If you’ve ever been to a professional golf tournament and watched the pros warm up, you’ll notice they all stretch on the driving range and loosen up on the first tee. This is particularly noticeable on the senior circuit of the Champions Tour. Whether they are playing competitive golf or practicing, you will find that they will always stretch.  This is just as important to you and your game, too.  Stretching warms up your body to play golf and it will decrease your chance of being injured. So what are some stretching programs that you should consider?

Yoga is one stretching program that many golfers are turning to. Many PGA Tour and Champions Tour pros are turning to yoga to help condition their bodies and improve their flexibility. Yoga builds up muscles and stretches them, so you will find that it can allow you to swing the club better and more fluidly. If you have been looking for a way to condition your body to help your golf game, yoga can be a great choice to stretch out your body.

If you want to go more old school, you can stretch the different parts of your body.  From arm stretches to neck stretches to leg stretches and more, you’ll find that there are many different stretches that you can do to help make your swing have better rhythm and tempo.  By stretching before your round and doing stretches daily, you will help your muscles to become stronger and make your golf game more competitive.

If you’re in a rush, a couple of easy stretches that you can do on the golf course include:

• Take a couple of your shorter clubs (like an 8-iron and 9-iron) and hold them both together. Now swing a three-quarter golf swing and full follow through. Do this 10-15 times. This extra weight added to your natural golf swing will loosen up your swing muscles very quickly.
• Grab a longer iron (like a 5-iron) and hold it over your head with one hand on the grip and the other on the club face. Spread your legs wider than shoulder width apart. Now pull your shoulders back as far as they will go and hold for 15 seconds. Next, lean over from the hips and push the club towards the ground. Hold for 15 seconds. Repeat this sequence 3 times.
• Using the same club and grip with your 5-iron, hold the club your in front of you at shoulder height. Twist as far as you can to the right and hold for 15 seconds. Now twist as far as you can to the left and hold for 15 seconds. Repeat this sequence 3 times.

These three simple stretching exercises will get your swing muscles loosened up in less than 5 minutes. Now your body will be warm and fluid, ready to hit some practice balls or tee it up on the first tee.

Due to the fact that you are over 50 and more susceptible to some injuries, you will want to be sure that you have a stretching program in place.  Stretching should be an essential part of your golf routine to allow you to warm your body and help your swing be more fluid and comfortable.  Whether you choose to use stretches that you learned in yoga or you use a tried and true stretching routine, you will want to be sure to consistently stretch before playing and between rounds to stay flexible.  Stretch it out and watch your golf scores decrease and your health improve.

How do you stay loose and warm when playing golf? Share your favorite stretching program, yoga program, or pre-round stretches in our comment section.

For a great stretching DVD, check out Mike Pederson’s 7 Minutes Golf Stretching DVD.

The only way to prevent low back pain or injury is to strengthen and stretch your lower back. Learn more with this video from Mike Pedersen of Perform Better Golf.

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Obviously, your hands and forearms are important in control of your club throughout the swing. As you strengthen your hands and forearms, you’ll improve your game by being able to keep the club face square through tough lies like thick rough.

Exercising your hands and forearms is pretty easy and it’s something you can do throughout the day. You’ve probably seen those ‘stress balls’ – the little rubber balls or the tension-relieving ‘hand huggers’. Try to find one that is a little tougher rather than ‘spongey’.

Simply carry the stress ball around with you and squeeze it repeatedly. You can work on your strength while at your desk, taking a walk, driving your car, or watching TV. Work on both hands and give a little extra focus on your weaker hand and forearm (if you’re right-handed, work a bit on your left hand and forearm more so than your stronger right hand).

It won’t be long before you start to feel the build up of strength and it will translate to the course for you. While today’s hybrid clubs swing through the rough much easier than a 4 or 5 iron, you will find improvement in your ball flight from these tougher lies by building up this strength.

Go get a stress ball today and take some stress out of those tough lies from thick rough!

From a health perspective, some recent studies have validated what many of us already have known (yes, golf IS a sport and you DO get exercise by playing golf…even if you ride in a cart!). A group called ‘Golf Science International’ touts that walking for four hours while playing golf is equivalent to a 45-minute aerobic fitness class. Not bad. How about another study that showed a reduction in bad cholesterol from golfers who walked versus their peers who cruised in the cart? A fellow by the name of Edward Palank took the time to take on that study.

You’ve probably also heard about the ’10,000 steps per day challenge’, a health program that encourages people to count their steps and do what it takes to get 10k in per day. In my own anectodal (but quite unscientific) study with my regular golfing buddy, we found that walking your local muni will register around 8000 – 12000 steps.

A study released in late 2008 from Rose Center for Health and Sports Sciences in Denver validated that golf really is a sport. They strapped up a bunch of study participants and measured some key stats:

• Walking and carrying your clubs for 9 holes burns 721 calories. A surprising finding was that using a pull cart versus carrying your clubs was a very small difference in the number of calories burned – you still burn 718 calories when using a pull cart! Save your back, use a pull cart.
• Riding burns 411 – that’s still a pretty good number, which indicates that swinging the club is decent exercise in and of itself.

The study then got pretty interesting when it compared the average scores of golfers who walked and carried their clubs, those who walked and pulled their clubs, those who had caddies and those who took a golf cart. The results? Golfers scored best when pulling their clubs. Walking may very well give you time to think about your next shot and improve your game. Here’s how the average 9-hole scores broke down:

• Pull cart: 40
• Caddy: 42
• Golf cart: 43
• Carry clubs: 45

Interesting, huh? You can find more detail on the study at the PGATour.com site.

It’s unfortunate that there are many new courses that were not built with the walker in mind. In fact, it isn’t uncommon to find some resort courses only allow golf carts and not allow walking at all. Don’t be misled by that policy – it’s not because it actually takes longer to walk than to ride. In fact, studies show facts to the contrary. Instead, these policies are usually in place because the designer had to put significant distance between green to tee (sometimes for architectural desire to work with in the terrain…but many other times because they are routing a course through a resort or housing development). I’m sure you’ve played a few of these courses where it isn’t uncommon to have one-quarter to one-half mile between holes.

Next time you play 9 or 18 holes, you should consider walking if you don’t walk already. If it’s a bit too much of a shift for you, start by keeping your cart on the path only and walk to your ball from the path. Then perhaps shift to walking the front nine and riding the back nine before working your way up to walking the entire round. But definitely work your way up to at least walking a few of your rounds and not solely relying on the golf cart…you’ll enjoy the health benefits and the benefits of lower scores!