Get in Shape to Play
Your Best Golf
Maintaining Your Swing in the Off Season

  (EDITOR'S NOTE: Tami Bealert is a PGA Golf Professional and Fitness Trainer based in Plymouth. She has agreed to write periodic guest columns for Plymouth CantonSports.com For more information, visit www.TrainWithTami.com)

BY TAMI BEALERT
Dec. 30, 2009, 10:30 p.m.

  What is the best method to improving your golf game? "Improve your body". Golfers need to remember that in order to improve their game, they need to get into shape to play golf, not to play golf to get into shape.

  It's easy to lose sight of our golf goals, especially in Michigan during the winter months, and procrastinating until spring only prolongs your learning progress. However,

committing to a golf-conditioning program or few exercises and stretches each day will help to keep your body in shaper all year round.

  Today, there are many innovative exercise programs, stretches and affordable equipment to maintain your tone and enhance your swing. The use of therabands, exercise balls, medicine balls, and kettle balls has become very popular in the past several months.

  The exercise ball or "Swiss Ball," is a large rubber ball filled with air  to make it forgiving and light and is used for stretching and stabilization. This ball is one of the best pieces of equipment you can use to improve your golf swing.

  There are two fundamental core stability stretches that I recommend for all golfers at any level of ability. First, is the "chest stretch" over the Swiss Ball. This stretch will provide improved posture and relaxed shoulders at the address position.

  While sitting on the ball with your feet, head, neck and shoulder blades. Feet should be flat on the floor while your core and legs are parallel to the floor. Bend the elbows at a 90-degree angle so palms face the ceiling. Relax your arms and allow them to hang, as gravity will allow a release from your chest muscles. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat three to five times.

  The "side stretch" is the second stretch. This stretch releases lateral body tightness and contributes to leveling both shoulders and hips to keep the body in balance. "Side lie" over the ball, rest the bottom knee and arm on the floor to help balance. Reach the top leg and arm as straight as possible until a comfortable stretch is felt in the topside of the body.

  Relax neck and allow head to comfortably fall toward the floor. Hold 30 to 60 seconds, three reps each, left and right sides.

  These beneficial stretches provide the greatest amount of release to the muscles while supporting the body with minimal tension. More importantly, they provide a true path of stretching with gravity assisting, similar to how we should allow gravity to assist us when swinging the golf club.

  Whether you are getting into shape or trying to keep your shape, golfers who stick to an exercise program will invariably perform better and reduce the risk of injury year after year.

  To contact Tami Bealert regarding golf and/or fitness lessons, visit www.TrainWithTami.com.