Warm-Up Routines

[Mr Smell Good]

Hey guys,

I was wondering what you all do for warming up not only on the course but at the driving range.  I don't know how often most of you hit the range, but I work in an office very close to a driving range that I am able to go to on my lunch break (awesome).  This is my current routine:

Playing - I get there early, hit a small bucket of balls working my way from lob wedge to driver, and then I putt.  Occasionally I will chip.  No stretching or anything like that.

Driving range - I just start hitting balls as soon as I get there, again starting with lob wedge and ending with driver.  I putt if I have time, going around the putting green trying to 2 putt everything from about 20-30 feet

Here's what I'm wondering... should I be doing some kind of basic stretching routine before all my sessions at the range and before playing?  Flexibility is not an issue for me in my swing. I can go right out there and move just fine, but I sometimes notice tightness in my back after golfing every day at lunch and going to the gym every night. I'm 24 years old and I'm in good shape.  I just want to make sure I'm consistently practicing good habits for my swing and for my back.  When I'm at the gym, I'll stretch before and after I lift or do cardio.  Does anyone have an opinion on stretching, warm up routines, and golfing with a healthy back for life?

[TJBam]

Congrats on your proximity to a range for lunch breaks.  I also share that benefit.  My best advice is don't wear your dress shoes!

Playing: Some slow low squats as if I'm reading putts (try to do it in the parking lot or locker room) to get the blood flowing to muscles under the belt.  Once I have a decent feel in my legs and rear, I do a couple twists to get the abs tensed up.  Then I putt, chip, and hit a 9 iron a few times.  With the 9 I like to try to work it straight, fade, draw.  No more than 10 or 20 shots.  Then I go and putt some more, fill up a couple ice cups, and off to the races!

Range at lunch: Swap shoes and hit away!  Don't pull anything.  Sometimes I roll up my khakis so that there is no grass etc on the legs when I get back to the office.

[Lihu]

I need to hit at least 5 large buckets before considering myself ready for a round.

Seriously, it takes a lot of swings for me to get it. Less so recently, but if I hit at least one large bucket, it would be perfect. I would also like at least half an hour of putting and chipping.

[Ernest Jones]

Usually nothing aside from some very light stretching. I never hit balls before a round because the range gets me thinking about my swing and I REALLY don't want to be thinking about my swing right before playing! If there is a long wait for my tee time I'll hit the putting green for a bit, maybe some soft pitches if it's permitted but my course is pretty quiet so I can usually walk right up to the tee and blast away.

[dsc123]

I do trunk twists, sometimes I'll touch my toes.  But I mean like 3 twists and one bend down, not some extended routine.  What I find most useful is swinging my driver.  I just start with small, lazy, back and forth swings and slowly swing longer and faster.  I find that to loosen me up pretty good.

[Mr Smell Good]

Originally Posted by Lihu

I need to hit at least 5 large buckets before considering myself ready for a round.

Seriously, it takes a lot of swings for me to get it. Less so recently, but if I hit at least one large bucket, it would be perfect. I would also like at least half an hour of putting and chipping.

I think I would be too tired to play after 5 buckets

[RPMPIRE]

Originally Posted by Mr Smell Good

Hey guys,

I was wondering what you all do for warming up not only on the course but at the driving range.  I don't know how often most of you hit the range, but I work in an office very close to a driving range that I am able to go to on my lunch break (awesome).  This is my current routine:

Playing - I get there early, hit a small bucket of balls working my way from lob wedge to driver, and then I putt.  Occasionally I will chip.  No stretching or anything like that.

Driving range - I just start hitting balls as soon as I get there, again starting with lob wedge and ending with driver.  I putt if I have time, going around the putting green trying to 2 putt everything from about 20-30 feet

Here's what I'm wondering... should I be doing some kind of basic stretching routine before all my sessions at the range and before playing?  Flexibility is not an issue for me in my swing. I can go right out there and move just fine, but I sometimes notice tightness in my back after golfing every day at lunch and going to the gym every night. I'm 24 years old and I'm in good shape.  I just want to make sure I'm consistently practicing good habits for my swing and for my back.  When I'm at the gym, I'll stretch before and after I lift or do cardio.  Does anyone have an opinion on stretching, warm up routines, and golfing with a healthy back for life?

I also work 5 minutes away from a driving range and usually spend 3 or 4 of my "lunch breaks" at the range (I eat when I get back to the office). For me, I have to do some mild loosening up before I can start to hit balls. It's not a real long routine or anything, but I just try to loosen up my lower back by twisting with my arm locking a club on my back and also swinging two clubs both direction and progressively increase the swing length until I'm basically following through on both sides. I'm loose enough for the most part after this, which is about 2 minutes or so. I don't take too much time doing this, after all, lunch is only an hour.

I usually hit a bucket of 100 balls, but nearly half of them is practicing my wedges inside 100 yards. I mostly work on my irons and hit maybe 3-5 shots with my 3 wood and driver. By the time I'm done with the bucket, I don't have time to do any putting so I just head straight back to the office.

Before a round of golf, I usually stretch out at home before I leave and then do my range warm ups when I get to the course. I've learned the hard way when it comes to warming/loosening up before doing anything physical, which includes golf. Before I didn't even stretch or warm up before a round, but my muscles did get tight and it may have contributed to me getting injured a while back.

Edit:

I should also add that I wear True shoes to work since they look like decent office shoes. So when I go to the range, I just grab my clubs out of the trunk and go.

