Lower Your Golf Score Through Yoga

I’ve played a lot of sports through the years, but without a doubt, golf is the most demanding. It is not as purely physically demanding as basketball, tennis, or racquetball, but it is demanding in significantly different ways. If you play golf, you know exactly what I mean.

You would think that once you purchased your first set of clubs and took a few lessons, you’d be set for years of play. Wrong. Once you start playing, it doesn't take long to realize just how inadequate everything feels. For instance, no matter what you spent on your clubs, you soon realize you didn’t spend enough. Then there are the lessons: as soon as you think you’ve mastered one basic fundamental, you discover that 1) you haven’t mastered it at all, and 2) there is so much more to learn.

And let’s not forget the thousands of dollars spent on clinics, magazines, books, videos, and gadgets—all in the quest to improve your game. Yet most of us completely overlook the single most important piece of golfing equipment. When appropriately maintained, this piece of equipment will improve your game far more than anything else you can buy, making it one of the least expensive and best investments you will ever make.

Of course, I am talking about your body—and maintaining it through yoga.

What makes golf (and life) so demanding is that it is as much mental as it is physical. Quite frankly, I don’t understand why more serious golfers don’t practice yoga; because both golf and yoga are ultimately about balance—the balance of body and mind. Have you ever posted a good score when you were agitated or preoccupied? You obviously play better when you can focus completely on the fundamentals, and heightened concentration is one of the very first benefits you experience through yoga.

If you’ve ever played on a day when the air was heavy or smoky and you couldn’t quite catch your breath, think back to how you played. Breathing is another crucial area that improves with yoga. Breath is the gateway to the mind and affects virtually everything in your life—not just your golf game. Through yoga, you learn to regulate your breath and control your emotions under pressure.

It is a remarkably powerful tool. By learning an appropriate yoga practice, you will increase your range of motion while improving your flexibility, strength, and endurance—both physically and emotionally. You can obsess over your golf mechanics until the cows come home, but learning to manage your emotional and mental reactions will usually have a far greater impact on your game.

The bottom line? By learning how to coordinate and integrate body, breath, and mind, you will be able to lock in your focus and concentration when standing over that crucial drive or high-stakes putt.