Warm-up attitudes and behaviours of amateur golfers

Although it is widely recommended that golfers warm-up before play/practice to enhance their physical performance and to prevent injuries, few actually undertake this activity. The reasons why golfers do/do not warm-up are not known. The aim of this study was to determine the self-reported behaviours and attitudes of adult golfers towards warming-up. A survey of 1040 randomly selected golfers was conducted over a 3-week period in July 1999. Information about golf participation, usual warm-up habits and reasons for these warm-up behaviours was obtained by a verbally administered self-report survey. Over 70% of the surveyed golfers stated that they never or seldom warm-up, with only 3.8% reporting warming-up on every occasion. The most common reasons why golfers warmed-up included to play better (74.5%), to prevent injury (27.0%), and because everyone else does (13.2%). Common reasons for not warming-up were the perception that they don't need to (38.7%), don't have enough time (36.4%) and can't be bothered (33.7%). These findings suggest that in order to increase the proportion of golfers who warm-up, education programs focussing on the benefits of warming-up, including injury prevention, need to be developed and implemented. Different strategies may need to be adopted to accommodate golfers' differing attitudes and baseline behaviours.