As the snow and ice thaw, it’s time to dust off the golf bag and get yourself ready for the golf season. New England has some of the best golf courses in the country, but we only get to enjoy them for a handful of months each year. If it’s been a couple of months since you’ve last played or want to make some physical changes to help your game, check out our tips for how to prepare your body for golf season.
Stretching (and Lots of It)
You may think that you can do a few quick stretches right before teeing off and be fine, but failing to thoroughly stretch your body can lead to injury. Golf involves rapid, high-velocity movements that put tremendous pressure on your body, and if it’s been months since you’ve last played, you can very easily strain something.
Plus, being flexible can improve your swing. You’ll want to stretch your arms, hips, and quads for golf, and doing a set of handwalks every day is a great start.
Lower-Body Training
Your legs and hips are crucial to golf, so keeping them strong and flexible is vital. They add power to your swing, and beefing up your leg muscles can add a few yards to your drives.
The quads are what golfers use most. Consequently, you want to target yours with simple exercises like wall sits, squads, and leg presses.
Upper-Body Exercises
If you want to generate more clubhead speed on your swing, then you should consider working out your upper body more. All your upper-body muscles are important, but golfers generally want to focus on the muscles above the elbow, such as the biceps, triceps, and shoulders.
You can do many exercises at home to improve your upper body, from simple push-ups and barbell curls to lateral raises and overhead presses.
Core Movements
Some of the most common golf injuries involve straining or pulling muscles in the back. Targeting your core is vital if you want to avoid that for yourself. Stretch your core properly before golfing, and strengthen your core muscles with simple exercises like crunches and leg raises.
Cardio Workouts
You might think you don’t need cardio for golf since you’re using a golf cart, but cardio is your best bet if you want to improve your endurance. Exercising the cardiovascular system can be challenging for older golfers with ailing joints. Still, you can do low-impact exercises to work on this aspect of fitness. There are many benefits of low-impact cardio workouts, including improving your golf game without putting undue stress on your joints.
Train your cardiovascular system, and by the 18th green, you’ll still be sharp and steady enough to sink that birdie putt and even go for another set of holes.
Those are our tips for how to prepare your body for golf season. It may be a leisure activity, but golf can still damage your body if you’re not prepared. Follow our tips to be in top shape. Good luck out on the links!
