Golfing News & Blog Articles

The Central Orthopedic Group

As with any sport, injuries are bound to appear in the game of golf. Injuries not only impact us at home and at work but also hinder the progress we are able to make with our game. If you’re injured, you’re losing valuable time to practice, play and improve. The majority of injuries golfers will face in a lifetime are the result of overuse or the frequent, repetitive motion and posture used for the golf swing. In this article, we will discuss some of the most common golf injuries and prevention strategies we can take to avoid them all together.

Why Injuries Occur

How to prevent golf-related injuries begins with understanding why and how they occur. Injuries in sport occur due to an amount of pressure or force that is applied on the body that exceeds its tolerance threshold. A good example of this is an ACL tear in a basketball or football player. A sudden change of direction or awkward landing imparts force the ligament cannot withstand, causing it to tear.

In the golf swing, strong, repetitive rotational forces are being placed on the body each time we swing. Impact with the ground applies additional force, and stress, that our body needs to be able to tolerate and withstand over many repetitions. Our swing mechanics will also play a role in potential risk for injury. Physical fitness has  become a priority in today’s professional golf landscape and is a key to injury prevention.

Rochester Regional Health

Common Golf Injuries

Outlined below are some of the most common injuries that will occur over a golfer’s lifespan. Consider yourself lucky if you’re able to avoid all of these completely. The common theme you will see with these is they are predominantly overuse injuries.

Back Pain

The golf posture lends itself to a predisposition for lower back pain. You spend hours on the course for an 18-hole round repeatedly addressing the ball to take a swing. As “back pain” is quite a general term, we can take a look at three predominant categories of golf-related back injuries.Lumbar strains. Essentially another way to describe back pain, this muscle pain is caused from excessive strain. These will typically be diagnosed as soft tissue injuries.Disc herniations. These occur when the padding between your vertebrae move out of place.Spondylosis or osteoarthritis of the spine. This occurs when the cartilage in a golfer’s spine breaks down over time and is typically found in older individuals.

Rotator Cuff Injuries

The rotator cuff, which is made up of four individual muscles, provides stabilization and support to the shoulder joint. Golfers will often experience a muscle strain or complete tear of one or more of the muscles of the rotator cuff when this type of injury occurs. Golfers may also experience rotator cuff tendinitis, swelling of the cuff tendons.

Weight shift is always a hot topic In the world of golf instruction. It’s gotten even more attention lately with new technology to measure ground forces and weight transfer. There’s no question that transferring weight at the right time and utilizing the ground will add power and efficiency. We tested the Power Shift Board to see how it can be implemented in your routine for game improvement.

What We Tried: Power Shift Board

The Power Shift Board is a training aid designed to provide feedback regarding the weight shift throughout the golf swing. The Power Shift Board is for all skill levels and can help with swing sequence and timing.

Who Tried It:

Britt Olizarowicz. MyGolfSpy writer and scratch golfer. I’ve worked a lot on ground forces and weight shifts in the last few years. I was excited to try the Power Shift Board and see if it gives that correct feeling through impact.

What Is The Power Shift Board?

The Power Shift Board is a training aid that you stand on while taking swings. The main purpose is to take advantage of the board’s instant noise feedback. This occurs when weight is transferred to the lead leg.

It’s not a high-tech device. You simply hear a “click” when you’ve transferred your weight to your lead side.

Brooks Koepka joined the latest episode of The Scoop to talk about what you learn from winning vs. losing and lots more.

The post Brooks Koepka breaks down the art of learning from losing appeared first on Golf.

It was barely airborne and flew less than 200 feet, but the impact of that day at Pakachoag Golf Course was far-reaching.

The post At this historic muni, the greatest shot ever fired wasn’t with a club appeared first on Golf.

Sei Young Kim was tied with Madelene Sagstrom and Patty Tavatanakit atop the LPGA Thailand tournament after two rounds.

Erik van Rooyen, seeking his second PGA Tour title in Mexico in the past four months, shot an 8-under 63 to take a one-shot lead in the Mexico Open.

Tiger Woods' son Charlie Woods, 15, won't be competing in the PGA Tour's Cognizant Classic next week after failing to advance from a pre-qualifying event Thursday.

Charlie Woods will compete in a pre-qualifier event as he bids to secure a place in the PGA Tour's Cognizant Classic next week in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Toulon Golf launches their 2024 First Run Collection of production putters.Four blades and four mallets.Produced in relatively limited numbers.All putters are milled from 303 stainless steel and feature a Chocolate PVD finish.MSRP $600 and available for order now at ToulonGolf.com

Toulon Golf was conceived last summer when Sean Toulon retired from Odyssey golf. Since we are now about nine months post-conception, Toulon Golf is right on time for giving birth to their first official putter line. This new First Run Collection is the first retail putter line from Toulon Golf.

