A Flexible Body for Golfers

A few years ago I wrote a post showing five exercises designed to strengthen the core in order to play better and prevent injury.

Flexibility is a big part of an efficient and healthy golf swing, too. Here are five exercises that will keep you limber for golf.

1. Lateral bend — Stand with your feet apart. Bend to the side as shown, supporting yourself with a hand on the leg. Reach over your head with the other arm to complete the stretch.

lateral bend stretch

2. Supine trunk rotation — Lie down on your back and bring your knees up, feet flat on the ground. Rotate your knees to one side, keeping your shoulders in contact with the ground. This the preferred way to rotate the trunk. Rotating the trunk while standing adds compression force to the torque. When you lie down, there is no compression, only torque.

A different way to do this stretch is to start lying on your side with your knees bent, untwisted, with your arms straight in front of you on the ground. Slowly move your top arm away from your other arm toward the floor on the other side as you rotate your trunk, to arrive in the position shown.

supine trunk rotation

3. Rotator cuff — (1) Bring one arm across your body at shoulder level. Use the other forearm to press inward and complete the stretch. (2) Stand in a doorway with both hands on the doorway as shown. Lean forward for the stretch.

rotator cuff stretch 1

rotator cuff stretch 2

4. Hamstring stretch — Sit on the floor with one leg straight out in front of you. If you can’t tuck your other leg as shown, that’s all right. Lean forward (not down) to complete the stretch.

hamstring stretch

5. Neck stretch — Rotate the head to the left and hold for a few seconds. Do the same to the right side.

neck stretch

You can do all these stretches daily in less than five minutes.

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