Does anyone have a pre-round/range stretching routine?

Dirt_Guy

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Do any of you have a routine to go through to get your body ready for swinging a club or do you just go out there and swing freely? I have to do some type of stretches before I put a club in my hand or I feel like the Tin Man before he got the oil can. I really try to loosen up my shoulders because I have not been nice to them with all the activities I involve myself with.

Here are a few of the stretches I try to do before swinging the clubs

I usually use the lunge stretch to for my hips
lunge-stretch.gif


To loosen up my lower back and hamstrings I use the iron cross stretch (I grab my heel and pull it as high as I can)
Leg+over+stretch.jpg


If the grass is wet, I'll settle for an open leg hamstring stretch and force a little body rotation
11_10minuteham-_straightlegstretch.jpg


For my upper back and I'll either grab a pole or use a wall and lean forward with an outstretched arm
ask_joe_clip_image006_0000.jpg
or
double-lat-stretch.jpg


For my shoulders I'll use a couple of moves to loosen up
shoulder_stretch.jpg
and
shoulder%20triceps%20stretching.JPG


If I really want to loosen up my shoulders I'll break out my indian clubs, but I get some pretty strange looks when swinging them around near the clubhouse.

Feel free to merge this with an existing thread if there is already one about this. Since the search function is down I was unable to check.
 
Just curious...............what is an indian club??

Like these stretches. Good info. Will try them out this afternoon at the range!
 
Here are indian clubs and some of the moves. They are like a juggling club.

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Gotcha.

My brother has juggling sticks and can work them like a pro. Me..........not so much.
 
i bought a video about a year ago. roger fredericks secrets to swing flexibility. it has really helped my game, and the pain i feel afterwards. i do about a half hour a day, and my rotation and stability has been 10x better.

btw....im not affiliated with this company in any way. just wanted to share a tip that has helped me.
 
Good stuff DG, you know I have to stretch, lol. I generally use two cans of Bud, but at least I stay away from the lite version, haha. Or, my shake weights.

Actually, I use several of the ones you posted. The bottom two for sure and the ham stretch.
 
Naw I just finish my cigarette and the last can of Milwaukee's Finest out of the 12 pack and head for the #1 tee.
 
I definitely work in a good stretch before the practice tee, or before a round. At 30, I'm already noticing I'm not as resilient as I used to be. Being chained to a desk for 8 hours a day definitely doesn't help either. Some things to consider are not to hold your stretches too long, and to work in some dynamic movements, especially with the upper body. For example, arm circles or grab a couple heavier clubs (wedges) and take some warm up swings. I don't even mind if people look at me funny for stretching, these days I'm more worried about preventing injury and post-round pain.
 
Yup. 8 hrs of desk time kills my flexibility. Most of my dynamic moves are just practice swings on the range. I know I need to do a little more to loosen up but I'm too anxious to send the balls down range.
 
hah - Yeah, I hear that. I get to the range and have all these thoughts in my head of what I want to do and I can't wait to just start swinging. Usually, I can hold off long enough to get the blood flowing at least. Sometimes, I'll do a really quick stretch and then hit 5 wedges or so, just to scratch that itch and go back to stretching and warming up.
 
Stretching helps me a lot. I usually do about 5 minutes of basic stretching before each round. Fortuanately I'm pretty flexible as is. I just focus on getting my arms legs and core loosened up. If I have an early match after school and don't have time to stretch, it definately affects my game in a bad way.
 
stretches are good for swinging , i do them regularly but not exactly before the game i do them in the morning before breakfast .
 
My stretching is done by hitting a small bucket of balls if poss.


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We have a few threads scattered around regarding stretching exercises before play or in my case I think I have one in here that I started because even at the range it was taking me an inordinate number of swings just to get limber enough to really swing. Some of the exercises in these posts are exercises that I will do and that some of you are doing as well. I have never been really very satisfied with the things that we have come up with so far. So I have kept hunting.

I have found something that I like. You folks may or may not decide to use it but I like it. There are two things that I like about this device. I don't have to get on the ground to execute any particular exercise and in part you use your golf clubs and you are stretching the very muscles that you use to swing the golf club.

The devise is called the Swing Sock Tour. You may have already seen them in stores. Basically it is a club head shaped weighted sock with a velcro closure. it is designed to be used with your irons and wedges and there are specific exercises that require that you attach the the thing to a wedge or a 3 iron or a 5 iron. There are exercises designed to increase the strength of particular muscles used to swing the club. There are others designed to improve tempo and then there are still others that are designed specifically to stretch out those muscles that are used in the swing and are intended to be a warm up for a session at the range or a round.

There are four different weights including one that in all likelihood is overkill for any of us amateurs and particularly us older amateurs. The stretching warm ups are designed to be done slowly so there should not be much in the way of risk o injury doing those. However some of the actual exercises are meant to be done using as close to a full speed swing as you can manage. The wrong weight or too much weight could really pose a problem in those cases.

Regardless of whether you ever use it as a means to improve your golf swing, it does appear to be a useful tool for stretching those muscles that are simply too tightly strung. I paid $9.95 for mine and it definitely has helped me loosen up before actually swinging at the ball and has done it fairly quickly and painlessly. Since you are using components of the golf swing with your golf clubs you end up working on the exact muscles that you use to make a real golf swing.

Again I would caution you about the weight. If you get one that you think will help you long term but that might be a little heavy for you right now, please be cautious taking full swings with it. It does not take much weight out at the end of a 3 iron to really be sufficient. I would bet that for most of us Tour Pro would be with heaviest we should consider. There are two lighter than that and one heavier. It is the one that is heavier that I think I would avoid.
 
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I do pretty much all the stretches you listed in your first post before every round but I have a hard time doing any stretches before a practice range session even though I know I should. I like to take a half hour or so if I can before my round to do my stretches and then I like to stretch every three or four holes as you wait on the tee just to make sure everything is nice and warm.
 
I definitely do stretch before hand (many of the stretches in the OP). I usually try to stretch before I get to the course, and then again when I get there. I also swing a weighted club when I get to the course. This combination really helps to loosen up my back and get the flexibility going.
 
I like to do a few stretches before each round and at the practice range. This year I have found out if I do a simple stretch before each tee shot helps as well.
 
I just stretch lightly and then swing with a weight ring on the club for a little bit
 
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