Warm Up Like a Pro

on June 7, 2016

We’ve All Done It…

…You show up for a round of golf and head straight to the range, grab a club out of the bag and do 30 seconds of “something” that does very little to warm up the body. Then you start to swing, slap a few balls out onto the range and say you are warmed up.

Everyone knows they should warm-up before swinging the club. Swinging a golf club puts extreme demands on the body, so warming up is one of the most important things you can do, but most golfers either think it is too strenuous or they’re unsure what to do. Regardless of skill level you need to do the proper things to “wake up” these complex muscle movements you are able to call upon.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You don’t warm up before golfing

Your first few holes are always terrible because you’re stiff and cold

You don’t know what to do to warm up before a round

Warm Up Like a Pro

So what are tour players doing to warm-up? It varies depending on the player, but most show up to the range having already gone through a warm-up or even a full work out. They do this both to increase performance and reduce the risk of injury. The golf swing involves firing and relaxing muscles while rotating. We want to not only help your game with a simple warm up but prevent injuries so you can continue to play the game you love.

As I said, some go through a very quick and light routine of dynamic movements before starting to do more complex movements that mirror the swing. Others go through a full workout that you would assume they never do on tournament day like squatting heavy weights.

I’ll share the details of what Justin Thomas has put into his routine. On early tee time days, he will do a very light stretching regiment we have put into place. This consists mostly of dynamic movements versus traditional static stretches. Dynamic movements work the muscles through range of motion and contract and relax to activate and prime the muscles for performance. A traditional static stretch would be going down for a toe touch and holding the stretch for a period of time. Static stretching has shown to decrease athletes performance if done prior to the event. When he has a late tee time, Justin prefers to do his workout earlier in the morning. Regardless, he still does his warm-up before working out and allows himself enough time to get to the course and do what he needs to. On these days the intensity is high during the workout while still focusing on our key goals and sticking with a lot of dynamic movements.

So what are these magical dynamic movements? Check out this video:

No More Excuses, No More Breakfast Balls

From the video you can see it is very “range friendly”. I designed the warm-up so that anyone could do these helpful exercises anywhere. I’m hoping this has opened your eyes not only to how important it is for you to stretch, but how quick and easy it is. The next time you are headed out for a round, or to spend time practicing on the range, pull up this routine and spend the 3 minutes it takes to run through these. Your body and golf game will thank you!

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Tyler Parsons

Director of Golf Fitness & Head Teaching Professional at Parsons Golf Performance

Tyler started in golf early on, playing in many junior events. He was known for his length and blowing it by his competitors. He contributes a lot of this to always trying to keep up with PGA Tour long hitter and friend, J.B. Holmes, who he grew up playing with on their high school team.

Tyler graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. in Kinesiology, exercise science. This is the study of the human body's movements and biomechanics, so it was a perfect fit when Parsons started personal training and started looking to help golfers off the course. Upon completion ofthe Titleist Performance Institute certified golf fitness program, who are the leading company in golf specific training, he then went on to obtain their highest level of certification (TPI CGFI Level 3 FP).

After a few years of training other golfers, he connected with childhood friend, Holmes, and started training him helping protect his body and improve performance. This caught the eye of Matt Killen, swing coach for Holmes. Later the two joined up and Tyler moved to Bowling Green, Ky to work alongside Matt with Killen Golf. Since then Tyler has worked with PGA Tour players, Josh Teater, Kenny Perry, Blake Adams, and current rising star, Justin Thomas.

Along the way Tyler put his knowledge of golf and body movements to the test and started designing a program to not only increase speed, but test its limits. Spending time working on his body in the gym and performing specific key "speed" movements in the swing, Tyler jumped his club head speed from an impressive 120 mph to 152 mph. He is now teaching this program to all skill levels of players, helping from their game. His results can be seen each week as Justin Thomas tees up and delivers his blistering speed on tour as one of the pound for pound longest hitters.