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Study shows modern golf swing causing more back injuries to players, and at younger ages

Source: GolfWorld
By

Tiger Woods is beginning the second year of his latest comeback campaign, a return from multiple surgeries on his back. While Woods has remained relatively healthy over the past 15 months, precisely what caused Woods’ woes remains a debate. Some point to the staggering amount of swings he’s taken in his lifetime. Others assert Tiger overdid it in the weight room, former caddie Stevie Williams claims it is self-inflicted from Woods’ fiddles with military training, and parts of the Internet subscribe to more cynical theories.

However, according to a new study, Tiger’s injuries—and injuries of other modern golfers—can be distilled to a far more elementary notion.

In the latest issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, a group of doctors from the Barrow Neurological Institute make the case that the modern “X-factor” swing favored by many professionals may hit balls harder and farther, but it can also put extra strain on the spine.

Comparing today’s players with legends like Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan, the doctors maintain today’s players are more muscular and have more powerful downswings, and this can put increased force on the spinal disc and facet joints, which leads to repetitive traumatic discopathy.

“We believe Tiger Wood’s experience with spinal disease highlights a real and under-recognized issue amongst modern era golfers,” writes Dr. Corey T. Walker. “RTD results from years of degenerative ‘hits’ or strains on the spine resulting in early onset breakdown, instability, and pain. We hope medical practitioners, and surgeons in particular, will be able to diagnose and treat golfers with RTD in a specialized fashion going forward.”

The group continues that, not only are current golfers experiencing more back injuries than their predecessors, but that they are victims to such issues earlier in life than non-golfers in their age range.

This line of thinking is not new, as Phil Mickelson has long been a proponent of these findings. “You can play golf for a lifetime and injury-free if you swing the club like Bobby Jones did, like Ernest Jones used to teach—where it’s a swinging motion rather than a violent movement,” Mickelson said at the 2016 Masters. “A lot of the young guys get hurt as they create this violent, connected movement, and I don’t believe that’s the proper way to swing the golf club.”

While the report can be worrisome for golfers both professional and amateur, other health experts maintain stretching and improving your core muscles can stave off injury. Golf Digest Fitness Advisor Ben Shear says back discomfort can be avoided by “Strengthening the muscles at the bottom of the spine, and improve flexibility in the mid and upper back.”

Link to article: Click here

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Gator Snatches Golf Ball in Mid-Air During Tournament, Spares Player a Hazard Penalty

Source: Thrillist
By Published On 02/27/2019

For good reason, many golf courses in Florida warn players to steer clear of alligators that may be lurking in the midst. As luck would have it though, a player hitting the links in Bonita Springs this past weekend owes a bit of gratitude to one particular razor-toothed reptile there, after it snatched a ball that was headed into the water in mid-air and spared her from a hazard penalty.

During a couples tournament at the Bonita National Golf Club on Saturday, Joanne Sadowsky went to tee off at the second hole, when she shanked the ball to the right, sending it almost certainly into one of the course’s lakes. But in a surreal moment reminiscent of that Happy Gilmore scene, the ball headed directly toward an alligator lurking on the edge of the water, and it caught the light pink ball in mid-air, accordingto the Naples Daily News. She may have technically lost the ball, but because it was an outside interference, she didn’t get penalized for whacking her shot into the water.

“It saved me from a hazard penalty,” Sadowsky told the News in an interview, providing them with a photo of the ball in the gator’s mouth.

With the ball in the gator’s mouth, she earned a free drop of the ball. However, that stroke of luck wasn’t enough for her and her husband to win the tournament. Then again, we all know the meddling alligator was the true winner anyway.

Link to article: Click here

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When (and where) should you let a group play through?

Source: GOLF.com
By Josh Sens

The Etiquetteist: When (and where) should you let a group play through?

The progression of golfers around a course is similar to traffic on city streets, replete with slowpokes, speedsters, bottlenecks and breakdowns.

The difference is that traffic on a course is mostly self-policed.

In the absence of strict laws and rigid enforcement, we’re left to follow the unwritten rules of etiquette, which brings us to this week’s comportment dilemma: When should you let another group play through?

The first commandment is as simple as a tap-in: If you’re holding up traffic, let the folks behind you pass, just as you should if you’re puttering along the freeway at 40 miles per hour.

Faster travelers always deserve the right of way. Unless, of course, they’ve got nowhere to go. On jam-packed tracks, there’s no point playing leap frog. Doing so helps no one. It can even make things worse.

