TIP OF THE WEEK

YOUR first tee shot is hard enough and it gets even harder if you haven’t prepared your body to play.

Golfers everywhere in the world regularly spend their first six holes trying to warm up and find their swing.

It’s not always possible to hit a bucket of balls before you start your round but a few well-placed stretches can give you a better start to your rounds of golf.

There are three areas of your body that you want to be warmed up and feeling loose and flexible.

Firstly, it’s wise to stretch the area around your hips, this includes your glutes and hamstrings. During a golf swing the hips rotate internally and externally, so your glutes and hamstrings need to be supple. Any stretches you know for this part of the body are better than nothing.

If you are not sure what stretches to do, there is plenty of information on the internet.

Next, you want the area in your back between your shoulder blades and just below to be as free as possible.

This area is hard to keep loose in general, as your work environment will have a big influence on its flexibility. Torso rotation exercises are the go here. You should be trying to rotate your torso without rotating your hips.

Finally, you need your shoulders to be loose.

Simple movements like rotating your arms in a circular motion will free you up to a point, but I would check out some shoulder stretches online. Stiff shoulders ruin lots of golf swings.

All up, if you do two stretches on each body part this may only take three or four minutes. A small time investment for an excellent chance to play better golf.