If you are like most golfers and want to play golf for as many years as you can, then you definitely want to take care of your body. Golf is actually a very unnatural move for our bodies. There is a lot of torque put on the muscles and joints and without proper preparation and care you can damage those muscles and joints.
I learned this lesson the hard way while playing professional golf. Playing 6x a week and not resting properly was one reason that lead to 4 knee surgeries. After the first, I didn't play as much and made sure to rest my body more. It wasn't until years later, after my 4th knee surgery, that I learned I was not stretching properly. Going to the driving range prior to a round of golf is not really stretching. Even if you start with chip shots and small swings. The problem here is you just go straight into golf motion and are not preparing your body for the golf swing.
Stretching is more important than hitting a bucket of balls before playing golf. You have to warm up your muscles and prepare your joints for the torque you are about to put on your body. The most important parts to stretch are the upper and lower back. Your legs naturally stretch while you walk and walking is a way you warm up your body to stretch. There are some fitness instructors that actually recommend against stretching before physical activity because the body is not warmed up and stretching cold can lead to injury. They recommend stretching after physical activity. However, I would almost bet that many of them do not know the mechanics of the golf swing.
I personally use my GolfFOREVER Swing Trainer to stretch and the instructors and creators are very adamant about warming up the body and even did a blog post about warming up for your round of golf well before you even get to the golf course. It is titled: Warm Up to Ignite Your Golf Game From Anywhere.
Depending on your swing and how hard you hit the ball will depend on how much you should stretch. Below is a sample video of the stretching I do and how I use my GolfFOREVER swing trainer. You may have seen it shared on Golf Nola social media channels but this video was edited to caption each stretch. Again it is just a sample and not my entire pre-round stretching routine. I will normally spend 5 - 10 minutes (sometimes more) stretching before a round of golf.
The GolfFOREVER swing trainer shown in the video is an all in one, golf fitness and golf swing trainer and has a membership program that has thousands of videos for golf instruction and fitness instruction. Stretching is a huge part of what GolfFOREVER promotes to help golfers play without limits. The founders, Dr. Jeremy James, and professional golfer Justin Leonard. Their golf is to have more golfers play longer through life. You can get FREE shipping using code: GOLFNOLA
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