Extending the wrist to add some much-needed extra yardage to your drives

I am sure you will stretch before your cycle. Maybe some squats, side bends or swinging two clubs. But I think you don’t warm your hands and fingers. These parts of your body are important to swinging the club correctly. In addition, they are great producers of speed. Not using your hands and fingers properly – and warming them up before your first swing – can limit them from doing their job.

Here’s a simple 60-second stretch that will warm up your mitts so you can free up your clubhead speed and, more importantly, avoid injury.

Simply extend your leading arm with your palm facing down. Using your opposite hand, pull your lead hand straight down (1), using pressure to stretch the muscles in your wrist. Hold for 10 seconds. Next, rotate your arm so that your palm is facing up and do the same: Pull your fingers down and hold (2). You should feel a good stretch from the tips of your fingers to the palm of your hand and up to your elbow. As you can guess, you should repeat these tips with your router hand.

Now these important speed producers are warm and ready to go. It’s also not a bad idea to do a quick version of these techniques before trying to shoot from the rough, which is where most hand injuries occur.

Scott Munroe is a GOLF Top 100 instructor who teaches at The Boca Raton Club in Boca Raton, Fla., and Nantucket GC in Siasconset, Mass.