Golf shoulder injuries are a common occurrence in golfers. There can be various reasons behind your shoulder pain, which we will dive into below and help you golf pain-free.

Upper Body Dominance

One potential reason for your shoulder pain with golf is having an upper body-dominant swing. Whether it’s due to technical reasons or lack of mobility in other areas (we will go over this later), your arms might be doing too much work from a muscular standpoint – resulting in shoulder overuse. Your lower body must work with your upper body to create an efficient and smooth golf swing to reduce any pain associated with swinging.

Lack of Mobility

Thoracic Spine

As mentioned above, shoulder pain can also result from a lack of mobility from other areas in your body. One key area to examine is your thoracic spine or upper back. Due to their close proximity, a lack of mobility within thoracic spine rotation can create shoulder compensation to still complete your golf swing. Repeatedly swinging with this deficiency will slowly create more and more shoulder strain. Simply addressing and improving thoracic spine mobility can take pressure off your shoulder(s) and help you swing the way your body was designed to. 

Shoulder

Your shoulder pain might also be due to a lack of shoulder mobility. During the backswing and the start of the downswing, your trail side shoulder is doing what is called external rotation (rotating outward). If your shoulder is unable to rotate to the degree it needs to, whether it be from previous injury or other joint restrictions, this could potentially explain your pain. 

Take this at-home assessment HERE to see if you’re rotating correctly, and get FREE golf shoulder exercises at the end upon submission.

Conclusion

Many golfers deal with shoulder pain regularly; however, this can be prevented. It is best to seek out an assessment from a healthcare professional, such as a golf physical therapist, to assess your mobility and determine the cause of your golf shoulder injury. Book your FREE strategy call with RobertsPT Golf Physical Therapy and Performance HERE, and start your path to pain-free golf today.

Dr. Cole Bunce is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Bunce works at RobertsPT, a golf Physical Therapy and Performance Center in Kansas City.

In the off-season, set clear, achievable goals, prioritize fitness, perfect your swing with an instructor, and keep playing through winter. Prepare to tee off the next season with newfound confidence.

Golf is a sport that requires dedication and practice to see improvement. If you want to take your golf game to the next level, it’s essential to use the off-season wisely. While it may be tempting to take a break from the links during the winter months, this is actually the perfect time to work on your game. In this blog post, we will discuss what you need to do this off-season to see significant results for next golf season.

1. Set Clear Goals

Before you start any off-season golf performance training, it’s important to set clear, measurable, and achievable goals. What aspects of your golf game do you want to improve? Is it your driving distance, improving your turn and flexibility, accuracy with irons, or your short game? Setting specific goals will give your training purpose and direction.

2. Work on Your Fitness

Golf is more physically demanding than it may appear. A good fitness regimen can significantly improve your golf game. Focus on flexibility, strength, and speed. Golf-specific mobility training and resistance training can help with flexibility and strength, allowing you to maintain focus and consistency throughout the round. If improving distance is your goal for next season, starting a supervised golf-training program is crucial and necessary. Investing in your health is not something you will regret.

3. Improve Your Swing

The off-season is the ideal time to work on your swing. Consider pairing your golf-specific training program with a golf instructor to fine-tune your technique. They can identify flaws in your swing and provide personalized guidance to correct them. Practicing with a launch monitor or indoor simulator can also help you understand your swing better. Combining golf-lessons with a golf-specific training program focused on the physical side is an off-season recipe for success.

4. Play Winter Golf

Don’t take the Winter off from playing golf. You cannot expect to improve your golf game if you don’t swing a club for 3 months. While taking a week or two off is fine, you’ll want to continue fine-tuning your swing so that you aren’t playing catch-up when next Spring arrives.

Conclusion

The off-season is a great opportunity to work on your golf performance training and game to make substantial improvements for next season. By setting clear goals, focusing on your fitness, and fine-tuning your swing, you’ll be well-prepared to tee off next golf season with confidence.

Set up a time for a complimentary phone session, or start with a free home assessment to get personalized exercises put together by Dr. Roberts in the regions you could improve.

Dr. Cole Bunce is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Bunce works at RobertsPT, a golf Physical Therapy and Performance Center in Kansas City.

