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  • #1

    Shoulder and arm pain

    Long post - but the question arrives eventually......

    I am in the process of sorting out my swing. I set up my digital camera and took some video footage of my swing. I was shocked to see that
    a) my back swing was soo long (17 frames in the backswing, frames 14, 15, 16 and 17 were beyond parallel) - I was disgusted with myself - that was with an easy 8 iron too!!! I wasn't whacking it........
    b) I was dropping my head (well, dropping my body)

    I set about sorting this - and am making progress. I am hitting some very pure irons and utility irons at the moment (way better control and more distance), mainly on the strength of shortening my backswing.

    The result of this is that at the driving range (when I'm working on these problems) I can still drop the head (not as often, but still too much). However, now that I'm starting to master the backswing I am generating a lot more power. When I do this and drop the head I really hit the ground hard and this is causing pain in my left shoulder and elbow. The irony is - I'm hitting way better, but because the swing is so better it causes more damage the occasions it goes wrong.

    I would love to hit the driving range more, but I always rest the shoulder for a few days before I go back (just in case I cause too much damage).

    My question is - what form of recuperation could I use on the shoulder and elbow to help them recover quicker? Would ice on the shoulder help, exercises etc?

    I really feel that if I persevere with this it could really develop my swing, after a few thousand balls I will no longer have the over swing and dropping of the head - and thus no pain. I need to get out to the range more than twice a week to really get in the rhythm of the shorter backswing and keeping the back straight and steady. Any advice on how to nurse me through this would be great.....
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  • #2
    Re: Shoulder and arm pain

    Well I have no direct cure for your problem, as I am also facing the same problem with you ... but what I tried to do to improve is to use "DEEP HEAT" ... I would spray on before I start playing and before I sleep ...

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    • #3
      Re: Shoulder and arm pain

      time will take care of the pain. would like to see a video of your swing you say your coming over the top with a 3/4 8 iron, your doing some thing wrong cant happen on a 3/4 swing. sounds like your arm is bending to much. i can tell from your post your trying to hit the ball way to hard, it doesn't take a lot of power to hit the ball, slow down a bit and work on keep arm and back straight, ( that's why your arm and shoulder hurt not from hitting the ground) your using muscles that you normally don't use so its making them sore, i know this from experience. slow down your swing work on concentrate on keeping head still and getting a good wrist cock and and good shoulder turn, keep it easy and smooth with good rhythm it the fastest way to learn and the ball will still go just as far if not farther. try hitting some balls with your feet real close together that forces you to slow down to keep balance.

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      • #4
        Re: Shoulder and arm pain

        Good Old Deep Heat. Brings me back to the days of Gaelic football and the Deep Heat aroma from the dressing room. If you weren't careful it could be applied on open wounds....

        wildwilly911 - on my old swing I was bending the left arm, that was one of the reasons I pushed beyond parallel - but because this robbed me of power, if/when I hit the ground there was no real impact.

        However, with the shorter backswing, I do sometimes hit it too hard, but to be honest a lot my problem is that I'm getting a lot more coil from my swing, when I swing well I have little or no involvement in the downswing, it just happens. By the way it doesn't hurt from hitting the grass, fairways etc. This is coming from hitting on a mat that is sitting on a cement floor....

        At the moment I don't have access at home to post the swing (I post at work during the day - but it doesn't allow media applications on the computer).

        Basically you think it's okay to play through the pain - that the rewards will be worth it in the long run. To be honest I don't mind the discomfort, I just didn't want to do long term damage.

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        • #5
          Re: Shoulder and arm pain

          I've went through my share of pains recently and after havins sore fingers for a month I finally realized I'm gonna have to give them a little time to recuperate. Took about 2 weeks, but I still practiced short shots. I pulled a muscle in my right shoulder too, about the 5th hole and had to go home after the 9th...little icy hot and a hot shower, a week without touching a club and everything is A OK. Just give it some time off, that's what it wants whether you do or not.

