Today's tip stems from a comment RustyKiwi made a few weeks ago. Rusty suffers from near constant back pain due to years of physical abuse and he wrote to thank me for giving him the ability to continue to play golf. This kind of comment is something we hear all the time. As we get older, many of us develop aches and pains that become part of our everyday life. Fortunately, by using my Peak Performance Golf Swing, those aches and pains don't have to come from your golf swing.
But something Rusty said toward the end of his note concerned me. "On a good day ,smooth and powerful. On a bad day snap hook because I struggle with the bump. Have even lined up to the right to allow for a hook and pulled it off. There's a lot to be said for being consistent except when it's consistently bad. But at least I can keep playing, thanks to you."
Rusty, I know the temptation must be great to "play" for your snap hook on those days you are having back pain but I would like to see you do some other things that may get you back to swinging correctly and in a pain-free manner. After all, we do not ever want to play for a shot shape we don't want. That just reinforces bad swing habits and will make it all the more difficult for you to revert back to your proper Surge Swing when your back is not sore. So next time your back is acting up, try flaring your feet more. Experiment with positions that go out to 45 degrees or more and see if that helps. By doing this you will release your hips sooner putting less stress on your lower body and back. You should find that this will allow you to line up properly for a straight shot rather than playing banana ball.
I suspect that with your history of chronic back pain you already have a training regimen to do what you can to increase your back strength and flexibility. For those of you who also suffer from aches and pains I cannot over-emphasize this point. In order to play better golf, shoot lower scores and fully enjoy this game in a pain-free manner, you must develop your own fitness routine. If you don't know how, seek out the help of a physical therapist or an occupational therapist who can tailor your program to include golf-specific movements. You can also check out the website of my good friend, Bruce Chaffin, a.k.a The Rolfer Golfer. Bruce has a ton of good material on www.therolfergolfer.com that you will find helpful. By the way, for those of you in the mid-Atlantic states, Bruce will be at Odessa National in Townsend, DE this coming weekend helping Dave Seeman and me with our three-day golf school. We still have room for last-minute entries so if you are interested call Debbie Bragg at (864) 285-0318.
The important thing here is to be consistent in whatever you do because if you want to play golf into your Golden Years, you need to be golden to your body!
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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