The Competitive Advantage of Off-Season Training for Golfers

Off-season training for golfers provides a unique opportunity to address weaknesses and gain a competitive edge. Prioritizing physical fitness, including strength, flexibility, and balance, can lead to increased clubhead speed, improved distance off the tee, injury prevention, and enhanced consistency in your swing. Discover how off-season training can transform your golf game.

One of the primary benefits of off-season training is the ability to address weaknesses. Golfers can identify specific aspects of their game that need improvement and target them during the off-season. A key area of focus to gain a competitive advantage in the off-season is to prioritize physical fitness. Golf demands a combination of strength, power, flexibility, and balance. These attributes can be cultivated during the off-season. A stronger, more powerful body translates to increased clubhead speed and improved distance off the tee, while better flexibility aids in maintaining a consistent swing throughout the round and reducing injury risk.

Off-season training offers an invaluable opportunity for golfers to elevate their physical condition. Strength and power are the foundation upon which a golfer’s game is built. Building muscle and increasing speed can substantially increase distance off the tee, leading to lower scores on the course – and, of course, bragging rights.

Flexibility, another key component of physical fitness, is the unsung hero of injury prevention and longevity in golf. The ability to move specific joints and muscles through a full range of motion allows golfers to execute swings without undue stress on their bodies. When flexibility is lacking, the risk of strains, sprains, and other injuries skyrockets. A mobile body, on the other hand, ensures that golfers can maintain proper form and absorb the forces of their swing, reducing the likelihood of injury. So, for golfers looking to stay on the course and out of the doctor’s office, flexibility isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity. Moreover, a limber body enables a golfer to execute the full range of motion required for a consistent and controlled swing. By improving flexibility through targeted exercises during the off-season, golfers can gain a competitive edge on the course. 

Additionally, balance and stability are vital for a golfer’s success. A steady stance and controlled body movements are essential for accurate shots and maintaining consistency. Off-season training programs that incorporate balance and stability exercises can significantly enhance a golfer’s ability to maintain a poised posture during swings.

Incorporating these physical aspects into off-season training can be a game-changer. There’s no better time to gain a competitive advantage than the off-season. By dedicating time to building strength, power, flexibility, and balance, golfers can take their game to new heights and stay ahead of the curve in the competitive world of golf.

Dr. Cole Bunce is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Bunce works at RobertsPT, a golf Physical Therapy and Performance Center in Kansas City.

The squat is one of golf’s most important, yet most incorrectly performed exercises.

Why is the squat so important for you the golfer to train?

If a golfer has difficulty performing a full lower body squat with heels on the ground, it will be almost impossible for them to maintain posture during their downswing.

This usually manifests itself as what we call ‘early extension’ which is thrusting your lower body towards the golf ball and raising your trunk up during the downswing.

A common question I get asked is, “well we’re not supposed to squat that far down during the golf swing so why does that matter?” While you would be right in saying that, what is in question is the golfers’ ‘pattern’.

Without getting into the weeds on motor patterns, the sensation of your center of mass moving down and back on your transition from the top of your swing and into your downswing is a foreign concept and feel in people who can’t complete a full deep squat pattern. Therefore, they will be more likely to ‘stand up’ on the downswing too early as previously stated.

If you tend to do this in your golf swing, mastering the squat is for you!

Your lower body power is your number one power source in for generating clubhead speed.

You want to hit it farther? You need lower body strength. You want to know how to get lower body strength? Start squatting…but be wise and do it correctly!

How to master the squat:

Let’s start with what an optimal or functional squat entails. As a Doctor of Physical Therapy, I can nerd out on the components of an optimal squat..but for this article’s purpose I’ll give you my top hitters I look for so that you can apply for yourself:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart (or wider) – with toes pointed slightly outward – arms extended out in front (if just starting with body weight)
2. The low back should be in a ‘slightly’ arched or neutral position
3. Allow the hips and knees to slowly flex while keeping the torso-to-floor angle relatively constant (meaning do not flex the torso forward or round the back)
4. Keep the heels on the floor and the knees aligned over the feet
5. Continue flexing the hips and knees until the tops of the thighs are parallel to the floor, the trunk begins to round or flex forward, or the heels rise off the floor
6. Extend the hips and knees back to the starting position

There you go! To say I see a lot of poor squatting patterns in the gym would be an understatement…

Why is it so hard for most people to perform a safe, functional squat? Simply put, it’s a complex movement that requires so many areas of your body to perform. That’s why it’s such a good assessment for me the PT to use on my golfers!

