I have just completed one of the best stretching routines I've ever experienced.

A few weeks ago, Mike Pedersen sent me his Golf Stretching for a Better Swing DVD. I shoved it in the DVD player this morning to take a look and decided the best way to assess it was to "stretch along with Mike".

Mike is a former decathlete turned personal fitness trainer. His focus now is the sport of golf.

First, a few thoughts on the production values; shooting involved a single camera. But each exercise is shot from two angles - head on and from the side - to demonstrate the stretch clearly. Camera work is excellent with plenty of close-ups, pans and tilts to really demonstrate how the stretch is being done.

Of course, Mike is talking us through each stretch with clear, concise instructions.

The background is attractive without taking focus away from the stretches. Someone chose well.

Music is relaxing and very appropriate to the overall production. It's very easy to mess up music selection in a production like this (just watch some of the workout shows on cable TV).

So, the production gets high marks in my books.

The stretches, however, are what you buy this DVD for. I currently use a routine that involves plenty of yoga poses and some of Roger Fredericks' stretches. Mike does employ a number of yoga moves but he also incorporates many that fall outside the scope of yoga.

Like Fredericks, Mike mixes in plenty of golf-specific stretching for the core, shoulders, upper and lower back and hamstrings. Let me tell you, they offer a helluva good stretch.

Roger Fredericks uses dynamic stretching where stretches are held for several moments and repeated; Mike Pedersen opts for a stretch and hold of at least 15 seconds. This is very much in keeping with traditional yoga.

Both methods work, as far as I am concerned. But I enjoy holding a stretch for a period of time and then relaxing out of it.

The whole stretching routine took me half an hour or so to complete and I felt relaxed, taller and much looser. My problem areas are my upper back, shoulders, hamstrings and hip flexors - that's where I really tighten up the most. This stretching program really worked those areas nicely.

It's a thorough routine but Mike maintains you only need to do it two to three times a week to gain maximum value from it.

This is a challenging stretching program if done right, especially if you heed Mike's encouraging words to go deeper into each stretch. So you've got to be ready to do the work. But if you do, the rewards are there.

Let's remember that stretching with a regular routine translates into fuller backswing turns, better golf posture and a more powerful transition to the downswing. In other words, longer drives.

Plenty of PGA tour players make it a fundamental part of their work-out routines; they're not just pumping iron, they're stretching their muscles, tendons and ligaments to maintain flexibility.

This program gets a five-star rating.