Prepare Your Body for Spring Golf
The spring is rapidly approaching and it’s time to prepare your body for the upcoming golf season. The winter months naturally lead to a less active lifestyle and hardly any golf. For these reasons, it’s important that you prepare your body for the demands of the golf swing before the weather gets warmer.
When we’re not golfing, we’re not rotating. Hence, when golf season begins, it’s important to have the mobility required to make a good turn in the swing. Not only to play good golf at the beginning of the season, but to prevent early season aches and injuries.
Spine Mobility and Shoulder Turn
Almost all effective golf swings contain anywhere from 70-90 degrees of shoulder turn in the backswing and 20-35 degrees of shoulder turn at impact. If you’re not regularly doing stretches and exercises that require large amounts of rotation, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to improve ball striking.
The Thoracic Spine
The source of the shoulder turn is the thoracic spine. The thoracic spine is the middle-upper part of the spine. The vertebrae of the thoracic spine need to be very mobile to meet the rotational demands of the swing. The anatomical and physiological reasons behind the loss of thoracic mobility can be complicated, but it’s safe to say that sitting around all winter doesn’t help the cause.
Perform the exercises below daily to improve your spine mobility and shoulder turn for golf:
Exercise #1 - Open Books
Exercise #2 - Tall Kneeling Rotation
Exercise #3 - Half Kneeling Rotation
If you try these exercises and you find them to be too challenging or uncomfortable, do not continue, until you have consulted with your physician. All exercises for golf should be customized to your needs after a proper evaluation.
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