There can be a host of reasons why someone is unable to perform a good squat, but I’ll give you my top five:

1. Limited ankle dorsiflexion mobility
2. Limited T-spine extension mobility
3. Limited hip mobility
4. Limited knee mobility
5. Core stability

You can assess a couple of those items yourself at home right now by claiming your free home assessment here! https://www.robertspt.co/home-assessment-form

How is your squat?

Safety and longevity in the game is a premium for a golfer of any age. However, it’s most important for the aging population. Younger players can get away with poor squatting technique way better than aging golfers. As we age, we don’t heal as well or as fast as when we were younger. The last thing you want to do is attempt to do an exercise only to ruin a month of golf or worse miss out on a tournament or your buddies’ golf trip because your back is messed up from ‘working’ out.

If you don’t have a trusted Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in golf supervising your squat to minimize early extension or increase your lower body strength/power to pick up some club head speed, we’d love to help.

We’ve done all the studying on how to safely perform and apply these things to your golf game so you don’t have to.

Let us help you and give us a call at 214-998-9904 or email wade@robertspt.co.

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the game of golf.

Trigger point tool – Foam Roller

If you’ve read anything by RobertsPT, you know how much we emphasize full mobility as the most critical element for playing pain-free, longevity in the game, creating elastic energy for power and distance, etc…if you haven’t taken our home assessment yet…it’s so simple once you know where you need to rotate and by how much when you compare yourself to what I show you is ‘normal’. Don’t delay this part. Take yours here (https://www.robertspt.co/home-assessment-form) now.

Once you identify your areas that need improvement, you need a tool to utilize often to release those tight areas. Even if you belong to a gym, having a firm foam roller at home that you can use more frequently than your ‘typical’ workout routine would be highly recommended. At RobertsPT, we’ve found mobility is best improved not by a 1x/week 45-minute roll out session, but rather by shorter (5-15 minute range) and targeted mobility work that can be done more frequently and consistently. We’d love to show you a few of our favorite moves with these that open up golfers’ turn!

Resistance Bands – Activate or ‘wake up’ upper and lower body

Prior to your strength training component of your workout, activating or waking up your muscles is important. Dynamic warm-up movements, such as arm circles for example, are good for increasing muscle temperature and blood flow (which are good things) but also getting the muscle primed through resistance bands are pivotal in preparing your body to lift safely and achieve your best results.

We run our golfers through a series of 5-10 exercises with bands to prime whatever muscles we intend to target that day. Resistance bands are effective because they’re safe, easy to use, low load, and can be moved with speed.

Adjustable Dumbbells – Key word…adjustable

We saved the best for last. Dumbbells have been around forever and for good reason. They’re readily accessible, not super expensive, and often easy to duplicate a few exercises that people see in men’s health articles or their local gym (bicep curls anyone?).

A simple observation after working with hundreds of golfers now is that way too often, I hear golfers saying they have one or two sets of dumbbells…i.e. 2 sets of 10s and 2 sets of 20s. Yes, that’s better than nothing, but we run into a problem that physical therapists call progressive overload. This is loosely defined that to continually make gains in muscular strength, you must consistently apply a slightly greater challenge (weight) to that muscle or exercise to stimulate new stress and therefore new adaptation. Camping out at the same weight for weeks, or months, or dare I say years, is not an effective way to strength train.

With that as context, the more expensive and space-occupying route is buying 2 sets of every dumbbells in 5lb increments from 5-50+lbs. If you have the money and the space…then go for it! But otherwise, the adjustable dumbbell set is, in our opinion, the best home gym investment anyone, golfer or not, can make.

At RobertsPT, we don’t overcomplicate workouts. You give us a couple of trigger point tools, resistance bands, and adjustable dumbbells and we can train almost anyone for as long as they want to train. The perk for you is that these workouts are very easily replicated at home or your local gym, can be done for years to come, and get the results without spending hours in the gym.

