Yoga for Sports Series: Yoga for Golf
In the modern world, golfers are looking for any advantage they can get on the course. Whether their goal is to hit the ball further or simply to play the game longer or more efficiently, yoga for golf may be another tool to add to the arsenal to see improvement in your game. Yoga for Golf is another post to our Yoga for Sports Series. If you haven't read our post on "Yoga for Sports Series: Some of the Benefits That Yoga Has on Athletes and Their Training", head on over and give it a read!
Why is Yoga Good For Golfers?
The idea of golf seems simple. You swing a club and hit
a ball. In practice, though, the concept is challenging to execute. Besides baseball, where you have to hit a round ball with a round bat, at pitches coming in at 90+ mph, hitting a golf ball with accuracy and length is the second most challenging skill in sports (just our opinion, of course!).
According to a post on Sean Cochran Sports Performance, a swing can be broken down into 6 different components all in one single swing. These 6 movements are also known as biomechanical movements. Setup, backswing, transition, downswing, impact and follow-through.
In order to build a consistent and repeatable swing however, you need to develop two challenging physical attributes, balance, and flexibility. These 2 concepts are important for virtually all sports. Balance is essential in a golf swing if you want to be
consistent. Maintaining proper balance throughout the entire golf swing is more
complicated than it seems, though.
The ability to control your weight as you shift it back and forth is crucial if you want to develop excellent golf skills.
Flexibility is the other part of the golf swing that limits the amount of power you can generate. Much of the power in the golf swing is derived from rotation between various parts of the body. The more flexible you are, the better you can rotate, and the more powerful your golf swing becomes. Take this quote for instance from Golf.com, " the longer back your hands travel, the more speed they'll gather coming through". So how can your get better rotation and your hands back further.......flexibility, right!
These two factors in the golf swing are why yoga can be so beneficial for golfers. Through the use of strategic poses, golfers can use simple yoga poses regularly to develop better balance and increased flexibility that will leave them with lower scores and more enjoyment from the game.
Research Tidbits on Yoga for Golf:
BBC News posted a short article discussing new research suggesting that 30-minutes of yoga per week could help golfers improve their swing. Specifics of the study included golfers who performed 2, 15 minutes sessions per week, for 6 weeks. The conclusion was a 2-3 degree difference in range of motion (ROM), equating to increased club head speed.
If you head on over to Golf Digest there are also 2 great videos on Yoga for Golfers contributed by Katherine Roberts, a yoga performance specialist.
Keiser University talks specifically about flexibility and balance as we have discussed within this post, however they take things even a step further. Mental focus as well as strength and endurance, as being 2 other huge factors in improving anyone's golf game.
We've discussed before, yoga in multidimensional with no limitations. It can be catered to fit your individuals needs, it's just about finding what poses or style fits those needs, and then executing them.
Yoga Poses For Golfers
Revolved Crescent Lunge (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana)
Here is A Quick Video Just For You Golfers!
These three yoga poses are great first steps in harnessing
the power of yoga for golf. Many of the best players in golf have realized the power of yoga in enhancing their games as well as athletes around the world, so don't miss out!
If you want to win more skins and out-drive all of your friends regularly, you need to have a secret weapon. That
secret weapon is yoga for golf.
Related Article: Yoga Maneuvers and Stretches to Help Develop Better Posture
Final Thoughts!
Now go out and improve your game and crush your competition with your new secret weapon!
Have a great day, please feel free to share our blog posts on social media and be sure to visit us again soon
Resources:
- https://seancochran.com/concepts-of-the-golf-swing-for-optimal-performance/
- https://golf.com/instruction/driving/how-golfers-really-generate-golf-power-study/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-47238970
- https://www.golfdigest.com/story/fitness-friday-a-great-yoga-program-for-golfers
- https://collegeofgolf.keiseruniversity.edu/odd-pair-golf-yoga/