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Golfers are not doing enough warm-up exercises to enhance performance and prevent injury

Warm up practices of golfers: are they adequate?2001;35:125-7

Amateur golfers who think practising a couple of swings before they hit the course will improve their standard, are misguided, suggests research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers observed the warm-ups of 1040 adult golfers at different venues over a period of three weeks in 1999. Warm-ups need to be comprehensive enough to prevent injury and improve performance.

Only just over half of them bothered with any warm-up at all. But for those that did, "air swings" before play or practice were the preferred exercise for almost 90 per cent. Fewer than 10 per cent did any stretching, and no golfer undertook any form of aerobic exercise. Over three-quarters of those warming-up attempted just one activity; only 18 per cent attempted two.

Before they start play or practice, golfers, say the authors, should include a period of aerobic exercise to increase body temperature followed by stretching of the "golf" muscles¾hands, wrists, forearms, shoulders, lower back, chest, trunk, hamstrings, and groin. Only then should golf swings be performed. Fewer than 3 per cent of those observed achieved anything like adequate warm-up.

Such poor levels of activity are unlikely to enhance performance or prevent injury, conclude the authors.

Contact:

Miss Anne Fradkin, Sports Injury Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia. fradkin@deakin.edu.au

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