For those golfers looking to avoid injuries, “Ease into the season,” says one physiotherapist.
“You can’t start (out) playing four days a week,” says Jan Leonard, a physiotherapist at the Young Kempt Physiotherapy and Massage Therapy Centre.
Easing into the season also involves preparing for it by going to the driving range long before someone plays their first round. At the driving range, Leonard says people often start out by hitting balls with their drivers, but they should be using shorter clubs, then working their way up to the longer ones because you “create more rotation and more torque with the longer clubs.”
It’s also important to have a full range of motion to minimize the risk of injury, says Julia Mitchell, a physiotherapist at The Physioclinic.
“Lots of people don’t really think about range of motion with golf, but you really need to make sure you’re flexible enough through the back and the hips and the shoulders and have a full range of motion for the entire golf swing in order to prevent an injury,” she says.
