How To Play Golf Pain Free

The golf swing is a complex athletic move that involves the use of
just about every muscle and joint in the body. As a result, golfers
tend to be injury prone when they swing the golf club with some
improper moves during the golf swing. One biomechanical trainer who
trains a number of golfers on the PGA Tour has suggested that golfers
are great compensators. When they struggle to make a proper move at
some point in the golf swing, golfers will compensate by trying to
counter that move later in the golf swing. Unfortunately, this is
often when injuries occur.Probably the most common injury among
golfers is in the back. Back injuries are typically caused by one of
two major faults in the golf swing. The first swing fault occurs when
the golfer has difficulty lifting their arms in the back swing. The
golfer will often compensate for this issue by tilting the hips in the
back swing, instead of turning them more level. As a result, the back
leans toward the target in the back swing. In the downswing, in order
to make some decent contact with the ball, the golfer must thrust the
hips forward violently, which tilts the spine back away from the
target, and puts significant pressure on the lower back.The golfer who
has some difficulty in lifting their arms in the back swing likely has
some shoulder issues that need to be addressed. There is likely some
rotational ability that can be addressed with treatment and exercise.
Once this is addressed, the golfer should also learn to swing the club
without tilting the spine toward the target. Maintaining the spine
angle better during the golf swing will help to prevent injury to the
back.The second swing fault that results in back pain is the reverse C
position that many golfers end up in on their follow through. Many
golfers end up in this position because they do not understand how the
golf club functions to get the ball in the air. As such, they try to
help the ball in the air with a big follow through that results in
them leaning away too much from the target, and this puts significant
pressure on the lower and middle back.The primary solution to this
swing issue is to get a better understanding of how the golf club
works to lift the ball into the air. Consider a pitching wedge. The
wedge typically has 47 degrees of loft, and a number of grooves. The
loft and the grooves will combine to create backspin, and it is the
backspin that lifts the ball in the air. The more spin you create, the
higher the ball flies.Many beginners and average golfers instead try
to help the ball in the air by catching the ball on the upswing as
they tilt the back too far away from the target. What they should be
doing is lowering their center of gravity in the downswing, which will
allow the club to catch the ball first, and bottom out past where the
ball was sitting. The divot should actually occur past where the ball
was sitting. This allows the club to compress the ball and put spin on
it to get it into the air. A golfer who understands this knows that
they don't need to tilt the spine so much during the swing.One way to
avoid back pain while playing golf is to learn the proper fundamentals
of the swing. By having a better understanding of the swing
fundamentals, the golfer can learn to swing the club properly, and
play pain free.Copyright (c) 2010 Scott Cole