The App State men’s golf team kicked off the season with a sixth place finish at the Bash at the Beach in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They were four strokes shy of a fourth place finish.
With the golf season underway, head coach Bo Redman stressed that in order to avoid an injury, a player has to warm up before starting a round.
Redman became the Mountaineer’s head men’s golf coach in July 2017. Redman has been involved with golf on almost every level and has a tremendous amount of experience, according to his bio.
“Even if we only have x amount of time it’s so important to warm up, hit a couple balls, stretch out and then really if we do that right we won’t have any injuries,” Redman said.
He also said that they really try to stay conscious about getting the golfers warmed up so they do not get hurt.
The top three golf injuries are back pain, tendonitis in the elbows and knee pain. A golfer can also suffer injuries to the rotator cuff, ankle, wrist and neck while playing, according to the Golf Channel.
“Lower back is my biggest issue because you always rotate the same direction so it puts — like I have a lot of pressure on my lower left back constantly almost. It’s just stretching to get it better,” junior Alex Burris said.
Junior Chance Watson said he suffered from a shoulder injury in 2016 that required surgery and a long rehab process that has caused his swing to be tighter and shorter. He was granted a medical redshirt.
Watson got injured because he did not warm up before he started playing and took a swing that hurt his shoulder.
“When he got hurt, he didn’t warm up properly. So we’ve used (Watson) as an example on the team,” Redman said.
The team has to travel down the mountain in order to practice on a golf course. Redman said that it is hard for them to get properly warmed up and play nine holes.
Golfers on the App State team do a variety of different things to get warm and loosened up before playing a round of golf.
“Mostly just some light stretching before you start playing,” Burris said.
Burris also said that they try and hit on a range before practice and work their way up from short clubs to long clubs. He said it loosens up your arms and shoulders before the round.
Junior Walter Brinker said that they work a lot with the training staff and if they have any problems they will go to Taylor Young, the athletic trainer for golf.
Redman said that his golfers know their bodies well enough to know what to do in order to warm up properly and that the players take it upon themselves to do a good warm up.
“Everyone has a different warm up process. It’s not something that even the trainers put on them or I have, you know, put on them,” Redman said. “We are trying to be very conscious of warming up properly.”
Story By: Moss Brennan, In-Depth Editor
Graphic By: Mary Lauren Willis, Intern Designer