(There are so many half-truths in that last sentence.)

First of all, the First Run Collection is by no means the first line of Toulon putters. Sean Toulon and his sons started Toulon Golf once before, back in 2015 when Sean initially retired from a very productive tenure at TaylorMade.

Those of you who play a TaylorMade Spider putter have Sean Toulon to thank for it.

Anyway, Sean retired from TaylorMade and started up his family putter company. Toulon Golf produced milled putters as an independent entity for a short period before Sean was wooed back into golf gear’s big leagues by Odyssey/Callaway.

While the advent of Strokes Gained has taught us that the long game is critically important, for most average golfers the short game provides ample opportunity to save strokes and shave your handicap.

In an ideal world, we would hit every green and life would be good on the course. Unfortunately, at times, golf can feel anything but ideal, let alone good!

Naturally, we’re all going to miss greens and while every shot counts the same, our ability to get up and down can transform a terrible score into a great one … or at least one we can live with.

Take Less Loft

One easy-to-implement change that Shot Scope data suggests the majority of players would benefit from is taking less loft.

From the Shot Scope database, consisting of over 350 million shots, we have compiled data on short-game usage of 8-iron, 9-iron, and pitching wedge among 15-handicap golfers. We then compared it to that of a gap, sand and lob wedge to reveal where average golfers have an opportunity to save strokes.

In my mind, there’s no scene in cinematic history that hits quite like Frodo returning to the Shire after destroying the One Ring. His journey through Middle Earth proved successful, sure, but returning home after the hell-bent hiatus was almost tear-worthy.

Almost.

In any case, I liken Frodo’s triumphant return home to that of the newest golf shoe from adidas. A familiar face is back and I couldn’t be more excited.

After a brief hiatus, the flagship adidas TOUR360 golf shoe is back in the lineup. The return of an icon! Perhaps the most recognizable golf shoe in brand history is here for another go.

Introducing the adidas TOUR360 24. The newest iteration of adidas’ premium Tour golf shoe has been years in the making. Can the new TOUR360 24 live up to the storied legacy of its predecessors?

Last week, Jordan Spieth was disqualified from the Genesis Invitational because he signed an incorrect scorecard. 

Spieth made a bogey on the par-3 fourth. His playing partner, Tom Kim, responsible for recording Spieth’s score, mistakenly put him down for a par. 

After a poor finish to his round, Spieth hastily checked with the scoring official to make sure the scores he had written down for himself—which were not official—matched with what the PGA Tour had in their system.

All the numbers matched so Spieth signed his card and bolted before Kim arrived at the scoring area. 

But Spieth’s official score was on the card Kim had. And Kim had it wrong. 

Any golfer knows the game’s tradition and camaraderie can be enhanced by quaffing a refreshing and delicious beverage. The combination of a well-designed course and beautiful scenery inspires golfers to seek out not only delicious alcoholic drinks but also those whose sole purpose is hydration.

My Favorite Golf Drinks (Alcoholic)

Personally, I prefer mixed drinks over beer or seltzers. Whether I am watching the Masters in my azalea polo or heading to the 19th hole after a good round, these are some of my go-to beverages.

Transfusion-www.whiskandshake.com

The Transfusion

This drink has taken the golfing world by storm. Its popularity can be attributed to its simple yet satisfying combination of ingredients. This cocktail has become a staple on course and after you have one, you will know why.

This is one that I typically drink when I am in a scramble tournament. Pairing it with a warm sunny day and going low in the scramble and you have an unbeatable trifecta.

From Scottie Scheffler's putting to lingering questions about golf's future, here are some of the top takeaways from the first two months of the PGA Tour season.

Peiyun Chien shot an 8-under 64 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Tour event in Thailand.

Geoff Ogilvy joined GOLF's Subpar Podcast to discuss course design, the evolution of TV broadcasts, playing against Tiger Woods and more.

The post ‘Never seen anything like it’: Geoff Ogilvy on shocking Tiger Woods feat appeared first on Golf.

Tiger Woods’ 15-year-old son Charlie will try to qualify for next week’s Cognizant Classic on the PGA Tour, the Tour announced.

The post Tiger Woods’ 15-year-old son Charlie will try to qualify for PGA Tour event  appeared first on Golf.