5 Ways To Reduce Injury Risk In Golf
By Matt Scott
- Take Lessons – Poor biomechanics have been reported to be a major cause of injuries in amateur golfers. Learn how to swing a golf club without putting additional stress on the body.
- General/Everyday postures – The way you sit, stand and do all sorts of things will affect your golf swing. If you can improve our everyday postures, it will not only reduce the risk of injuries/aches/pains off the course, but on it too.
- Physical Fitness – Preparing the body for the demands of golf is the first objective of golf fitness. Poor fitness can increase the risk of injuries during golf. For example, limited core stability or trunk rotational mobility could increase the forces on the spine, leading to injury.
- Periodization of Golf – You might be doing a little bit of this without really thinking about it… Playing more in the summer and practicing and working on fitness more in the winter. Maybe hitting 25 balls on the range, then increasing gradually to 40, 50, 60 etc and not just going from 25 to hitting 200 balls! Many injuries in golf are caused through overuse. Overuse injuries could be caused through poor movement, increasing stress on certain joints/areas of the body. Or from simply a result of hitting too many balls on the range or playing too much.
- Warm up – To keep this short, I think a warm up is important to reduce the risk of injury and to help improve performance. For example, this could be from performing exercises to improve movement patterns, co-ordination and alertness to physically warming up the muscles and connective tissues.
S2 Tip
Poor fitness can increase the risk of injuries during golf! Make sure to always exercise regularly!
Making An Impact
Folds of Honor Foundation provides postsecondary educational scholarships for children and spouses of military men and women disabled or killed while serving our great nation. Each year, the PGA of America and United States Golf Association join together to host “Patriot Golf Day” over Labor Day weekend. Golfers are asked to add an extra dollar to their green fees to support the cause. The organization has raised more than $17.1 million for 5,000 recipients in all 50 states and 41 PGA sections.
In Another’s Words
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
Warren Buffet (Business Mogul)