up, this post will help you tackle the what to do barrier.
What types of exercises should be in your warm up?
This is a common question we get in the clinic regardless of the sport. In a previous article, we touched on static stretching and its historical role as a warm up activity.
To sum it up, using static stretching has been emphasized in the past, but has been more recently shown to decrease performance when performed in a competition.
By no means does this mean you should completely avoid using static stretching, but it is something that may take less precedence prior to teeing off.
Static stretching has been shown to have a negative impact on golf performance measures such as shot accuracy, shot distance, club head speed, and perceived shot quality.
Though these might not directly impact your handicap, it can impact those performance measures.
Static stretching can have these negative impacts for 30-60 minutes, meaning if you static stretch before teeing off, you can lose performance for several holes.
*for more on static stretching for golfers, check out this video*
Static vs Dynamic
Static stretching/exercise is when you hold or sustain a position for a set period of time (usually around 30s) whereas dynamic movements entail moving in and out of a certain position.
Dynamic stretching has been shown to be better for performance when compared to static stretching. This means it would be beneficial to scrap the static stretching and add dynamic exercise to your pre-round routine.
Examples Of Dynamic Exercises (3 Warm Up Exercises Every Golfer Should Know)
Check out this video for an example of what types of exercises you should include in your warm up!
By no means will this be optimal for every golfer, but you can use it as a baseline and for inspiration when creating your own warm up routine.
Warming up the hips, spine, and shoulders is a great place to start.
When To Perform Your Warm Up Routine
Each person should adapt their warm up to their specific needs. For example, if a golfer has tight hips, they should tailor their warm up to emphasize this area.
Your warm up at a minimum should be performed before your round, but it would likely be advantageous to continue to perform some of the movements in your routine throughout the round.
The benefits from your warm up will not last your entire round. Performing some of the movements targeting your “tight areas” or where the stiffness settles in is likely something that should occur throughout the round.
Go Warm Up!
So there you have it, the basics of how a warm up should be done as a golfer. Performing dynamic activities before your round is crucial for improving your performance on the course, while performing static stretching might actually make you worse.
Your warm up should probably be specific to where you have mobility problems or stiffness throughout the round, but a general warm up hitting the hips, spine, and shoulders would be a great place to start.
Most golfers are doing little to nothing to warm up, so give yourself an advantage and give it a try!
If you are curious about how we at Peak Pursuit serve golfers, click here to read more!
Best,
Peak Pursuit Team
