Yoga helping golfers improve mental, physical parts of game

Today, athletes from all sports — including golfers — are turning to the ancient teachings of yoga to learn how to tie the mind and body together to improve performance.

PGA professionals and LPGA players are listed among those who have used “Yoga for Golfers,” a yoga-based fitness program developed by Katherine Roberts, a nationally recognized golf fitness expert. Locally, handfuls of golf enthusiasts are finding that they too can use yoga to enhance their games.

“I had one student tell me (yoga) took 10 strokes off his game,” says Brandon Cox, co-owner, Corepower Yoga-Boulder. Corepower teaches Bikram’s yoga, which is often referred to as “hot yoga.” Classes are taught in a room heated in the range of 104 to 110 degrees, which enables the muscles to warm up quickly, become more elastic and reduce the chance of injury.

“People think yoga is just stretching, but it’s more than that,” says Lindsay Vatterott, owner and instructor of Bikram’s Yoga College of India-Broomfield. “It also provides strengthening and mental clarity.” For example, yoga helps to strengthen the spine so golfers can more fully move through their golf swing, while breathing techniques of the practice help golfers stay relaxed and “in the moment” of their game, she says.

A golfer for 15 years, Deb Wagner, office manager at Bikram’s Yoga College, has practiced yoga for almost a decade and experienced its benefits first-hand. “I’m more flexible and have a better swing because of (yoga),” Wagner says. “It’s helped me hit the ball straighter and longer.”

Mary Iannotti, a certified Iyengar yoga teacher in Boulder, lists flexibility among the top reasons golfers should take up yoga.

“You work on opposing muscle groups that you don’t use as much in golf,” says Iannotti, who teaches through the city of Boulder Parks and Recreation yoga program and during lunchtime sessions at Gold Systems Inc. in Boulder. “In golf, you are always swinging on one side so the other side is usually extremely weak. With yoga, we work symmetrically.”

The repetitive swinging motion in golf typically creates stronger, tighter muscles on one side of the body; specifically, the shoulders, biceps, forearms and upper back tend to be more developed on a golfer’s dominant side. These stronger, tighter muscles can then restrict the movement of surrounding muscles, ultimately leading to a limited range of motion.

Distance and accuracy

To counteract this, Iannotti says the Iyengar method specifically emphasizes proper alignment of the body while doing yoga poses. “When working in this manner, opposing muscle groups have to work evenly,” she adds. “When athletes do yoga they stretch the strong muscle group and strengthen the weaker muscle group. This prevents injuries and in many cases heals injuries as well.”

By practicing yoga regularly, golfers can achieve a symmetrical golf stroke that allows for greater driving distance and increased accuracy off the tee.

“If your shoulders are stiff and you can’t get into the proper position, you won’t be in the proper position to hit the ball, and you won’t have proper follow through,” says Linda Dail, a yoga instructor at The Colorado School of Iyengar Yoga in Denver.

Dail teaches an “Improve Your Golf Game” class, which demonstrates yoga stretches specifically for the back, hip and shoulder muscles used in a golf swing. A golf enthusiast herself, she first held the one-day class in March and had 16 attendees. The next workshop costs $30 and will be held May 23.

Ask a group of yoga instructors about the differences between yoga and merely stretching and they will likely identify increased concentration as a key additional benefit that yoga can offer.

“Through yoga, you learn how to make the mind-body connection and learn how to stay focused,” Vatterott says.

Because yoga helps cultivate a sense of calmness and clear thinking, many who practice yoga say it provides them with a mental quietness, which they then draw upon in other, more tense situations. To achieve this calmness, breathing plays a major role in yoga and is used throughout the sequencing of different postures to reinforce the relationship between the mind and the body.

For Chris Hummel, a project manager at Gold Systems, he believes the mental discipline of yoga has helped him be “more present” for each stroke during his game.

To reap the mental and physical benefits of yoga, several instructors agree that once a week is the minimum time commitment, while three times a week is preferred.

“If you can’t afford a class, then practice on your own,” Iannotti says. “I tell students to get to the (golf) course 15 minutes early to warm up with yoga poses, which can serve as the beginning of developing your own practice.”

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