But let’s assume congestion isn’t an issue (and if there’s a hole open ahead of you, it’s not), and your group is on the green, with golfers standing, arms-crossed, in the fairway behind you — the golf equivalent of flashing the high beams. If this happens once, it might be an aberration. If it happens a second time, guess what? You’re the problem. Proper etiquette requires you to step aside.

There’s a good chance this will happen on a par-3, where slowdowns are most common. The process here is easy, says Lou Riccio, author of Golf’s Pace of Play Bible: “Wave them up while you are near the green, let them putt while you are planning your putts, then let them go to the next tee first.”

If they catch you on the tee box of a par-4 or par-5, Riccio says, “Let them tee off right after you have hit, then let them move down the hole with you but at some point let them go ahead.”

Riccio’s emphasis is pace of play. But pace and etiquette are interrelated. Most golfers understand this. Sadly, a myopic few do not. They refuse to let folks through, or they piss and moan about it. Why is sometimes hard to say, though it often boils down to ego or entitlement, or, most likely, a little bit of both. It’s never too early in a round to do the right thing (if your foursome’s on the 1st tee, and a single ambles up, let the single go). But is it ever too late? The 16th tee is a reasonable cutoff, unless the group behind you is shattering a land-speed record. Though the rules of etiquette do not require it, you’re wise to let them through whenever they catch you, even as late as the 18th tee.

That’s a rare occurrence. But golf’s a funny game; odd things happen. Good thing is, when it comes to waving through, two fundamental rules should cover all scenarios: apply common courtesy and common sense.

Link to article: Click here

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Study shows modern golf swing causing more back injuries to players, and at younger ages

Source: GolfWorld
By

Tiger Woods is beginning the second year of his latest comeback campaign, a return from multiple surgeries on his back. While Woods has remained relatively healthy over the past 15 months, precisely what caused Woods’ woes remains a debate. Some point to the staggering amount of swings he’s taken in his lifetime. Others assert Tiger overdid it in the weight room, former caddie Stevie Williams claims it is self-inflicted from Woods’ fiddles with military training, and parts of the Internet subscribe to more cynical theories.

However, according to a new study, Tiger’s injuries—and injuries of other modern golfers—can be distilled to a far more elementary notion.

In the latest issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, a group of doctors from the Barrow Neurological Institute make the case that the modern “X-factor” swing favored by many professionals may hit balls harder and farther, but it can also put extra strain on the spine.

Comparing today’s players with legends like Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan, the doctors maintain today’s players are more muscular and have more powerful downswings, and this can put increased force on the spinal disc and facet joints, which leads to repetitive traumatic discopathy.

“We believe Tiger Wood’s experience with spinal disease highlights a real and under-recognized issue amongst modern era golfers,” writes Dr. Corey T. Walker. “RTD results from years of degenerative ‘hits’ or strains on the spine resulting in early onset breakdown, instability, and pain. We hope medical practitioners, and surgeons in particular, will be able to diagnose and treat golfers with RTD in a specialized fashion going forward.”

The group continues that, not only are current golfers experiencing more back injuries than their predecessors, but that they are victims to such issues earlier in life than non-golfers in their age range.

This line of thinking is not new, as Phil Mickelson has long been a proponent of these findings. “You can play golf for a lifetime and injury-free if you swing the club like Bobby Jones did, like Ernest Jones used to teach—where it’s a swinging motion rather than a violent movement,” Mickelson said at the 2016 Masters. “A lot of the young guys get hurt as they create this violent, connected movement, and I don’t believe that’s the proper way to swing the golf club.”

While the report can be worrisome for golfers both professional and amateur, other health experts maintain stretching and improving your core muscles can stave off injury. Golf Digest Fitness Advisor Ben Shear says back discomfort can be avoided by “Strengthening the muscles at the bottom of the spine, and improve flexibility in the mid and upper back.”

Link to article: Click here

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Michael Breed: Try My Secret Move To Flush It From Any Lie

Here’s a good tip we found from GolfDigest to help you with muddy lies.

Source: GolfDigest
By Michael Breed

If winter for you meant no golf, I know you’re itching to get back out there. First, we need to do a little prep work. I’ve learned from all my years in New York that spring lies—those muddy ones with no cushion under the ball—are prime territory for fat shots. And when you hit a few of those, you can lose it fast. Let’s talk.