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          • #6
            Re: Shoulder and arm pain

            Delboy - if it only hurts when swinging on a matt I wouldn't use a matt. Tee the ball up low and try and sweep it away. Maybe just use your long irons and driver and not the short ones until you can hit off grass.

            Out of interest how did you shorten your swing? its always been an old problem of mine and I love to hear how others solved it!

            nick

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            • #7
              Re: Shoulder and arm pain

              nickwbryant - I think I may have to tee it up over the winter, until I can head out to the natural ground, your right....

              I was about to give you some advice from my perspective, but I see your playing from 5, I'm off about 25, so there's no way I'm going to say a word to you about how to swing a golf club.

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              • #8
                Re: Shoulder and arm pain

                Don't be daft - i love to hear others opinions on golf - it' why i like this board! Just wondered how you managed to shorten your swing. I did it by really firming up my legs and resisting as much as possible with them

                nick

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                • #9
                  Re: Shoulder and arm pain

                  Fair enough - if you want to be party to a case of the blind leading the fully sighted, I'm game.......

                  Seriously though - I'm simply focusing on keeping my left arm straight and my chin high. My overswing comes from my left elbow and wrist getting too involved at the top of the back swing (and thus bending back a little, a lot, way too much...). I focus on not letting them get involved at all.

                  Once I keep things slow and relaxed and focus on not "putting the club back" and instead focus on bringing my shoulder around and keep the hands and arms inactive, just cock the wrists and keep things simple - this tends to stop the overswing.

                  It's all much earsier said than done. But I'm sticking with it and it is helping

                  How have you been battling it - would you have any better suggestions for a novice?

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                  • #10
                    Re: Shoulder and arm pain

                    That all sounds pretty sensible to me - cupping the left wrist and bending the left arm will obviously lead to over swinging so I think you are on the right path. With my problem (which i will always battle) I was turning my shoulders too much without enough resistance in my lower body. Also bringing the club too far inside the line.

                    Really concentrating on my posture (which as a begginer i would advise you to concentrate 100% on - name me a top pro with bad posture?? i can name plenty with "bad" grips), and keeping my back leg bent and resisting and not allowing my front leg to get too loose, have really helped with the overswing.

                    nick

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                    • #11
                      Re: Shoulder and arm pain

                      nickwbryant - I know this is moving away from my initial question, but when you mentioned restricting the the hip turn and firming up your legs you hit a chord with me. I have hit some really good shots recently that I felt (half way through the swing) that my lower body was too static, however, the result was better than anything I had ever done previously. I took it as dumb luck at the time as I'm really trying to focus on turning my hips and transfer the weight to my right side - I'm probably over doing it, this turn probably contributes to me overswiniging (which isn't working out great for me). However when I tried to restrict things (restrict is a strong word, keep things compact) last night at the range - just letting a little emphasis on the right foot and this small emphasis just slid gently to the left foot and bang a solid straight shot.....

                      Was I overdoing the whole hip turn (I first started doing that to counteract a terrible sway I was developing) and thus overdoing the weight transfer? Is the weight transfer usually a very subtle sensation?

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                      • #12
                        Re: Shoulder and arm pain

                        Thats really interesting - you seem to have found something there. I know for a fact that as soon as i tightened my turn i saw an immediate improvement in the conistency of my striking. That seems to be what you are describing so thats good news and that handicap will soon come down.

                        As to the weight shift, yes you can transfer too much. Its actually a lot less than many people think, especially with your irons. I am not going to get into % but here is my tip which i use to diagnose weight shift problems. If my finish does not see me straight on my front leg (ie i am reverse c'ing) then i am not transferring my weight correctly. Either i am turning to much (like you were) or not enough. So i know if i am transferring correctly on the backswing by looking at the follow through.

                        I never think of weight shift unless i am having problems with striking and follow through. To solve problems i make sure a) that my back leg remains bent as it was at address and b) that i am turning my shoulders behind the ball and really coiling into the backleg. Do that correctly and the downswing just happens.

                        I hope the above is clear enough. It seems like you have made a breakthrough IMO. let me know how you get on with it

                        nick

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