A few years ago a friend of mine, an executive from Golf Magazine retired from publishing. As you can imagine from his years of experience he had gathered a tremendous amount of contacts in the golf industry. His plan for retirement was simple – travel the world and play golf.

During his first month of retirement his dreams were temporarily shattered when he injured his shoulder playing golf. A tear in his rotator cuff required surgery and the injury sidelined his plans for over six months.

"Shoulder injuries are the number two injury effecting golfers.”

I have a saying, “God only made three mistakes. The knee, the shoulder and the fact that dogs don’t live to be fifty years old”.

The shoulder joint is a very precarious part of the body, held together by a series of muscles. This enables the shoulder to move in all planes of movement yet the shoulder is also prone to injury.

We will target the muscles of the shoulder and focus on strengthening the muscles by incorporating the use of the Golf Gym Power Swing Trainer (PST). The PST is resistance tubing place in the hinge of a door and utilizes a molded golf grip to help you strengthen the hands and wrists

Go to www.YogaForGolfers.com to see the Power Swing Trainer.

Let’s get started!

One arm row from a lunge position:
Place the PST in the door hinge higher than shoulder height. Step away from the door and step back into a lunge position. Pull your navel towards your spine, stabilizing the trunk and lower the leg to a ninety degree angle. Extend the right arm, focusing on the stretch in the right lat and right shoulders. On your exhale pull your arm back, elbow “hugging” your right side body. Hold and squeeze for an extra breath. Repeat ten times and switch sides.

Standing rear delt strengthener:
Step closer to the door hinge, keeping the PST in the same position as the one arm row exercise. Stand with a slight bend in the knees, stabilizing your trunk by puling the navel towards the spine. Extend your right arm slightly above the shoulder, palm facing the floor. Exhale and pull your arm down. Note: maintain a slight bend in the elbow. Repeat ten times and switch sides.

Standing front and side raises:
Place the PST under your right foot. Position the hand to the palm is facing the floor with a slight bend in the elbow. On your exhale lift the arm to shoulder height. Repeat ten times. Turn the palm towards the floor. On your exhale lift the arm to slightly below shoulder height. Repeat ten times.

Switch sides and repeat. Practice this shoulder strengthening exercises every other day as part of your fitness program. Be sure to include shoulder strengthening exercises as well and take the time to warm up your shoulders before your round!

Katherine Roberts is founder and president of Katherine Roberts Yoga for Golfers, a 10-year-old publishing and fitness consulting company based in Scottsdale, Arizona. As a fitness expert and a regular contributor for The Golf Channel, she has appeared on The Big Break, Makeover Challenge, Your Game Night, the PGA Merchandising Show Recap and How Low Can you Go? Katherine is the producer of nine DVDs and author of the ground-breaking book Yoga for Golfers (McGraw-Hill). Roberts’ unique approach to golf conditioning is a hybrid of western biomechanical research and eastern mind/body conditioning for performance. Yoga for Golfers is dedicated to helping people achieve balanced performance both on and off the course. www.yogaforgolfers.com