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How Improving Joint Mobility Enhances Your Golf Swing

Updated: Oct 30, 2024


The golf season is in full swing (pun intended!), and if you’re like us, you’re excited to get to the course or range as much as possible. But an important question to ask is, does your body feel the same excitement? 


Short lived stiffness and muscular discomfort can be common early in the golf season as your body adjusts to the return of this activity, especially up here in the Northeast with a longer offseason. So how do you know whether aches and pains are just a part of golf or could actually be avoided? Well, golf is a sport that is relatively easy on your body, you don’t even need to walk the course if you don’t want to (although you should). If your body limits you from playing multiple times a week or you have to postpone all other physical activity after golf, your body is telling you something, and that something is that you’re moving in ways that are just beyond your current abilities. Luckily you can change that, and it’s probably easier than you think!


The golf swing is very complex. Most people don’t get golf lessons and can be swinging in ways that add excess stress to certain areas of their body without knowing it, through no fault of their own. And what’s worse than that, is giving up golf altogether. The purpose of this is not to instill fear, but to offer an alternative pathway of golf improvement through physical improvements. We’d argue it’s essential for both short-term and long-term improvements on the golf course.


That pathway starts today with a discussion on joint mobility!


Basically, the joints of your body have a certain amount of motion that allow you to move in different ways. Examples of these are your hip mobility allowing you to turn your pelvis and your neck mobility allows you to look at the ball as you're at the top of your backswing. Your mobility can be limited from tight joints and/or muscles but has the ability to change. It differs from flexibility in that flexibility is joint motion not controlled by muscle actions (ex: someone stretching your hamstring for you).


That being said, we'd love to show you a few mobility drills that have the potential to make your golf swing feel easier. Every golfer will benefit from a consistent mobility routine as part of a bigger strength and conditioning program. The drills below target areas of your body that are major contributors to the movement created in your golf swing. 


  1. Kneeling or Standing Trunk Rotation

  2. Lunging rotation as more advanced option

  3. Lateral Lunge with Turn

  4. Hip Internal Rotation

  5. Wrists Circles


It’s important to have mobile hips, mid-back, shoulders, and wrists that can move in all directions if you want to swing a golf club with lower injury risk and possibly reach a greater potential. 


If you are dealing with consistent pain after a round or the range, it’s time to stop ignoring it. It could be as simple as targeting a couple areas of your body that are holding you back. Mobility is commonly the first thing to be addressed before getting into things like strength and power.


So, it’s important to note that these drills may help you a lot but if you are serious about trying to optimize your physical fitness for the golf course, the next steps of developing greater strength and power are essential. Be on the lookout for those blog posts coming soon! 



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