title: Warm-up attitudes and behaviours of amateur golfers.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fradkin
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Finch
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sherman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006055:Golf / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control