Fitness

Golf Exercises: A Four-Step Warmup You Need to Try

By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
Published on

With fitness, wellness and a focus on the body being an integral aspect of player development in golf today, we turn to award-winning PGA of America Golf Professional Shawn Light for an upper-body mobility and stability activation warm-up. 
This is great to get your chest, shoulders, neck and back muscles warm before practicing on the range or before a round. It only requires a golf club, too.
Hit each position three times and hold for 2-3 seconds. On each position, push the hands together (like you're crushing the club) and then pull the club apart (grip and clubhead in opposite directions).
Step 1
Bend over in golf posture holding the club horizontally in both hands shoulder width apart.
▪ 3x crushing club together
▪ 3x pulling club apart
Overhead reach
▪ 3x crushing club together
▪ 3x pulling club apart
Step 2
Hold club overhead and perform lateral bend to right and left.
▪ 3x crushing club together, each side
▪ 3x pulling club apart, each side
Step 3
Hold the club horizontally in both hands (shoulder width apart) in front of the chest. Rotate the body to the right keeping the golf club horizontal to the ground with the head and eyes forward, then get the left side.
▪ 3x crushing club together
▪ 3x pulling club apart
Step 4
Start by right/left hip and then take the club up to the opposite shoulder (diagonal motion).
▪ 3x crushing club together
▪ 3x pulling club apart

PGA of America Golf Professional Shawn Light and his brother David, a chiropractic physician and a certified functional medicine practitioner, opened Root Cause Resolution Chiropractic and Golf Performance in 2019 in Las Vegas. Shawn has earned Teacher of the Year honors in his PGA Chapter and has overseen the operations at several golf facilities as a PGA General Manager.