Golfers who are afraid of hitting the ball fat tend to bend over too much, with their weight on their toes. They feel more in control if they’re closer to the ball. But your body will find its balance as you swing, so you’ll pull up and dump the club behind the ball (fat) or hit it thin. To stay in the shot, set your weight in the arches of your feet. Next: ball position. With an iron, play the ball in line with a spot on your body between the buttons on your shirt and your chest logo (short irons in line with the buttons, longer irons farther forward). I’ve got a 6-iron here (see below).

Image: Click here

Now I’m going to give you just one swing key to think about: Drive your left shoulder closer to your left hip as you start the downswing (far right). That’s probably a strange concept for you, so let’s break it down. I want you to shift toward the target and feel like your upper body is leaning that way, your spine tilting left—we call that side bend. That will shift the low point of your swing in front of the ball so you hit the ball, then the ground. You’ll love that crisp impact, and your confidence will soar because you won’t be worrying about the next iffy lie.

That move—left shoulder toward left hip—also causes your upper body to turn open slightly. Perfect, because that brings your arms and the club back in front of your body, which is another key to avoiding fat shots. Golfers blame fat contact on a steep, choppy swing, but a shallow swing will often skim the ground before impact—and that’s fat, too. The common denominator is, the club hits the ground too soon. Driving your left shoulder forward will prevent that and add compression to your strikes.

So get the ball in the right spot, set your weight in your arches, and focus on that left shoulder. You’ll have the pieces in place to hit it solid—and beat those muddy lies. Come on, spring!

BUTTONS TO THE BALL Focus on two positions at address: (1) Weight in the arches of your feet, never on your toes; (2) Ball just ahead of your shirt buttons (for a middle iron).

TURN INTO YOUR RIGHT SIDE Let your weight shift to the heel of your right foot, and be ready to drive forward. What you do next will determine how solidly you strike the ball.

LEFT SHOULDER TO LEFT HIP This is the key move for solid contact: Drive your left shoulder toward your left hip to start down. When you feel like your spine is tilting left, you’ve got it.

Michael Breed is Golf Digest’s Chief Digital Instructor.

Link to article: Click here

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How to hit the deceptive ‘fluffy’ lie chip shot, according to a three-time PGA Tour winner

Source: GOLF.com
By GOLF Editors

PGA Tour player Russell Henley explains how to hit the tricky, fluffy chip shot…

You missed the green, but hey, the ball’s sitting up in the rough. Good, right? Maybe. In this situation, it’s not always certain how the ball will come out. As with all short-game shots, crisp contact is the key.

Step 1: Even if you’re short-sided, refrain from opening the face too much. With the ball up, you risk sliding the club right underneath it if you add extra loft. The ball won’t go anywhere. I keep the face square in this situation, or barely opened if I really need more loft to stop it close.

Step 2: I swing as if I’m hitting a little draw, with the club moving in-to-out and my hands rolling over slightly through impact. This helps the club remain shallow, which usually results in cleaner contact. My main thought is to get as many grooves on the ball as possible. Think “glide,” not “chop.”

Link to article: Click here

 

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Squat For Power

Source: GolfDigest
By

Tiger’s dip can add distance to your game

One of golf’s oldest clichés is “maintain your posture” throughout the swing. The in-tent of the message is good: To help amateurs avoid rising out of the address position–either from a lack of hip flexibility or because they’re trying to help the ball into the air. But keeping your head level might be robbing you of some distance.

What you want to do is squat as you swing into the ball. This move is similar to what any athlete would do before leaping. Many long-ball hitters drop several inches as they start the downswing. Tiger Woods has been doing it throughout his career, and it has served him well. You can see it here (above).

Essentially you’re creating an explosive action by lowering and then pushing off the ground. It helps you swing into the ball with considerable force. If you were to maintain your posture, it would be impossible to get to the ideal low point of your swing, four or five inches in front of the ball.

If you want to understand the science behind squatting, here it is: Bending your knees lengthens your quadriceps (thigh muscles), and hip flexion lengthens your glutes (buttocks). You’re now in a position to contract these muscles in an upward thrust and deliver a lot of energy into the shot.

So the next time you swing, pretend there’s a banana lying lengthwise under your front foot. Your goal is to squash it as you swing down. Do this, and you’ll really compress the ball.

