Dee here with some candid talk about pain.
Do you know that as a male golfer, 53% of you will have back pain at some point during the season. And if you are a female, 48% of you will.
Sad thing about that is that those numbers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to golf related injuries!
Yes, there are many variables that inevitably lead to pain or injury, but here are the five most common mechanisms that cause injury:
1. Poor body mechanics- These are the body mechanical issues that create compensation in your swing. These compensations show up as swing faults that every singe amatuer golfer has! Got body issues, then you will have swing issues…period!
2. Poor swing biomechanics- This one is easy…if you have swing faults, then your game will suck, and it’s this repetitive “suckiness” that will contribute to pain somewhere in your body!
3. Excessive practice (overuse)- Here’s a great piece of free info, STOP beating balls! Since when has the game of golf become sitting at a driving range hitting balls with the same club? You don’t do it during a round, so hitting 30-50 five irons certainly isn’t a very smart idea! As a player you should spend about 30% of your time on the driving range in “block” style practice, which is working on weaknesses in your game. The other 70% should be “random” practice where you are “visualizing shots” in your head and playing a course like you normally would, except you are at the driving range.
4. No regular exercise program- THIS ONE IS OUR BIGGEST GRIPE OF COURSE! Golf is one of the few sports where a majority of the players don’t have some sort of “physical foundation” upon which to use when they participate in their sport! A recent study still showed that most amatuer golfers don’t think golf is an athletic sport! HUH? ARE YOU CRAZY!? So when did swinging a weighted object around your body at over 90+ MPH not an athletic event? Get over it…golf is a highly athletic event, so stop making excuses as to why your so lazy and your game is so average! 
5. Poor nutrition- That’s right, you eat like crap, you’re going to perform and feel like crap! Like they always say, “You are what you eat.” If you’d like to be a big mac and fries, then go ahead…just don’t expect any great outcomes in life or in golf! If you need help with nutrition, contact us and we can put a cellular specific program together for you.
6. Improper club fitting- Try this- get your body right first, THEN go and spend a thousand dollars on clubs, cause at least you will be more properly fit than if you went in and gof fit while your body “was a wreck!”
Remember, today’s equipment cannot live up to their factory expectations when the body that is swinging it is swinging it improperly! Example- Charles Barkley or Tiger Woods swinging the same club…who’s going to get the most potential out of the technology…Hmmm, kind of a no brainer, eh?
So in the end, realize that pain is an indicator. It means you have physical issues that are creating it, now just find someone qualified to fix those issues and watch your game go to the next level!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Apr 17th, 2009. Comment. 
Tyler again, this time to help you with a metaphor for why golfers have such a tough time making swing changes. I see golfers take lessons and come back with the same swing week after week; not my students of course, but I’ve seen it. Here is what I think takes place in a golfer’s mind.
Here is how us modern instructors try to present a task.
Me: Alright Jimmy, I need you to go to San Diego, California. Are you scared by that request?
Jimmy: Uh, no. I’ve been there before.
Me: How long will it take you to get there?
Jimmy: Uh, 6 hours by plane.
Me: So when you go over Phoenix you won’t freak out?
Jimmy: No. What does this have to do with anything?
I think that most people are willing to commit to journey’s (that’s what changing a golf swing is, just ask Charles) as long as they know details about the journey. For whatever reason, golf pro’s typically don’t paint clear journeys. This would be analogous to me telling you that your goal is west. And you are simply waiting for the next instruction via walkie-talkie. Without knowing where you are heading, I’m pretty sure that most reasonable people would start freaking out around St. Louis.
It is important to explain to students – and students, it is important for you to ask if you don’t know – the big picture of what you are doing and how this small change is apart of it. I try to give all my students guidelines for practice, think of these as backup plans. You should have a backup plan for the following:
If I hit it fat, then I should try this.
If I hit it thin, then I should try this.
If I hit it left, then I should try this.
If I hit it right, then I should try this.
That is my minimum for full swing lessons. You will be much more committed to a program if you have some form of plan like above.
I’m impressed by people who can commit to running in a triathlon…just like I’m impressed by people who go through medical school to become a surgeon. It’s a daunting task either way, but they aren’t told just do this forever and eventually you should get there. Furthermore, they know the big picture of why they are doing it and how each part fits in. So if you don’t know the big picture of what you’re working on then ask your pro. Here are a couple questions you could try:
“Why am I keeping my arm straight again? O.K. got it. And if I get this down, then what are we going to work on next week?”
Remember, it is one thing to commit to running a marathon, but don’t be one of those blind fools that started running back and forth across the US in Forest Gump. When it was all said and done, they had no clue what to do next. They just followed Forest. Unlike that movie, in golf you should always know your next move.
Good luck golfers, and if you don’t have a road map for golf, check out our free downloads.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Apr 11th, 2009. Comment.
You know, Tyler and I started golffitnessguys.com to help “clear the air,” on all of the fallicies of golf fitness, the golf industry and other know or unknown facts about golf.
One of the biggest things we struggle with is the fitness industry’s attempt to teach “golf fitness” to the public by those who are clearly unqualified to do so!
If you are working on your game by exercising, PLEASE (and this is us begging you!) NEVER take a class or work with a “personal trainer” who puts you on a machine or machines that “isolate” a muscle!
Here’s the truth- Your body does not learn is isolated environments! It learns and performs complex movement patterns!
Think Primal. Could you ever envision seeing a caveman doing leg extensions or seated hamstring curls to get a leg workout? Ha! It’s actually almost funny, don’t you think?
On the contrary, due to the fact that Mr. Caveman had to hunt, build, and otherwise survive, he was an excellent squatter, lunger, deadlifter, pusher, puller, walker, runner, bender and rotator! As a golfer, or any athlete for that matter, you should be just like him!
Seek those who are qualified TPI professional (www.mytpi.com) as your best option for the best “leader and educater” when it comes to golf fitness…and don’t comprimise!
So in the end, stay tuned her, cause Tyler and I will continue to serve up healthy servings of the truth and provide you with the best the golf fitness world has to offer! And do your best to be a caveman!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Feb 9th, 2009. Comment.