When golfers have one or more young kids at home, every round is a privilege. When you start veering into, ‘Well I really do need some time to hit balls before my round,’ you start really pushing your luck, as NFL Network’s Sarah Walsh outlined spectacularly here.
Listen, hitting golf balls before your round is important. That’s why literally every single pro on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour does it. But I think often the rest of us think about hitting golf balls as the only way to warm up, when in reality, many pros think hitting golf balls is something more of an add-on. Less about literally getting their body warm, and more about feeling comfortable putting the clubface on the ball. More of a mental warm-up, in some ways.
For many players, hitting balls is the least important part of warming up.
As for what you should do? I asked Jon Rahm exactly that at the Travelers Championship recently, and he talked about the importance of mobility work. Sort of like stretching, but something with enough movement to get your heart pumping, and your body activated.
“It’s not so much stretching… mobility, movement, range of motion,” Rahm said. “Something that gets the blood moving through your body.”
Doing just five or 10 minutes of these exercises can warm up your body more than spending that time hitting golf balls. When pros do it, they generally target a few specific areas of their body:
- Hip flexors
- T-Spine
- Shoulders
- Core
