{"id":5725,"date":"2012-12-15T07:33:59","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T12:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/?p=5725"},"modified":"2012-12-15T07:34:58","modified_gmt":"2012-12-15T12:34:58","slug":"a-swing-for-a-bad-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/a-swing-for-a-bad-back\/","title":{"rendered":"A Swing For A Bad Back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Tom Tucker teaches all aspects of the golf game at <strong>The Plum Creek Driving Range &amp; Practice Facility<\/strong> in Batavia. Tom may be found online at <a href=\"https:\/\/go.madmimi.com\/redirects\/1347451288-c667cabd5d7d52f01fa3faa4944519cd-1cb53c6?pa=220836120716292444\" target=\"_new\">http:\/\/www.TomTuckerGolf.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I am currently teaching a student that was ready to quit the game because his back<br \/>\nwas giving him so much trouble. He has some fused discs, and a traditional swing<br \/>\nproduced a lot of pain.<\/p>\n<p>In order to develop a pain free swing for him, I had to break a few cardinal rules of<br \/>\ntraditional swing method instruction.<!--more--><br \/>\nI thought I&#8217;d offer a glimpse of what we are working on, for those of you that experience<br \/>\nan inordinate amount of back pain during or after a round.<\/p>\n<p>I suppose this is the time when I should say don&#8217;t try this if you have a bad back unless<br \/>\nyour doctor approves, so there &#8211; it&#8217;s been said.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge is to develop a swing that allows the hips and shoulders to turn simultaneously<br \/>\nwithout producing torque between your core and your shoulders, which is the opposite of<br \/>\nwhat I usually teach. Then some compensating movement has to be developed to try to<br \/>\nget as much swing speed as possible without the usual coiling.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, to get some swing speed, the swing needs to be as long as possible.<br \/>\nThis means allowing the left heel to come off the ground in the takeaway and<br \/>\nbackswing, and a wide lateral weight shift.<\/p>\n<p>At the top of the swing, I actually encourage the student to allow both elbows to break,<br \/>\nto allow for more swing length and more centrifugal force generation at the ball.<\/p>\n<p>The student understands that the left arm still needs to get straight prior to impact.<\/p>\n<p>Next comes a long lateral weight shift to the forward leg, then a rotation of the core and<br \/>\nshoulders together, pulling the arms, and shaft down through impact with a release<br \/>\nthat I teach called a &#8220;buggy whip&#8221; release.<\/p>\n<p>This is followed by a full finish with your hips turned towards the target, with your shoulders<br \/>\nat the same forward facing angle as your hips. Your arms fold over your shoulder in<br \/>\na mirror image of that position in the backswing, your back foot is up on the toe, your back<br \/>\nis straight, and all your weight is on your forward foot.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080\"><strong>* If I were to overemphasize anything, it would be the full finish as described above.<\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/span>Most players with back pain gravitate to an all arms swing, thinking that it will reduce strain<br \/>\non their back. In reality, that causes pain because the shoulders torque against the hips<br \/>\nwhen a full follow through is inhibited, usually aggravating the problem you want relief from!<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the swing you&#8217;re arms need to feel connected, and also feel like they are staying<br \/>\nin front of your chest.<\/p>\n<p>There are some potential issues with casting, but there are drills that can nip<br \/>\nthat in the bud.<\/p>\n<p>Timing of everything is a bit more critical than with other swing methods, because<br \/>\nthis method has a lot of moving parts. But to someone with back pain, it&#8217;s worth the extra<br \/>\neffort to be able to still play the game they once used to love &#8211; pain free.<\/p>\n<p>After the first lesson, it was very gratifying to hear the student say that he was enthused<br \/>\nabout playing again, and that most importantly &#8211; his back wasn&#8217;t hurting. He hit some<br \/>\nexcellent shots, and some poor ones also &#8211; which is normal when you are learning<br \/>\nsomething so different from what you had been doing.<\/p>\n<p>Repetitions will cure that problem.<\/p>\n<p>In golf, if there&#8217;s a will there&#8217;s usually a way &#8211; but sometimes it follows an unconventional<br \/>\npath.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy, Tom<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>BuffaloGolfer.Com Disclaimer:<\/strong>\u00a0Before undertaking any physical activity, please consult your physician to determine if the activity is appropriate and safe for you. BuffaloGolfer.Com presents this information as a public service and does not pretend to be, nor promote itself as, a medical expert or qualified medical personnel.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tom Tucker teaches all aspects of the golf game at The Plum Creek Driving Range &amp; Practice Facility in Batavia. Tom may be found online at http:\/\/www.TomTuckerGolf.com I am currently teaching a student that was ready to quit the game because his back was giving him so much trouble. He has some fused discs, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tom-tucker"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Swing For A Bad Back &#062; BuffaloGolfer.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/a-swing-for-a-bad-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Swing For A Bad Back &#062; BuffaloGolfer.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tom Tucker teaches all aspects of the golf game at The Plum Creek Driving Range &amp; Practice Facility in Batavia. Tom may be found online at http:\/\/www.TomTuckerGolf.com I am currently teaching a student that was ready to quit the game because his back was giving him so much trouble. 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