Improve playing performance
Written by Henri Reis, Annika Sörenstam personal coach and Kari Anne Lund, Physical Therapist.

Appropriate warm-up sequences for muscles and joints, will help golfers improve playing performance. The most important piece of golfing equipment is still the human body.
Golfers typically focus almost exclusively on innovations in golf equipment in an effort to improve overall playing performance. This focus, however, overlooks physical improvement potential of the golfer. The benefits of an adequate warm up sequence before teeing off is two-fold; improved performance and a significant decrease in the risk of injury.
The average golfer often comes directly to the driving range after a day of inactivity and warms up by hitting balls with the wedge. In this article, we will analyze the importance of effective warm-up sequences prior to swinging at the driving range.
The proper coiling and uncoiling motion in a fundamental swing requires excellent mobility and the swing rotation puts tremendous stress on the spine. The downswing takes only between 0.2 to 0.25 seconds at a swing speed ranging from 65 to 130 mph. This activity requires the brain, joints and muscles to effectively work together as unified components contributing to a fluid unified movement. It is therefore, critical to mobilize spinal joints, and stretch rotator muscles before teeing up. (see explanation below).

Traditional warm-up

Traditional warm-up sequences (see explanation below) are ineffective in that they do not provide effective targeted muscle stretching and joint mobilization. To present, the physical aspect of golf has been largely neglected providing a significant improvement potential for pros and amateurs alike. Benefits include greater swing rotation, higher swing speed and significantly reduced risk of injury.

How do you warm up?

Do you simply warm up at the driving range beginning with a wedge and progressing to a wood or driver?
This type of warm up sequence may well improve hand-eye coordination; however it yields little or no benefit in terms of warming up the spine.

- The Spine is built up of 24 vertebras. Between each vertebra there are joints. During the golf swing, all these joints / vertebras should rotate (except for the neck). Warming up using progressively from wedge to wood is ineffective in that the golfer is unable to specifically stretch/mobilize each joint and muscle in the spine. In other words, the segments of the spine that are mobile will be rotated whereas the segments that are immobile will remain immobile. Furthermore the mobile segments are forced to compensate for the immobile segments during rotational movement. It is therefore crucial that all the joints and muscles are warmed up, if not they may be torn/over extended.

Do you warm up your back by rotating from side to side with the club behind your back or shoulder blades?
Again, as mentioned above you will only rotate the mobile rotator joint/muscles in the spine, and will not achieve additional rotational pressure on the spine which gives the muscles and joints an effective targeted stretch.

Do you warm up swinging two clubs simultaneously?
This warm up technique is effective for stretching the arm and chest muscles, however it has no effect on spinal joints and muscles. Subsequently, your spine will not warmed up appropriately restricting spinal rotation and significantly increasing potential for injury.

Why is it important to stretch/mobilize each joint and muscle?

The joints of the body takes the least way of resistance, thus over mobile joints (hypermobile) become more mobile over time, while immobile joints (hypomobile) joints become more immobile. For instance, when rotating the spine to the right, the total range of movement may be adequate, but what often occur is that only some joints in the spine may contribute to the rotation, while other joints may not. They are relatively stiff. This may indeed cause pain, as the hypermobile joints are being overextended. Therefore, it is crucial to mobilize the joints that are relatively immobile to relieve the stress on the hypermobile joints.

- In terms of the spine traditional warm up techniques do not stretch/mobilize joints and muscle tissue that are hypomobile. In fact, this type of warm up can directly contribute to over-extension of hypermobile joints.

It is necessary to apply rotational pressure on the spine to specifically stretch every single joint and muscle, to increase the total range of movement and to decrease the chances of injury. One company that has taken the importance of targeted stretching before play is PhysioDriver, a golf equipment company providing an assortment of products to increase rotation and flexibility as applied to golf (see www.physiodriver.com). The PhysioDriver PSM-2005 is a portable warm up unit that directly applies rotational pressure to the spine to stretch and mobilize rotator muscles and joints. (see figure 1.)


What are Rotator Muscles and why are they important for my golf swing?

The spine consists of several layers of muscles, and the muscles are oriented in different directions so that we can perform movements in several ways, such as extension, rotation and sideflexion. The large muscle of the back is the erector spinae (figure 2). The main action of this muscle is to perform extention – for instance lifting objects from the ground. It also performs sideflexion of the spine.The deepest muscles are the rotator muscles. These muscles are short, running from one vertebra to the neighbouring vertebra. (figure 2 & 3). As the name indicates, these muscles rotate the spine. During the golfswing there is an extreme rotational movement occuring in the spine. Therefore, it is vital that the rotator muscles are flexible and sufficiently warmed up prior to playing golf. If not, the rotation will be decreased and the rotator muscles may be strained or torn.

Figure 2.                                       Figure 3.

Figure 2.: Rotator Muscles
Figure 3.: The Rotator Muscles The Erector Spinae Muscles

Improve playing performance

Lack of mobility in the spine, hips and shoulders results in wasted motion (poor directional control) and lack of swing speed (loss of /or inadequate distance). Increases in spine, hip and shoulder mobility will lead to a more solid, efficient motion and increased club head speed when combined with fundamentally sound technique.

Maintaining or improving range of motion is important both athletic performance as well as everyday life. This is accomplished by engaging in mobility enhancement exercise. Without such exercise, range of motion typically begins to erode in the mid to late twenties.

Increasing spinal rotation and flexibility with the PSM 2005 provides several advantages for the golfer:
- Increased rotation allows the golfer increased velocities, energies and momenta which
yields a greater swing speed.
- The increased range of motion allows the golfer to apply forces over greater distances
and longer periods of time.

- The increased range of motion permits the golfer a greater stretch on the involved
muscles. As a result, those muscles can produce even greater forces because a pre-
stretched muscle can exert more force than a nonstretched muscle.
- The chances for injury will be significantly decreased.

Back injuries

An increasing number of golfers suffer from back injuries caused by the strain of the rotational movement carried out in the golf swing. These injuries can be debilitating and even result in the golfer having to give up golf entirely.
If muscles and joints are not prepared for the rotational movement associated with the golfswing, the risk of injury (torn muscles) and a decreased range of motion is substantial. According to the US PGA, approximately 36% of male golfers and 27% of female golfers have had or have sustained lower back injuries.

That is why warming up is so crucial: it will prepare the muscles and joints for the extreme rotation that will occur, which gives two substantial advantages: The chances for debilitating injury decreases and rotational movement will increase. Using PhysioDriver 3-5 minutes prior to playing golf is sufficient to stretch vulnerable rotator muscles and mobilize joints. PhysioDriver PSM 2005 in many ways works as your personal Physical Therapist out on the pitch.

We encourage golfers to be cognizant that just one tight link can compromise the efficiency of the entire chain. Thus, mobilizing/stretching of the joints and muscles involved in the golfswing will help prepare the body for the proper sequencing for the swing. Mobilizing/stretching programs are compulsory not only to reduce the risk of injury but also to enhance performance.

Think of the human body as an efficient machine. Each part of it depends upon the other parts; if one part is functioning incorrectly the other part will be affected. But working together they deliver the same effective results time after time. This is the objective. Build the most efficient machine you can. You’ll be surprised how much more enjoyable the game will be if you do!