Golf has a lot of rules and we don’t always want to follow all of them. You don’t want to be the party pooper and ruin all the fun. We get it. But what if there was a way you could exercise good golf safety without being a stickler for the rules? Even the thickest skulls can be seriously hurt by a golf ball hitting them in the back of the head. Golf safety is a no-brainer (no pun intended).
You don't need me to tell you that this has been a strange year. Life as we knew it was flipped upside-down from March to July. A trip to the supermarket suddenly became just as adrenaline-filled and nerve-rattling as a bungee jump. Kitchens and living rooms doubled as home offices and classrooms. And the only "sports" we were able to participate in were bidding wars on eBay for toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
Have you ever had to fight through 18 holes with a sore shoulder? Are your feet killing you? It ain’t easy and it certainly takes away most of the fun! Like most athletes and outdoor enthusiasts, golfers are prone to some aches, pains and injuries, especially retirees who suddenly have plenty of time on their hands, yet may have spent the last 40 years sitting with poor posture at a desk.
Suffering from lower back pain or chronic back tightness?
In modern society, back problems are, unfortunately, an all-too-common issue. Too many of us spend long years sitting at work or at home. When you add little to no exercise into the mix, our bodies deteriorate. They start broadcasting warning signals (pain). The good news is, it’s not too late to make changes.
Who says exercising has to be all work and no play? Why have we decided that all exercise must be an intense, stressful activity we don’t really look forward to?
Most of us play golf because we love the game. We love going out onto the course with great people and enjoying a day in the sun. But if your body is not in the best shape (especially if you recently retired and you’ve been sitting in an office environment for 40 years), golf can be hard on your body. You might not have the energy to play a full 18 holes while still enjoying the experience.
When you go for your annual check-up with your doctor, does he shake your hand, ask how you're doing, and then immediately schedule you for an appendectomy? At your last dental appointment, did your dentist start randomly drilling a bunch of your teeth?
Golf injuries are very real and can follow people around for a long time. If you suddenly jump into the game, take a buddy trip, or trade in your daily work commute for a drive around the links, you may find yourself playing a lot of golf in short period of time. If your body is stiff or your muscles have not experienced this level of activity in a while, bad things can happen if you don't pay attention to your body. Sorry. We didn't make up the law of human biomechanics. We just have play by them.
We do a lot of work with junior golfers here in Jupiter, FL and online all over the world. It's amazing to see the natural skills and talents that some young kids have. But just like anything else, natural talent can only take you so far. Golf -- even at the junior level -- is incredibly competitive. We see a lot of time and money spent on lessons, clinics, and new equipment. The juniors we work with have an advantage that a lot of other young players in other junior golf programs don't: they've been specifically working on improving their body for golf.
Tired of doing exercises you don’t like? Hate running? Can’t stand swimming laps? Even those of us who are super dedicated to becoming the best of the best don’t like certain exercises. We’d all like to have at least a little fun -- or at least purpose -- while exercising, right? When you don’t enjoy exercising, it’s easier to come up with excuses to NOT exercise. Your consistency drops and your results drop as well.
We are asked about two of those moving parts fairly frequently. It's understandable. They are a bit mysterious, mostly because they both involve movement patterns we don’t often perform in our daily lives.
