Bring On The Golf Season! Oh wait my back hurts!
That time of the year has come again! The days get longer, the sun is almost hot enough to give off some warmth and we start seeing advertisements about the Masters Tournament! Spring is here and the golf season is starting!
Despite our amazing indoor facilities at Morgan Creek and the ability to work on your game year round with your coach, most people take a break in the winter. Which means when the sun comes out, we head to the range to beat 100 balls three days in a row. Just until our back, neck, shoulder or knee are so sore we end up in the Chiropractor’s office in pain.
This is exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago to me. I have set a personal goal for the year to work on my game and try to Qualify for the LPGA Canadian Women’s Open. It is being held at Shaugnessy this year so I thought it would be great inspiration.
The problem is I’m not getting any younger. So I started slow in my practice (at least I thought I did, until my chiropractor informed me I would be seeing him multiple times over the next couple of weeks. During my visit to cure lower back pain I haven’t experienced in a long time he said something very enlightening!
He said "Golf is the only sport where the preparation is harder on the body than the actual game is!" We talked about this for a few minutes and it makes perfect sense. In a round if you shoot 100 you would only make roughly 50 full swings spread out over 4-4.5 hours. And yet most of us will go to the range to start the season and proceed to hit 100+ golf balls in under an hour. No matter how strong or healthy you are, this repetitive motion will cause some tightness or injury to your body if you do not work up to it slowly.
Maybe even start with putting and chipping! Your short game will thank you!
So how does this apply to lessons? I have been telling my students for years that it is great to start early. Come out and use our indoor facilities to take one or two lessons over the winter months. Don’t practice too much, but do a lot of indoor exercises that we talk about in lessons to get your body ready.
In my lessons I really like to have my students doing athletic motion drills without a golf club. That way they can train their body to learn the proper movement, without worrying about golf shot results. It is also a great way to safely get a few repetitions in and get your body ready for the season.
By the time you feel the sun and the range feels warm enough to hit balls, your back, knee, shoulder or neck will thank you!
I also hope this is inspiration to work on your short game. More than 50% of the game is played from inside 100 yards! So let’s work on the part that will lower our scores.
If you missed out on winter training it isn’t too late. It’s early spring now and we can still set out a plan to have you golf course ready by the time the season really gets going!
I hope to see you out practicing. If you see me hitting my 20 balls on the range, or practicing my putting come by and say hello! I just told thousands of people that I am going to practice this season and will try to Qualify for an LPGA event. I better keep my word!
Please don’t hesitate to contact myself or any of our instructors with questions about how we can help you get your game ready this year.
Happy Golfing!
Leila Harman
PGA of Canada 'Class A' Professional
P: 604-265-9415
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.