Personal trainer and fitness columnist Shawn O’Neil on playing better golf, for longer, by training to prevent injuries
There are two sides to golf fitness – performance (which I covered in my last column, available on the Northern Golfer website) and injury prevention, which is the focus of this one.
How many of you – or your regular playing partners – have recognised injuries to your backs, knees or elbows? How many of you are also familiar with the unfortunate, but not infrequent, message: ‘sorry not for me today, back is playing up’.
Statistics gathered by UK Sport showed that 67% of amateur golfers sustain an injury at some point in their playing career, and 40% sustain an injury which keeps them off the course at least once per season. The survey also showed golfers suffer more injuries per 1,000 participants than rugby players.
Many golfers still believe the game and physical training don’t mix. But, if I told you the golf swing engages more than 200 muscles in under 0.2 seconds while placing a rotational force of several times your body weight through some of your joints, does that change your thinking?
The stresses of the golf swing are something you should be physically prepared for. Of all the injuries suffered by golfers, two thirds of them are lower back or elbow related according to Titleist Performance Institute research. We know this is primarily caused by physical limitations requiring compensatory movement, which in turn puts more stress on areas of the body which are not designed for what’s being asked – such as rotation of the lumber spine.
Being mobile in the right places – the hips and thoracic spine are two very important areas for example – is a key to preventing injury and playing better golf.
For a player with these issues, we would build a programme to reduce movement limitations and build a level of strength where they can effectively decelerate – as opposed to your ligaments and tendons slowing your swing down when you run out of range of movement – in order to reduce the amount of stress on the body and the risk of injury.
This would also allow the player to make a better motion, improving their ability to hit good shots.
Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Natalie Gulbis are just three of the world-class players who started training to overcome back pain. All did so by increasing mobility, stability and strength – and went on to increase clubhead speed as a result.
So, training isn’t just about strength and hitting the ball further. It also makes getting out on the course easier in the morning, reduces pain during and after a round, and helps you make better, repeatable swings more often. That’s quite a lot of benefits for an assessment and a couple of hours per week at home or in the gym.