[Pretzel]

I don't do stretching, per se, before warming up on the range. I do however make sure that I am loose before I ever try to hit a ball 100%. The first place I head is the chipping green, where I will start to loosen up a little by hitting chips first, then transitioning to pitches. Once those swings feel unhampered, I will head off to the range. At the range I start with probably about 10 practice 1/2 swings, then will begin to hit some golf ball focusing on the contact that I make. I gradually, over the course of probably 10 shots, will work into a comfortable full swing while taking multiple practice swings in between actual shots. I then just quickly work up and then back down my clubs, ending with a wedge followed by the drive I envision myself hitting on the first tee. Then I'll just putt until it's time to tee off.

[Lihu]

Originally Posted by Mr Smell Good

I think I would be too tired to play after 5 buckets

I actually did that once. After the 18th hole, I could barely lift the club. The last pitch shot took a lot of effort.

[inthecup]

If I have the time for Play I like to start in the short game area and dial in my touch.  It is a slow warm up with small motions in the beginning.  I'll keep moving back and end with 20-30 yard pitches.

This is a good way for me to start because it helps setting a slow tempo and gets the blood flowing.

At the range I start with a wedge and 1/2 swings.  Working on tempo and contact.  From there I move to a short iron, 8 or 7.  Then 6 or 5 iron again tempo and contact.  Hit a few hybrids then driver.  If I ended up taking a lot of driver swings (it seems to have the most variation) I will pull out the short iron again to make sure my tempo hasn't gotten quick.

At the practice putting green I will hit a bunch of 15-25 footers working on speed more than anything.  Then work on 5-6 footers for line and speed.

[Fourputt]

I don't go to the range, so that's irrelevant for me.  Before a round, all I do is stretch for a minute or two, make 6-10 swings with my 5I and doughnut, then I'm ready.  I used to try hitting a small bucket before I played, but I consistently played worse when I did, so I quit.  The range and I have never gotten along.  If I feel the need to get a little bit loose, I hit some chips and short pitches on the chipping green.

[saevel25]

Highly recommend hitting golf balls first. But don't do it as a practice sessions. Maybe just concentrate on one thing. Lets say your working on weight forward, maybe you can work that, but don't go into diagnosis mode. Just start hitting balls to get yourself a feel for the swing. For me it takes me about 3-4 holes to get the swing into 4th gear. So i need a good small medium bucket to get comfortable. Sometimes if i don't have time for the range, i find time between shots some clubs. I'm good at getting ready for my next shot, i will take practice swings to loosen  up more.

[Mr Smell Good]

Originally Posted by saevel25

Highly recommend hitting golf balls first. But don't do it as a practice sessions. Maybe just concentrate on one thing. Lets say your working on weight forward, maybe you can work that, but don't go into diagnosis mode. Just start hitting balls to get yourself a feel for the swing. For me it takes me about 3-4 holes to get the swing into 4th gear. So i need a good small medium bucket to get comfortable. Sometimes if i don't have time for the range, i find time between shots some clubs. I'm good at getting ready for my next shot, i will take practice swings to loosen  up more.

The last couple rounds I've played i've shot noticeably better on the back 9 once I start getting dialed in.  Saturday I was +10 on the front 9 and +7 on the back 9.  I did hit a medium bucket before also, but I have to think warming up by hitting some range balls helps me.

[Lihu]

I need to hit at least 5 large buckets before considering myself ready for a round.

Seriously, it takes a lot of swings for me to get it. Less so recently, but if I hit at least one large bucket, it would be perfect. I would also like at least half an hour of putting and chipping.

Okay, it gets kind of expensive to do this before every round.

Does anyone else have stretches and a warmup routine? I found that I need to quickly go from 52 degree to 3i and hybrid/3W then driver. 10 balls with the 52 then 5 with everything else. After 5 balls with the driver, I seem to be all warmed up.

This is to relax some series of muscles. Before this, I tend to hit more "toe-y" shots.

What are the muscles that cause this to happen? Anyone have a similar experience?

[Hammer 4]

Welp, when you get to be a old geezer like me, and your joints, muscles and bad back limit your range of motion, it's almost necessary to stretch, so I do light stretching at the range, or course. I do stretch at home before I leave too.

I'll also hit a large bucket of balls before a round, if time permits.

[Lihu]

Originally Posted by Lihu

Does anyone else have stretches and a warmup routine? I found that I need to quickly go from 52 degree to 3i and hybrid/3W then driver. 10 balls with the 52 then 5 with everything else. After 5 balls with the driver, I seem to be all warmed up.

This is to relax some series of muscles. Before this, I tend to hit more "toe-y" shots.

What are the muscles that cause this to happen? Anyone have a similar experience?

Welp, when you get to be a old geezer like me, and your joints, muscles and bad back limit your range of motion, it's almost necessary to stretch, so I do light stretching at the range, or course. I do stretch at home before I leave too.

I'll also hit a large bucket of balls before a round, if time permits.

What about if you don't have time?

[Hammer 4]

What about if you don't have time?

Then I suffer big time..lol  Once drove to a course 2 hours away, we had a 6 am tee time. Range wasn't open, we were the first ones there, and the marshal demanded we tee off right then, and on top of that, it was cold out, I wound up duck hooking my tee shot. The short explanation is, I make sure to arrive Early..

[MS256]

Neither of the two courses where I've played around 99% of my golf has a range but when I do go to a course that has one I start with a 4 iron.

I heard one of the pros say he did that so he would be sure to not start his day by hitting a bad wedge. He said if he hits a bad shot with a long iron his reaction is more like "So what? It's a long iron." If he did it with a wedge his reaction would be "Oh no. I've got a game to play and I can't hit a wedge."

I decided it would be a good thing for me to try because I hit long irons better than anything else and it gets me in a better ball striking groove from the start.