If you have any questions about home gym setups, want a few of our favorite brands that we use for the above items, or have questions about getting on a plan this off-season, we’d love to connect. Schedule a time to connect for free here (https://intakeq.com/booking/o8kxam?locationId=15)

Hit em’ straight,

Dr. Roberts

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the golf comm

Assess first, then perform The Three R’s

Step 1: Assess

If you have ever in the past or are currently doing a physical program of any sort that wasn’t done after assessing your specific body OBJECTIVELY, you are just guessing/assuming you are like everyone else with the same common issues.

Maybe you are, but most likely you’re not.

OBJECTIVE means you are measured – click the link below to complete your home mobility assessment https://www.robertspt.co/home-assessment-form

Step 2: Reset

‘Mobility before stability/strength’ is a principle I’ve been mentored in and have now seen success with a lot of my golfers.

Resets are techniques that help your muscles and joints move better and include methodologies such as a mobilization, manipulation, myofascial release, soft tissue work, trigger point therapy etc…

These techniques are specific interventions and require a good deal of competency to perform correctly and effectively (most people don’t do these at all or don’t do these correctly and therefore don’t get the results they want spending hours stretching and/or using the massage gun with minimal gains in their mobility)

Step 3: Reinforce

Now that you’re moving better (a.k.a. refer back to your home assessment and retest yourself to see if you actually made an objective improvement from the reset) you need to reinforce or activate that muscle or joint to help this new range of motion stick. I call this hitting the save button.

There’s nothing worse than spending a half hour getting your mobility where it needs to be only to lose your gains by the time you wake up the next day. You will continue to tighten right back up and chase your tail if you don’t perform some activation work right after your reset.

Reinforcement or activation is also waking up the muscles to prepare the body for the final phase, the reload phase.

Step 4: Reload

This is your actual strength component workout routine that is hopefully done a couple of times a week. Your body is in the best and SAFEST position to perform strength training when you’re moving well (reset) and you’re activated (reinforcement). Workout routines, whether for golf or not, should be balanced, through a full range of motion, and with proper technique to not create muscle imbalances and/or asymmetries in your body. If the reload or strength phase is poorly designed, this leads to the tightening up of the muscles and joints that you just spent all that time working on and may be the culprit as to why you’re stiff in the first place or simply missing out on your potential for maximal power.

Mobility is one key to power. Muscles are like rubber bands. You need to be able to lengthen a muscle to create elastic energy to hit the ball a long way. Make sure your 2023 Golf Workout Plan is designed to promote mobility, not hinder it, through a good reset, reinforcement, and reload this year.

If you have any questions about your plan, RobertsPT helps educate, equip, and train golfers to play for years to come with less pain and more distance. If you don’t have a trusted Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in golf supervising your plan, let’s jump on a call (https://www.robertspt.co/schedule-a-strategy-call)  or email wade@robertspt.co to discuss where you’re at.

Hit em’ straight,

Dr. Roberts

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the game of golf.

As the cold weather has moved into KC, most courses have moved their golfers on the driving range to begin hitting off of mats instead of the grass.

This may not appear to be a big deal, however, one of the most common off-season injuries I see are in the wrist/hand. Not coincidentally, it’s often the same time they transitioned their practice time from hitting surfaces off the grass to the turf.

Playing and practicing healthy golf is always a top priority with RobertsPT and why this is an area I wanted to address as you practice this off-season.

Now, the best way to avoid this potentially less-than-ideal scenario of hitting off mats is to rack up frequent flyer miles and head south for the winter in sunny Arizona, Florida, or Palm Springs to continue hitting off real grass…

But for most of us, the turf and mats are our only option…so what do we do to avoid the adverse effects on our body including these flare-ups to our wrist/hand from the excessive forces of the impact from the mats?

A couple of suggestions to keep your body healthy hitting off mats this off-season:

#1 = Improve Your Lower Body Move

When someone has poor lower body mobility, or a poor ability to use their lower body in their golf swing, the upper body (wrist/hand) is forced to work harder and takes on way more stress than it was designed to handle in the swing. By improving your hip rotation and hip turn, you’re already helping to prevent (or improve) any upper body compensations and discomfort.

The best way to see if you’re good on suggestion #1 here is to assess your hip rotation mobility, right now, at home by checking out this home assessment – this is the most important area of your body to work on if you have any type of upper body/upper extremity discomfort or limitation – get to the root cause of your upper body discomfort..not chase or treat the symptoms!

