Top Five Ways to Protect Yourself From Injury on Your Next Golf Vacation

If you're planning a nice golf vacation in the near future, I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that you aren’t planning to sustain an injury in the near future! The sad reality is that many golfing injuries are sustained while on vacation, for the simple fact that people are doing things that they're bodies haven’t been conditioned for by their daily life. If you’re planning a golf trip, here are some tips for getting into shape for it, and preventing injury while you’re away.

1. Do medium intensity cardio three times a week, high intensity twice a week

Aside from the encyclopedia of information that is available on how cardiovascular exercise improves our health, it also helps you make sure that you won’t keel over from exhaustion after your first 18 holes! A mix of moderate intensity (where you work at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate) and high intensity (where you work at 80% of your maximum heart rate) cardio programs is best.

2. Do core strengthening exercises

Few games depend as much on having strong core muscles as golf does. Get in the gym and do some lateral pull downs or other back strengthening exercises, and blend these with stomach strengtheners. Pay attention to perfect form in these exercises to ensure that you don’t do yourself injury. Both women and men should focus on keeping a tight pelvic floor through these exercises, also. Maintain the form on yourgolf vacation.

3. Eat plenty of oily fish or take an omega-3 supplement

Omega 3 is essential to the health of many parts of our body, and our joints are one of those. Especially for those of us getting on in years, golf can be hard on the joints -- support them nutritionally

4. Pick up your balls by bending your knees

This is one to watch out for while you are on your golf vacation. If you constantly bend at your spine to pick up your balls, you'll end up sore quickly and with an injury soon after. Bend at the knees when you’re getting your balls out of the hole and tees out of the ground.

5. Have a professional trainer put together a stretching program

That professional could be a golf instructor, or it could be a physical trainer. Either way, have someone create a stretching program tailored to your body (this can be done relatively inexpensively at your local gym), and use it every morning of your golf vacation, after a brisk walk.

Golf Vacations with Kids - How to Get Them Involved

Just because you've had children doesn’t mean you have to wait until your 60 and they've moved out of home to start improving your swing again. Once your kids are past a certain age, they are ready to come with you on your golf vacations, and start learning the ropes. They'll appreciate having so much time with you, and you'll appreciate getting to work on your game and share something you love with the next generation! Here are some tips to help your kids get their game on for your next golf trip.

Gauging appropriate age

While kids can start learning to play golf from around 3 or 4, you probably won’t want to be taking them on vacations at this age. They can’t even really handle a full afternoon at your local club at this stage of life. They need to eat too frequently, will have to be going to the toilet (awkwardly!) behind bushes, and if the weather's over 85, you can expect sunstroke after a few hours. If you’re taking a specific golf vacation, don’t think about bringing your kids along until they're around nine or ten. At this age they have the strength and concentration to golf with you -- or the presence of mind to hang around the club and find some other kids to play with.

Start out with mini golf

In fact, many clubhouses also have a mini golf course attached to them, for this specific purpose. This can be a good way to start the day on your golf vacation -- have a mini golf round, and then move onto the real thing. Your 10-year-old will have been frustrated by not being able to hit the ball hard -- this is their opportunity!

Give them a helping hand with the scoring

It is an informal method for handicapping yourself -- if you are playing alongside your kids on your golf vacation, let them have two shots to your one. You can effectively just divide their score in half to compare to yours. If they've had little practice or are on the young side, why not give them three? It's a way to level the playing field, let them get ahead a bit and give them a taste for competition.

Combine kids' golf camp with your own golf vacation

The whole family can go away to the same place -- your kids can mingle with other kids at golf camp, while the parents happily play their golf trip rounds in peace during the day! Age appropriate activities for all.