Golfers are really getting into the swing of yoga these days! (heh, sorry). Hardcore golfers and golfettes are notorious for trying anything that promises to give their game an edge. They’re also notorious for kiboshing any sort of attempt at pre-play stretches, and then end up befuddled by injuries. But, that’s starting to change with yoga making the rounds as a real boon to the game by helping increase flexibility and focus. Actually, yoga has become so popular it’s finding integration at golf schools (yes, golf schools, we had no idea) like Kohler Golf Academy in Wisconsin, which offer specialized yoga programs tailored for individual golfers’ abilities and desired area of improvement.
There’s also, Yoga for Golfers, the brand founded by Katherine Roberts, a frequent contributor to The Golf Channel, whose somewhat beguiled reason for creating a “sports-performance” specific program – to lure people to yoga “through the guise of wanting to improve their golf game” – strikes us as oddly conniving. But we’ll just chalk that up to her desire to help people, we guess.
Yes, young and old, newbie and pro, women AND men are taking special yoga classes to enhance their golf game. Celebrated Argentinian PGA champ, Eduardo Romero, now retired, credits yoga for much of his success (96 professional victories) with improved concentration, and helping him with back injuries to keep him swinging throughout his 27-year career (he’s 54 and has racked up more than $975,000 on the Champions tour this year).
What it boils down to is some swing positions are just easier to get into when you’re more limber and can better your control your body movement, not to mention your concentration – something we hear yoga is pret-ty good at.
