For many of us, we used to be able to hop out of the car, go straight to the first tee and rip a drive down the middle of the fairway. Now by skipping a warm-up before a round of golf may mean it takes us 4 or 5 holes before you loosen up and gain your form, and by that time your score may already be ruined.

Here is a quick and easy pre-round warm-up exercise to help you avoid those big numbers on the scorecard.

The point of a warmup is to elevate your heart rate to get your blood flowing to warm muscles so they are loose and supple to make it is easier to swing. You can do this warm-up at your house before your round of golf, if you don’t have a long drive to the golf course or on the driving range. Don’t be embarrassed to do the routine, it couldn’t more humiliating than topping your drive off the first tee.

When you go from a standstill directly into some kind of high intensity movement like a golf swing, it can raise your heart rate, engage your muscles and, without warming up first, it can cause a great amount of stress on your body. When your heart raises too quickly, it tries to circulate your blood supply through constricted blood vessels to feed your muscle tissue, but if muscles are not warmed and blood is not flowing, it meets resistance and causes your blood pressure to spike momentarily.

Aside from potential muscle tears and injuries, this can cause swing faults because you are unable to take your muscles through their full range of motion, constricting your swing. It can also cause premature fatiguing during your round. Your body may not have the stamina to play all 18 holes because your body is using all it’s energy to keep up the demands of blood and oxygen flow that your muscles are requiring to swing a club 90 to 100 mph over a four to five hour period of time.

There are many ways to warm up your body, like jogging, dynamic stretching, jogging or even taking practice swings. This warm up takes 5 minutes and it targets your hip flexors that are typically tight in golfers. If you do this everyday, you can increase your balance and flexibility as well.

Visit CardioGolf.com for more information.