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR GRIP

Most golfers tighten their grip as an unconscious response to fear and doubt. In a heightened state of tension, blood leaves the capillaries in your hands and supports your vital organs and their functions. When this happens, you lose some feeling in your hands, and the natural reaction is to grip the club tighter to try to regain it. My advice is to constantly check your grip pressure because it changes all the time. The more aware you are of gripping the club too tightly, the better chance you’ll have of making a good swing and releasing the club at a consistent point.

Link to article: Click here

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Phil Mickelson takes home record fifth title

2019 Pebble Beach Pro-Am leaderboard, grades: Phil Mickelson takes home record fifth title

A Monday finish results in Lefty’s first win of 2019

Source: CBS Sports
By 

Phil Mickelson touched off the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Monday, a record-tying fifth of his career, the same way he sewed it up late on Sunday. Lefty hit a nasty knockdown shot from 175 yards on the iconic par-5 18th at Pebble to 6 feet and poured that home for birdie — a final round 65 and the 44th win of his incredible PGA Tour career.

The bogey-free 65 was the round of the day, and it came at the perfect time for Mickelson, who trailed playing partner Paul Casey by three strokes heading into Round 4. Casey played nicely in the final round, which spanned two days because of a hail storm on Sunday, but his 71 couldn’t keep pace with the way Mickelson commanded his short irons and wedges over the final 18 holes. Lefty easily cleared him by three at 19-under 268.

“It’s been a very special week,” Mickelson told Peter Kostis of CBS Sports. “This is a special place for me. … To have my pro career start here and to have this victory means a lot.”

Mickelson finished first in the field on his approach shots and T2 in proximity to the hole. If you saw the way he struck the ball in Round 4, it’s easy to see why.

Mickelson and Casey were the only ones on the course on Monday as everyone else finished up on Sunday in the dark. Mickelson also wanted to try and get home on Sunday, but Casey called it on the 16th green, and Lefty said he was grateful for that even if he seemed perturbed in the moment. It’s very on brand for Mickelson to thank his opponent for setting up a win for him.

“He really protected both of us,” Mickelson said. “The greens were beat up. We had a chance today to come out on fresher greens, better weather, and I was really appreciative of that.”

With the 44th win of his career, Mickelson becomes just the fourth player to win PGA Tour events 28 or more years apart. He also inches closer to Walter Hagen’s mark of 45 PGA Tour wins and a potential tie for eighth all time. Billy Casper is seventh at 51. The fifth Pebble victory ties Mark O’Meara for the all-time record at that event.

We should ignore the “What if I’d told you ‘Phil Mickelson wins at Pebble after a long wait’ would be a headline at the start of the calendar year” storyline for now and obvious U.S. Open implications. Mickelson said after the round that this win has no bearing on what happens at the U.S. Open in June, likely because this will not be the same Pebble Beach after the USGA gets its hands on it.

Still, a victory for Mickelson at age 48 — and nearly two victories in his first three starts of 2019! — is remarkable. As the PGA Tour skews younger and Mickelson nears 50, it becomes more improbable for him to keep up. And yet not only is he keeping up, he’s thriving, he’s winning. He’s dropping filthy 65s in all manner of weather with a Ryder Cup participant leading him and young bucks like Si Woo Kim and Jason Day making runs at him. Mickelson, unlike Pebble Beach, is not timeless, but you may have been fooled if you watched him play golf on Sunday and Monday. Grade: A+

Here are the rest of our grades for the 2019 Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Jason Day (T4): Ignore the Sunday bank robber look and instead focus on another successful trip to Pebble Beach for the former major winner. He did the lion’s share of his damage on Thursday with a 65 at Monterey Peninsula, but he backed it up with an even-par 72 on the toughest scoring day (Saturday) and a tasty 68 during the final round (he finished on Sunday). Day pretty quietly hasn’t finished outside the top 25 anywhere since the Dell Technologies Championship during the FedEx Cup Playoffs last fall and should definitely be considered one of the early favorites for the Masters in April. Grade: A

Jordan Spieth (T45): After playing beautifully for the first two days, Spieth ejected hard on Saturday. He made just three bogeys over his first 48 holes, but then finished Saturday’s third round with two doubles and a bogey in the last six holes. He never recovered from that, made five more bogeys on Sunday and tumbled down the leaderboard with a 74-75 weekend on the Pebble Beach course. The issue for Spieth this week actually wasn’t the putter. He finished 60th (!) in strokes gained off the tee and could muster just three birdies in his final 31 holes of play on the week. Grade: C+

