Stretches for Golfers

Carrie Cox, athletic trainer with ATI Sports Medicine, demonstrates some simple stretches that can be done right before your first swing!

Transcript

Hi, I'm Carrie Cox, an athletic trainer with ATI Sports Medicine. We're here to show you some simple stretches that you can do before you go out to play golf.

So the first stretch we're going to do today is more to loosen up your trunk, and your back, and your abs. What you're going to do is you're going to place the club behind your shoulders, feet shoulder-width apart, good base, twisting, nice and easy. Then you can rotate down to get some different angles to help loosen up for that rotation motion you need when driving the ball. An alternative
to behind the back, if your shoulder flexibility isn't the best, is to go in the front and
rotate as well. Very good.

The next stretch that we're going to do is for your shoulders and your rotator cuff, your internal and external rotators. You're going to place the club behind your back, one hand up- one hand down, holding about 10-15 seconds and then switching up the other direction. Then you're going to switch arms, this is the view from behind so you can see what you're trying to do, sliding your arm
up... and then pulling down, and getting that stretch in the shoulders. All the stretches
you want to hold for fifteen to thirty seconds if you have the time, ten to fifteen minimum.

The next stretch we're going to do is for your posterior shoulder. So arm across the body, good, pulling in, that stretches it out in the back. Hold it for fifteen to thirty seconds. Good, go ahead and switch. Same thing across, helps stretch that out and loosen things up.

The next is another stretch to help with your elbow with your flexors and extensors. So arm out in front, pulling those fingers toward you and keeping that wrist down. Again, fifteen to thirty seconds. Then going ahead to switch, pulling back. That's going to help with these tendons on the elbow. Good, switching hands. Down. Good, and wrist up. Perfect, very good!

The next stretch that we have is for the quads. You're going to use your club for balance, bringing that left leg back, stretching out the front. Again, depending on the time you have - fifteen to thirty seconds. Getting a good stretch. Good, go ahead and turn sideways, so you can show from the back, bringing that heel up, using that for balance. If you have a cart near by, you could also hold onto the cart and it can be more sturdy than using the club. Great, thanks!