#2 = Modify Your Practice Sessions

• Limit your total volume of practice time by hitting full swings
  • Decrease the number of balls or time hitting irons
  • Emphasize ‘drill work’ that doesn’t require full impact
• Alternate irons and drivers more frequently
  • For example, do not hit irons for 45 straight minutes and then finish with the driver (or vice versa)
  • Alternate 10 iron shots and 10 driver shots
• Practice your full pre-shot routine with every shot
  • This will slow down the interval between shots to allow the wrist/hand to recover from the stress of the forces going through the wrist/hand at impact
  • Most golf injuries are repetitive in nature….so slow down the repetition!

The off-season is a great time to practice on your game and work on your body in the gym. Don’t lose this valuable time by injuring your wrist/hand (or any area of your body) as your normal golf routines change and your body is forced to adapt to something new.

RobertsPT helps educate, equip, and train golfers to play for years to come with less pain and more distance. If you don’t have a trusted Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in golf supervising your plan, I’d be happy to jump on a call to discuss your off-season goals. Call 214-998-9904 or email wade@robertspt.co.

Hit em’ straight,

Dr. Roberts

Click Here to Set Up a Call

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the golf comm

Power in golf defined:

Power = Force x Displacement/Time     OR     Power = Force x Velocity
Force = strength
Displacement = mobility or turn or the distance you can ‘ramp’ up your club head speed
Time = speed/impulse

In other words, to increase power or clubhead speed this off-season, you need to either increase your muscular strength, increase the distance over which you can generate that force, and/or you need to be able to do it fast!

Bodybuilders who can lift a lot of weight but can’t lift it fast…aren’t powerful.
Track and field athletes who are super-fast but are not strong…aren’t powerful.
A powerful golfer is strong AND fast.

When I evaluate a golfer, I help them identify which of those 3 components are their main power leak…and if there is more than one, which area is the priority for them to gain power.

You as a golfer need to be crystal clear on where you stand and if your focus this off-season should be more on getting mobile, strong or fast…some of you may lose power in 1 area while others of you may have power leaks in all 3.

As you approach your off-season and you desire to take advantage of the colder months to spend time working on the physical side of golf in the gym, be sure to have a plan that is targeted to what you specifically need! That is how you’ll get results and gain 10-30+ yards over the off-season without even hitting a golf ball.

I meet too many golfers going to the gym and ‘working out’ instead of ‘training’ specifically for a purpose with a plan.

At RobertsPT, we guarantee at least 3 mph (money back guaranteed) with most of our golfers gaining 5-8mph in less than 3 months’ time. How do we get those results? We’re customized to what YOU need after a thorough assessment.

As a Doctor of Physical Therapy, mobility will always be first priority. To see how well you’re able to rotate for a golf swing, TAKE MY FREE HOME ASSESSMENT for an easy way to see where your plan may need to start. If you clear all 4 rotational centers on this home assessment…then you need to focus on either strength or speed work. How do you if you need more strength or speed? Again, you need more information and need to be further assessed.

If you don’t have a trusted Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in golf supervising your plan, I’d be happy to jump on a call to discuss your off-season goals. Call 214-998-9904 or email wade@robertspt.co.

Let’s train smarter…not just harder this off-season.

Hit em’ straight,
Dr. Roberts

Click Here to Set Up a Call

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the golf community.

1. Reverse spine angle

A Reverse Spine Angle is any excessive upper body backward bend or excessive left lateral (for right-handed golfers) upper body bend during the backswing. This positioning produces an excessive amount of torque and pressure on the low back on the downswing due to the chest having to travel ‘farther’ and ‘faster’ to get back down to impact. Any time you increase the speed or force forward bending with rotation at the same time…that’s a good recipe for back pain.

2. Early extension

Early extension occurs when the hips and spine of a golfer start to go into extension or straighten up too early on the downswing. In this impact position, your core and gluteal (butt) muscles are in a poor position to properly ‘engage’ and are what we call, inhibited. Similar to Reverse Spine Angle, anytime you have rapid rotation of the body with no core engagement, that’s a good recipe for back pain. This is also the number one cause of a shank as your hips have now actually moved closer to the ball minimizing the space for your hands. 

Ask one of your playing partners next time you golf to take a video of your swing and see for yourself (if you don’t know already) if you possess these characteristics.

