A lot of golfers are playing hurt. Not broken-bones hurt, but with things like tendinitis, sore muscles and arthritis. These aren’t flashy injuries, but they still can keep you off the course.
THE LEAD WRIST
WHAT HAPPENS: Hold your lead hand (left hand for righties) in front of you, thumb up, and make a fist. Notice there’s a little cup or angle in the back of the wrist; this is the natural power position. Most amateurs don’t have the strength to lead the club into impact with the back of the left wrist, as they’ve been told to, and that creates overload. Sometimes hitting the ground flattens the wrist angle, stressing the extensor tendons on the top of the wrist and causing tendinitis.
HOW TO AVOID INJURY: If you grip the club with your left hand in a weak position, the thumb down the top of the handle (above, 1), you risk having a flat or even bowed left wrist at impact. Instead, rotate your left hand away from the target about 30 degrees from that weak position. This will put the thumb at about 1:30 on an imaginary clock face, more down the right side of the grip, and create the slight cup you want in the wrist (2).
THE LEAD ELBOW
WHAT HAPPENS: The problem here is similar to that in the wrist: The extensor tendons on the outside of the elbow are overloaded by the jarring of impact and begin to tear away from the bone. It’s called lateral epicondylitis, or tennis elbow. Golfer’s elbow affects the inside of the trail arm and is caused by the repeated straining and rotation of that arm through impact, but it’s less common.
HOW TO AVOID INJURY: Many golfers confuse keeping the left arm straight with locking it (below, 1). Consider this: If you let your arm hang at your side, it’s straight but relaxed. That’s the straight you want. Think of the arm as staying "soft" from start to finish (2). The momentum of the downswing will pull your left arm straight without you thinking about it.
THE LEAD SHOULDER
WHAT HAPPENS: There are several parts of the shoulder at risk, and the rotator cuff is the granddaddy of them all. But labral tears (torn cartilage) are becoming common and often can be traced to the backswing. When golfers keep the left arm tight to the chest as they swing back, they can tear the labrum that stabilizes the shoulder joint. This is called a posterior labral tear, and the golfer feels pain in the back of the shoulder.
HOW TO AVOID INJURY: Players who don’t turn well in the backswing tend to pin the left arm across the chest (1). Turning the upper body can be physically challenging for some golfers; others find it just plain scary, because they feel as if they won’t get back to hit the ball. A good swing thought is, Turn more, swing less (2). When your body stops turning back, your arms should stop swinging. Think of swinging your arms with your turn, not with the muscles in your shoulders.
THE LEAD KNEE
WHAT HAPPENS: We’re really picking on the lead side, and rightfully so—it takes a real beating when you shift forward to swing through. This results in the inner side of the left knee absorbing a tremendous amount of torque and compression. Many golfers square the left foot and lock the knee in an internally rotated position (1), which leads to an increased shearing force on the knee joint. The typical injury is to the medial meniscus and can lead to degeneration of the articular cartilage and arthritis.
HOW TO AVOID INJURY: For the left leg to function properly, the knee has to shift in front of the hip very early in the downswing. Excessive shifting of the hips toward the target prevents this. The line of the left thigh should be vertical or leaning away from the target on the downswing, not leaning toward the target. To promote more turning and less sliding of the hips, rotate your left foot 20 or 30 degrees toward the target at address (2).
THE LOWER BACK
WHAT HAPPENS: A strained lower back is the most common golf injury, and the one most likely to shorten a career. The modern power swing is all about the rotation of the pelvis through the shot. The torque this creates between the pelvis and the lumbar spine pulls the ligaments, tendons and muscles in that area. Also, the shearing effect can wear away the discs between the vertebrae in the lumbar spine, leading to disc disease; that’s the real career-ender.
HOW TO AVOID INJURY: Teaching today says to create separation between the rotation of the pelvis and the rotation of the trunk, especially on the downswing, where more separation means more speed (1). The problem is, many golfers can’t do that without a lower-back injury. Instead, try to turn everything in unison; the hips and shoulders should rotate back together and through together (2). You might sacrifice some power, but you’ll save your back and stay in the game.
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