TPI Certified Fitness coach Rachael Tibbs shares tips on how improving your mobility can enhance your golf swing and overall performance
Stretching and mobility work is often overlooked by golfers. Golf workout programs are not just for tour pros or elite amateurs, incorporating the right stretches into your life can improve mobility and flexibility, prevent injuries and enhance your performance on the golf course.
The best golf workouts combine strength work with mobility. When I say mobility, most assume it’s all to do with stretching and flexibility. However, to improve how we move and the positions we’re able to get into in our golf swing, it’s as much about strengthening as anything else. Strengthening the muscles at the end range of any given movement is essential to being able to control that position. Simply stretching a tight muscle will not give you the capability to produce an action as dynamic as that required in the golf swing.
By working on your movement and control through the three key areas (spine, shoulders and hips), you’ll not only feel improvements in your swing, but you’ll also benefit from better performance and health.
Hip Stretches for Golfer’s
1) Seated Hip Drop
As we all know, a good hip turn is an essential part of the golf swing so mobility in this area is vital. Not only that, but without it, you put yourself at risk of injury as the body compensates for this lack of movement by straining other areas like the lower back.
Additionally, inadequate rotation often leads to inconsistency in your golf game. Lateral movements such as sways and slides become ingrained habits that help us feel like we’re making a full turn, but really we’re losing out on power and speed that could be generated by using our hips properly.
The seated hip drop is a great way to improve the range of motion through the hips, making it easier to load into your backswing and rotate through impact.
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2) Tactical Frog
This tactical frog exercise develops strength in the inner and outer parts of the hip. This allows you to pull and push with the hips and generate more force in your swing. It helps release tightness in the lower body and improve posture.
This is a great exercise for improving the range of motion in the hips, working both in internal and external parts of the joint.
4) Dynamic Groin Stretch
This stretch is dynamic meaning that can really tailor the depth of the stretch. The slower you go the deeper the stretch can be more faster paced works as a great warm up exercise.
5) Single Leg Hip Hinge
The single leg hip hinge has very similar benefits to the previous toe elevated hip hinge. The use of just a single leg however helps to mimics the unilateral movement required during a golf swing, where the body weight shifts from one leg to the other.
This exercise can also help to highlight if there is any muscle imbalances between either leg. If one leg is more dominant this could cause injury and so this is a great exercise to help understand how your body moves.
T-Spine/Back Stretches for Golfer’s
1) W Turns
This is a great drill that can be done during a golf mobility session or as a warm up for golf. It teaches the upper body how to rotate properly.
2) Thoracic Open Books
This exercise works the upper back, chest and shoulders. It helps to release tension and improve rotation that is needed in the golf swing.
3) Rotational Punch and Pull
The rotational punch and pull exercise below isolates the upper body and focuses on using both arms to create a pull and push movement.
They can be performed with a band or cable and are great for developing stability in the trunk and legs as well as creating torso rotation.
Having the ability to segment and move through the spine helps to maintain a healthy back but also allows us to create movement.
Cat camels are a great exercise for this as you work through flexion (rounding of the spine) and extension (arching of the spine). Any limitations in either of these movement patterns will result in some form of compensation.
Shoulders Stretches for Golfer’s
1) Banded Shoulder Circles
This is a great golf stretching exercise. You can complete this activity with either an elastic band or with a golf club – remembering that the longer the club the easier the stretch.
2) Reverse Openers
It is very important that we have adequate rotation at the shoulder, especially in the trail arm as this allows you to set the angle of the club at the top of your backswing. This will enable you to create more width and generate greater rotational forces.
The shoulder is a very unstable joint due to the large amount of movement it can achieve when optimal. To improve shoulder mobility, we must focus on strengthening the muscles that stabilise it.
A great way to do this is through these reverse openers. They challenge and strengthen the stabilisers of the shoulders and the core, which helps to ensure that energy produced from the ground can be effectively transferred to the clubhead.
3) Wall Slides
These wall slides help to develop mobility and strength of the shoulders as you maintain a neutral spine.
2) Wall Shoulder CARs and Rotation
This exercise is designed to improve a players shoulder joint function, flexibility, and range of motion. As we age our joints can stiffen up meaning that the range of motion can start to decrease. This exercise helps works on both internal and external rotation, as well as flexion and extension of the shoulder joint.
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This is a great exercise for senior golfers as it can help to reduce the risk of injuries such as rotator cuff tears, shoulder impingements or tendonitis. It helps to increase range of motion in the backswing as well as maintaining a good posture in the swing – that can also help with ball striking!
Rachel Tibbs: Dynamic Golf
All of the above golf exercise videos are by our resident strength and conditioning coach Rachel Tibbs. Rachael is a TPI L2 certified golf fitness professional based at The Bunker – a purpose-built fitness facility in north Leeds – where she specialises in golf-specific strength and conditioning.
Incorporating some or all of these exercises into your golf workout routine will help you develop better movement and control through your golf swing, which will improve ball striking and decrease the risk of injury.
Focusing on key areas used in the golf swing such as hips, shoulders, and thoracic spine, can help you develop a smoother, more powerful golf swing, while also reducing the risk of injury.
It’s important to remember that consistency is key. Making these stretches part of your daily golf fitness routine will help to achieve the best results, you’ll not only boost your golf performance but also maintain long-term health and comfort on and off the course.
Start incorporating these golf-specific stretches today and see the difference in your game!
If this wasn’t enough for you check out this 10 minute mobility flow for golfers video below.
Rachael Tibbs is a TPI L2 certified golf fitness professional based in Leeds. She specialises in golf-specific strength and conditioning. You can visit her website or follow her on Twitter.
