Injuries from golf can happen to complete amateurs or to professional golfers. Being a golfer myself the most amount of warm up I used to do was eating a nice hot bacon roll before my round, I’m sorry to tell you this is not enough.
Some light stretching and practice swings will greatly reduce the likelihood of picking up an injury. Here are a few useful things you can do to help prevent an injury out on the golf course.
Firstly, the warm up.
1. Stretching – The stretches below will help to loosen the some of the muscles involved in the golf swing ready for your round.
– Start by stretching your shoulder and torso by holding a golf club behind the neck and shoulders and then rotating the torso.
– The hips and low back can be stretched by pulling your knees up to your chest one at a time and holding for about 20 seconds.
– The hamstrings and low back can be stretched by gently bending forwards and trying to reach for your toes. Again hold for around 20 seconds. Try not to over stretch with this exercise.
Repeat each of the above stretches three times and you should be feeling quite a bit looser.
2. Practise swings – the majority of golfers will turn up to the course get their gear together and then try as hard as they can to belt a 300 yard drive down the first fairway. This is not very good for the body! To go from nothing to maximal effort without a warm up will lead to an injury.
– Start with a wedge of some description and have ten slow swings. After this with the same club do five normal speed swings.
– Now move to a mid-iron and again take ten slow swings and five normal speed swings.
– Next take out a wood and go through the same process, this will make sure you are now warmed up and ready to play golf.
3. Carrying the golf bag –
– Use a golf bag with an integrated stand, this will prevent you from having to pick up and put down the bag constantly.
– If you are going to carry your golf bag use a dual strap carry bag which will even out the pressures on the upper back.
– If you pull a trolley, try your best to switch which side you pull it on this will even out the load on you back muscles.
The above tips should help you to avoid injury whilst playing golf. If you do pick up an injury remember to get it looked at by one of the team at the Waldegrave Clinic as soon as possible. We will get you fixed up and back out scoring birdies in no time – call 020 8943 2424.
Disclaimer: The above will help you to prevent injuries whilst playing golf, however, improving the standard of your golf is completely up to you!
