When heading out to play or practice, many of us take a few practice swings and start hitting balls. This is can turn out to be a big mistake!  Golfers are athletes. Warming up your body is just as important as stretching before a soccer or basketball game. While golf may seem fairly relaxed, the golf swing is very complex and involves the entire body.

Here are a few stretches I like to do before a few practice swings:

-  Hamstring stretch: You can do this by propping your foot up on a bench or the golf cart and reach for your toes, or just simply grab your club and reach down towards your toes (this is just a simple toe touch). Hold these stretches for 10-15 seconds.

-  Stretch the hips: Simply cross your leg on top of the other and push your knee down until you feel a good stretch (make sure to keep your back upright and your ankle on top of your knee).

- Loosen the shoulders: Grab a golf club and hold it a little wider than shoulder width apart. Hold it behind your back and try and lift upward, you will feel this stretch in the front of your shoulders.  After that, set the club on your shoulders behind your head and rotate your shoulders back and forth. This stretch warms up your shoulders as well as your back.

-Don’t forget the forearms: This is the easiest of them all.  Just hold your hand out in front of you and pull your palm toward you, one hand at a time. Hold this stretch for 10-15 seconds.  Next, do the same stretches downward; just push the top of your hand downward.

- Twists: Place your club behind your shoulders, twist at the waist.  Then, get into a golf stance (while keeping the club behind your shoulders) and twist back and forth from this position.

These are some simple, but important, stretches that take very little time.  Next time you go out to the course try these stretches and see what happens!