The Recovery Routine Every Weekend Golfer Skips

By Doug O'Connell, LMT | 27 Years Experience, 25,000+ Sessions | Westchester County, NY

Most weekend golfers have a pre-round routine down — a bucket of range balls, a few practice putts, maybe some arm swings by the cart. What almost nobody has is a post-round routine. You play 18, you're sore Sunday and Monday, and you chalk it up to being out of golf shape.

It's not just being out of shape — it's that the round asked for a rotational movement your body doesn't do anywhere else in your week, and then you did nothing to help it recover from that.

What's Actually Happening In Your Body

A golf swing is one of the most asymmetrical movements in sport. You're loading and unloading force through your spine, hips, and shoulders in one direction, over and over, for four hours. Most people don't do anything close to that rotational pattern in a normal week — you might sit at a desk, walk, maybe lift in straight planes at the gym. Nothing prepares the body for what a round of golf demands.

So the muscles doing that rotational work — obliques, low back, hips, lats — get overloaded in a very specific pattern, and then you go straight from the 18th hole to the car to dinner. No cooldown, no release, nothing to tell that tissue the work is over. It stays braced in that loaded pattern, which is exactly why Sunday and Monday feel worse than the round itself.

How I Actually Work With Golfers

When I work with golfers, I'm not just loosening up a sore back. I'm looking at the whole rotational chain — hips, obliques, thoracic spine, lats — because a golf swing is a chain reaction, and tightness in one link shows up as pain or a lost yard somewhere else.

I use what I call Lengthen, Release, and Lock It In. I lengthen the muscles that got compressed through the swing, release the specific spots holding tension — often in the hip or lat on your lead side, not just the low back where you feel it — and then work to lock that length in so your body isn't defaulting right back into that braced, rotated pattern the next time you're at the range.

The Recovery Routine You're Probably Skipping

A few things that actually help, done consistently:

Thoracic rotation stretch. On your hands and knees, thread one arm under your body and rotate, then open back up toward the ceiling. 8-10 reps each side. This is the motion most golfers are missing entirely off the course.

Hip flexor stretch. Half-kneeling lunge position, tuck your pelvis under and lean forward slightly until you feel the stretch in front of the hip. Hold 30 seconds each side. Tight hip flexors are one of the biggest limiters on rotation and a common source of low back strain in golfers.

Ice the low back if it's sore. 15-20 minutes after a round if anything feels tight or achy — same logic as any overworked muscle.

I'll be honest — most golfers aren't stretching on hands and knees in the clubhouse parking lot. If you do nothing else, ice the low back when it's sore and give the thoracic stretch a shot the next morning. Everything past that is gravy. The rest is what a session is for.

What To Expect

If soreness has become a regular Monday thing, one session usually loosens things up noticeably — better rotation, less stiffness getting out of the car. If it's been building for a full season without any real release work, plan on a couple of sessions to actually get the rotational chain back to moving the way it should, not just quieting down the pain for a week. You can see the full range of what I offer on the services page.

If you're playing through soreness that never fully resolves and you're in Westchester, I come directly to your home with everything needed — whether you call it in-home, mobile, house-call, or outcall massage, it's the same idea: real therapeutic work, delivered where you actually are. No commute, no spa, no wasted time.

Call or text: (914) 523-0116 dougoconnelllmt.com

Serving Bronxville, Eastchester, Scarsdale, White Plains, Harrison, Chappaqua, Tarrytown, Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Ardsley, and throughout Westchester County, NY.