Dustin Johnson (T45): It may have been even uglier for Spieth’s playing partner, Dustin Johnson. After winning last week in Saudi Arabia, D.J. struggled late at a place where he’s won twice and been arguably the most consistent player over the last decade. Johnson’s week was less volatile than Spieth’s, but a 73-73 showing at Spyglass and Pebble on Friday and Saturday respectively left him way out of the mix for a third title here. It didn’t help that he played the non-par 5s in 3 over for the week. Grade: C+

Link to article: Click here

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How to Improve Your Putting: 3 Tour Secrets

Source: GolfDigest
By Butch Harmon

My dad used to say you can always tell great putters because all their putts have that “going in” look. I love that phrase, and it makes sense when you watch players who can really putt. They give their full effort every time, and they never talk themselves out of a putt. Look at it this way, there are only two things that can happen—you make it, or you miss it—and I can tell you, the best putters only think about one.

There’s no reason you can’t improve your putting. It’s the simplest swing you make; there are no bunkers, no out-of-bounds, no rough; you’re on a perfectly smooth surface; and the target is right there. Still, most golfers have a negative attitude, which I never understand. All you have to do is read the break, aim the face and start the ball on line. And, most important, decide to be positive.

Let’s look at a few things I’ve learned from great putters I’ve worked with—and get you dropping more putts. — With Peter Morrice

Here’s a drill I’ve watched Phil do over the years to hit putts with great speed. He finds a hole on the practice green and sticks three tees in the ground, at 30, 40 and 50 feet out. His goal is to roll three putts in a row from each tee into an imaginary three-foot circle around the hole. He starts at 40 feet and putts from there until he gets three in a row. Then he goes to 30, then 50—going out of order like this means you can’t just get in a groove.

Distance control is the big thing on long putts. If you judge the speed right, you’ll almost always have a simple second putt. But if you judge it wrong, you might leave yourself 10 or 12 feet. On long putts, I like the stroke to be a little longer and slower, so you can put some hit on the ball. When most golfers try to hit it harder, they get quick and jabby, which usually causes a mis-hit. You want the putterhead to accelerate through the ball, so think long and smooth.

Phil’s drill is a great test. And don’t just practice from one angle.

If you start with downhill, right-to-left putts, next time go uphill, left to right. Any 50-foot space will do—even use a water bottle for the hole (above). You’ll quickly see a difference in your distance control.

‘This is Phil’s 30-40-50 drill. Use it to learn distance control, and you’ll stop three-putting.’

Sneds is a great putter for the average golfer to copy because he gets on with it. Once he knows what he wants to do with a putt, he doesn’t waste any time. Taking longer only ups your stress level and invites you to start doubting what you’re doing.

If you watch Brandt, you’ll see when he’s reading a putt from behind the ball, he’s often making little air strokes with the right hand. Then, when he steps in, he makes three or four short practice strokes, always looking at the hole. He’s fine-tuning his feel.

His stroke is more of a pop action than what we normally see on the PGA Tour. It has a quicker pace and very little follow-through. I putt like that, too, because it helps me hit the ball on the right line. That’s what good putting is all about.

The best lesson here is to keep your focus simple. As you read your putt, imagine a three- or four-inch trough from your ball to the hole. You want to roll your ball down that trough, and that means getting it started on line. So instead of staring at the ball, track your eyes down your intended line, especially the first foot or two (below). Then give it a good, firm rap down that line—just like Sneds.

Rickie has become very competent with shorter putts. He ranks fourth on tour from a range of four to eight feet, making 82 percent. The best thing he does to hole these is simple enough for any golfer to adopt: He lifts his putterhead off the ground right before he putts (below).

Let’s back up a minute and look at Rickie’s overall approach.

I like that he steps into these putts with the clear purpose of getting the putterface aimed precisely. He’s deliberate about that. In fact, he sets the face with only his right hand, and completes his grip when the face is perfect. Then he takes one look at the hole and raises the putterhead fractionally off the ground before he starts back.

I want you to try this for two reasons: First, it’ll help take the tension out of your hands and arms, and we all know that tension is a killer on these short ones. Second, it sets up a smooth, even backstroke with no risk of the club getting stuck on the grass. Very clever little move. And just like these other tips, it’ll help you putt like a pro.

 

Link to article: Click here

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