Golf for Seniors: A Guide to Preventing Injury

If you are over fifty years old and perhaps gave up playing golf just because you are afraid of injuring yourself, you still have plenty of reasons to play golf. All you need to do is to adjust your grip with your golf club. You need to adjust so that you won't develop the dreaded golfer's wrist, which is a very painful condition.

You might ask what a golfer's wrist is. A golfer's wrist is damage to the wrist when playing golf the wrong way. You might want to check if you feel some tenderness and pain on the wrist area. This injury requires surgery and heals for quite a long time. To assist a senior golfer, a specialist has revised how he teaches to match that with the bone condition of his senior golfer. His simple and easy-to-follow steps would help senior golfers enjoy the game and avoid injury.

Swing for Seniors

The concept behind the golf swing for senior golfers is similar to the golf swing for young golfers. You begin with the backswing, hit the ball on the downswing, and then do the follow-through. One minor modification is to cock the hands while on the backswing and to keep the right elbow as close to the hip as possible.

During the backswing, younger players fully stretch their arms to make a wide arc as they bring down the golf club towards the downswing. They cock the golf club later. The senior golfer would have to cock the club a bit earlier.

The swing may need power, but it will not be the same several decades ago. The senior golfer has to be strategic than brute force. If they exert more power on the swing, this will put them at risk.

Necessary Stretching

If you are a little more than fifty years old and still want to have fun playing golf, preparation for the physical activities is needed.

On a regular basis, it is wise to have some stretching exercises. This is perfect if you still want to enjoy golf or other physical activity.

You may need an instructor who knows a thing or two about golf. It is much better if he is also more than fifty. This is because the instructor must understand the risk and would then be able to teach skills or techniques that won't lead to problems.

Just because you have entered the senior years, it in no way means that you need to slow down playing golf. In fact, the opposite is true. You will have more time to play once you are retired, and the exercise is good for your health. The best choice is to adapt your swing and warm up your muscles beforehand so as to avoid injury.