Paul Phillips
Playing your best golf and getting the most value for your green fee requires being ready to play. The older we get, the harder that it is. A vast majority of golfers arrive for their tee time within 15 minutes of the time. By the time they grab a cart, get their clubs and hit three putts, they are on the tee. The next nine holes are often a dizzying display of poor shots and three putts followed by a better back nine. Then they literally wonder why they don’t start better and always play better on the back nine.
The older we get, we have to prepare our bodies for swinging a golf club. Back pain is a real issue in golf. Swinging a golf club 80-100 mph is actually a sport and doing so without getting your body warmed up is an invitation for a strain or a pulled muscle. And being warmed up means you will swing faster from the first tee shot.
PGA Tour players will allow one to two hours to prepare for a round of golf. That’s pretty unrealistic for those of us whose job is not to play golf for a living. Yet, that doesn’t entirely excuse us from not preparing at all.
I would recommend allowing yourself a full 30 minutes (after checking in and getting your cart) to prep for a round. What I want you to do is get a small bucket of balls (no more than 30) and get over to the driving range. Once you get to your hitting station, pull out your phone and get on YouTube and search for a five-minute total body workout. Bowflex has some good ones. You are looking for the most bang for your buck with your stretches, so the more a stretch works all sorts of muscle groups versus isolating just one group, the better (the picture with this article is a great stretch). This will get your body warmed up in a short time and allow you to hit your first shots with less chance of injury. After a five-minute stretch, start with your sand wedge and hit 10 shots gradually increasing speed and effort from first to 10th shot so that by the 10th shot you are swinging fully. From there hit a couple of pitching wedges, a couple of 9 irons, a couple 8 irons and then three or four drivers and you’re done at the range. Total time at the range should not exceed 20 minutes. Hurry over to the putting green and roll as many 30-foot putts as you can before your tee time to get the pace of the green — and you’re ready to play.
If you are serious about playing your best golf, put some work into your body at home. Improving mobility is a win/win for you and your golf. You will feel and move better in your daily life and the ability to make a bigger turn and have more mobility in your hips and a stronger core will help your golf swing function more optimally.
I’ve played golf for 40 years and in all that time I thought just warming up with a bucket of balls was enough. Then one day I had trouble standing up from the couch. There was no doubt that all of those swings over all of those years was aggravating my back big-time. I had to take stretching very seriously if I wanted to get out of pain and stay out of pain. There is a wealth of information online and classes you can take and follow along with for free if you are serious about feeling better.
Be patient with yourself and the results you seek. It takes time but it will come.
Paul Phillips is the tournament director at Stonebridge Golf Club in West Valley City.