Flexibility and Strength Produce Power and Speed

In the modern era of golf, more and more players are looking at golf as a sport rather than just a game. Cultivating flexibility, strength, and balance by incorporating a stretching routine into your warm-up/cool-down is the first step to improving your golf scores and decreasing your chances for injury. Golf is just like any other sport, besides practice, it requires preparation before and after.

Athletic position is the same in all sports, with slight modification. In golf, athletic position begins by locating a golfer’s center of gravity. Knees slightly bent, back slightly arched, and the shoulders high/wide allows the body to use its own power and speed, not relying on outside influences. Learning to stretch in this position provides a core for you to torque (turn) your body around, while still allowing you to stay in balance during the swing. By doing so you will be able to use your body to create resistance for a powerful swing. During the swing, learn to resist your upper body with your lower body on the back swing, and resist lower body with upper body on the way down.

Locating the center of gravity and isolating sections of the body is easily accomplished by any golfer and does not take much time at all. I use and recommend using the StretchTowel in a stretching routine before you play or practice. It will not only intensify the stretch, but also create natural resistance to gain strength. Did I mention that is also a golf towel? There are four stretches I always perform before and after a round or practice session. Listed are the muscle group specific stretches I use to gain flexibility and strength while also decreasing my chances for injury:

	1) Arms and Shoulders
2) Neck and Triceps
	3) Legs and Back
4) Core