Yoga For Golfers: How You Can Achieve Better Scores & Flexibility On Course

Golf requires balance, coordination and strength . . . all of which can be developed through the power of yoga.

Yoga poses enhance flexibility in the hips, shoulders and back, which is essential for powerful swings and maintaining good posture. Additionally, core-strengthening exercises in yoga help stabilize your movements, reduce the risk of injury and improve your overall swing.

Yoga also fosters calmness and concentration. Its meditative aspects teach golfers how to manage pressure during a game. Breathing techniques and visualization methods can help maintain focus, decrease anxiety, and boost your mental performance on the course.

With insights from Scott Shepard, an award-winning golf fitness coach, and Lauren McMillin, a yoga and movement specialist and founder of YoGolf Performance—golf’s online yoga studio—we will why and how incorporating yoga can help you play better golf.

Let's dive in.

There is a yoga class sutra, or saying, that states: "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind." In other words, yoga helps us to handle our thoughts and find a sense of inner calm.

For golf, that means building concentration, locking in your focus, and not overthinking the shot in front of you. Yoga helps us focus on breathing, releasing unnecessary tension, relaxing into the swing, and moving on to the next play after making a bad shot.

Yoga teaches golfers how to have better balance, both literally and figuratively, to become comfortable in uncomfortable situations through various poses and stretches and to build strength from the inside out.

Not only does this lead to moving better and feeling better, but golfers start to enjoy the game again. They become more confident, are no longer easily frustrated, distracted, or rattled on the course, bounce back more quickly after a round, and increase the longevity of their game.

Yoga is about more than stretching. Sure, golfers increase flexibility through yoga, but they also find greater mobility and range of motion, stronger stability and balance, better core strength, and a more athletic posture.

From a swing-specific perspective, yoga creates more spinal mobility and opens the hips, leading to greater shoulder-to-hip disassociation. Golfers learn how to use the ground more effectively through balance movements and controlled poses. The result? A more efficient kinematic swing sequence, more distance, faster club head speed, and more power.

Yoga helps golfers not only address everyday aches and pains but also prevents future injuries from occurring. It also gives golfers tools to warm up properly before a round of golf and recover efficiently afterward. PGA of America Golf Professional Roger Sali details a few yoga-based stretches he uses here.

Consistency matters. In the same way that practicing putting a few minutes each day is more beneficial than practicing for an hour once a week, adding yoga and similar movements into your day for a few minutes at a time will lead to faster and more lasting results.

Start with 15 minutes a day, 2-3 days a week. If you've got more time, great! But even practicing a five-minute routine before a round and taking time to stretch and breathe after will help you move and play better while also making it a habit. Lauren has a great pre-round five minute stretch you can try.

Remember: If you choose to incorporate this highly effective practice into your routine, it is essential to do so regularly and consistently. Once you start, you'll see (and feel) why yoga can help your game.

Namaste!

PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his three weekly columns on RG.org, and to learn more about Brendon, visit OneMoreRollGolf.com.