How do you improve these positions? Almost always it’s a lack of proper mobility in really 4 areas of your body. I tell my golfers that if you can’t clear a full range of motion here, then your body will ‘work around’ those limitations and often manifests itself as described in the pictures above. I’ve put together a brief video for you to check for yourself at home how well you move in those 3 areas. Check out the home assessment here >>

Playing back pain-free is possible!

Hit em’ straight,
Dr. Roberts

Click Here to Set Up a Call

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the golf community

The goal of a warm-up: is to prepare the golfer mentally and physically for the demands of a 9 or 18-hole round.

Traditionally, an effective warm-up has also been thought to decrease the risk of injury. While this remains unclear, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that a positive effect may exist. Recent evidence is suggesting, however, that a well-designed warm-up can actually result in a number of physiological responses that can potentially increase subsequent performance on the golf course.

A couple of positive effects and how it relates to golf from a well-designed warm-up:

• Faster muscle contractions = increased speed –> increased distance
• Improvements in rate of force development = increased power –> increased distance
• Lowered viscous resistance in muscles and joints = increased mobility –> increased turn
• Improved oxygen delivery and blood flow = decreased stiffness to muscles and joints –> increased turn
• Increased psychological preparedness for performance (Don’t underestimate the game between the ears!)

What should a golf warm-up consist of?

• Part 1 = 5 minutes of slow aerobic activity
  • The aim of this is to increase heart rate, blood flow, muscle temperature, and decrease viscosity of joint fluids
  • Examples: If your longest walk is from the parking lot to the golf cart and then to the driving range (or worse straight to the first tee) that most likely isn’t long enough. Get creative, take the long way to the clubhouse from the parking lot…walk up a steep hill near the putting green is a fast way to get the heart rate going and blood flow pumping

• Part 2 = 5 minutes of general stretching
  • The aim of this is to replicate the ranges of motion required for the upcoming activity – a.k.a. full turn
  • In the game of golf, there are 4 areas you need to be able to rotate well in – in this HOME ASSESSMENT GUIDE I go into detail about these 4 areas. A good warm-up doesn’t have to be long if you do it specifically for the game of golf.

• Part 3 = 10 minutes of hitting balls
  • What’s the best order of clubs to use or how many balls should you hit to be ‘warmed up’?
  • While this varies from person to person depending on many factors, a general rule of thumb is 7,7,7
  • 7 shots with a wedge-9iron, 7 shots with a 7-5iron, and 7 shots with a 3wood-driver
  • Why 20+ balls?
    • Maybe this is experience talking, but after watching a lot of golfers hit balls on golf simulators and Trackman, most golfers hit their ‘average/top’ club head speed between balls 20-30.
    • Very few players, regardless of how in shape they are, can step right up and reach the higher end of their club head speed without an appropriate amount of swings

• Part 4 = 5 minutes of chipping and putting
  • You know this is where the strokes add up…chip a few to get your feel going and then putt a few to get the speed of the greens and boost your confidence in seeing a few putts go in

**(Note: a warm-up should end no more than 15 minutes before the start of the first swing)

Take Home = You can do the math…but YOU HAVE TO GET TO THE COURSE EARLY.

• This takes discipline
• We’ve all done it where we’re flying out of the office or house to catch a tee time. Obviously, life happens and you’re going to go from ‘trunk to tee’ every now and then. But don’t make it a habit. Discipline yourself and your game to get to the course early
• 10:00 am Tee Time Example
  • 9:50 – 10:00 – Show up to the first tee to check in/get the bets lined up
  • 9:30 – 9:50 – Complete Parts 2-4 in the practice area (Note: Parts 3 and 4 can be reversed based on preference)
  • 9:15 – 9:25 – Park, 5 min of aerobic activity, golf shoes on, check-in, go to the bathroom, get your clubs, etc.

So on your next round of golf, try showing up to the course 45 minutes minimum before your round of golf. Be ready to go on the first tee, not the 5^th after you’ve ‘loosened up’.

Click Here to Set Up a Call

Dr. Wade Roberts is a contributing writer for Central Links Golf. Dr. Roberts is the owner of Roberts PT, a golf PT and Performance Center in Kansas City. He graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. He then earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Lynchburg College. Dr. Roberts is able to provide specialized therapies for a variety of patients but has a special interest in decreasing pain, increasing speed, and achieving longevity in the golf community.