It’s prime golf season here in Arizona. Whether you’re a novice recreational player who just likes to hit the occasional nine, or a serious golf athlete, working with a movement specialist like a physical therapist can help you get into the best golf shape possible to meet your goals.

There’s a lot of complexity hidden beneath your golf swing: twists and turns, bending, arm rotation. These movements come together to help you hit the ball farther, deliver a more powerful swing and, well, just make you feel good. At Spooner, we regularly see golfers for a wide range of challenges, from wanting to eliminate the aches and pains they feel on the course to the simple desire of just wanting to break even. Working with a physical therapist or trainer who really knows golf can make a difference in all of it – and more.

Your body,  your swing

Not everyone thinks about their body as it pertains to their swing. A recreational golfer may be striving for pain reduction versus performance. Their back may ache when they reach for that ball, or when they carry their clubs. Or, there may be the winter visitor golfer who needs to warm up before they can hit the courses hard throughout the winter months. Whatever your goals may be, golf and physical therapy present a beautiful marriage: it’s an opportunity to get your body to move better—and take your game to a whole new level.

Physical therapists go through detective work to determine what’s causing your body undue stress. Where are you feeling your functional limitations? Where does it hurt and when? We look at what we like to call the crossroads of your body, where the lower back meets your core. We’ll take you through specific movements and analyze your patterns. Your body will show us your motions, in your spine, in your hips and shoulders. We use this evaluation to determine your stress points and then create a plan to get those areas moving better and feeling better.

One consistent culprit: no warm-ups

How early do you arrive to the golf course before you tee off, really? If you’re like many golfers, you probably arrive 10 to 15 minutes early at best. Now, by the time you prep your clubs, check-in and check your shoe laces, you don’t have any minutes remaining to properly warm up. And, for those of you who do warm up, there’s a good chance you’re not warming up the right parts of your body.

If you want to prepare your body for golf, then a warm up should look and feel like a golf swing. You may stretch your quads and reach down to your toes – and there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s not the most effective way to warm up for golf.

Here’s a better approach: practice your typical golf swing rotation (no club required, by the way). Move those shoulders. Open up your hips. Do things that look and feel like a golf swing. You’ll probably feel better before you tee off, but a proper warm up  will definitely improve your performance. You will swing your club faster, farther. You won’t have to work as hard to achieve the same level of success.

This is the ultimate magic of training your body for for golf. You’re training for the game, yes. But you’re also training your body for life.