Have not gone all the way with the Golfers Elbow Exercises felt that the discomfort and pain which may result from a change to the rehab I had followed the previous two weeks of "rest, ice and heat". Added using hand grips doing a moderate number of spring gripping exercises. Today went out and played 5 holes, the putter and chipping has improved markedly since Sunday. I am not an athlete with a must fix injury or a body in best nick to be able to tackle the medical fiull bore recovery program.
That said the moderate approach seems to have worked, the last two days improvement was noticable. Also adding an old Wilson 1200 PW blade (Underwave design) to the bag has helped in getting the chipping on track. A bit of good fortune as well in that my opponent in the Semi Final has asked if we could play 2-3 days later. That was a big yes from me, extra time for healing and the greens have just been cored and they will be better to play on as well.
Looking forward to the Semi Final and it would be grand to get through to the final.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Monday, October 03, 2011
A little improvement is better than none...
/10/11 Instead of cracking the sh!ts, complaining, ranting about how golf is a bitch, my reaction is one of good humour and acceptance of the limitations to playing at the minute. Wearing an arm brace yesterday on the front nine (47) and removing it for the last nine (50) had no major difference score wise. Not being able to chip well and drop the putts was frustrating. Especially after driving off the tee so well and hitting greens in regulation or just off target. Accepting the current circumstances as unusual and having to wear it for now is not fun, yet my mantra of “getting the positives out of the negatives” is working. Finishing with 97 Gross, 85 Nett with 35 putts was not a gut wrenching failure simply the best currently possible.
At the minute I have “no short game”. Having to dig deep this week into the patience reservoir, the “Golfers Elbow” injury is affecting my game at the core of scoring. The cliche’ of having a good short game is a key to getting low scores is true. After putting in the work to develop one, having it stymied with an injury has been a challenge to my character. Five of my past 7 rounds have been 90 or higher off the stick the other two rounds being an 80 and an 87. This time last year, albeit when on a 19-20 handicap my scores were in the same range, so it is still fresh in my memory of this being me playing at the best I could. Kinda cool though to be sitting here and realising how much improvement in my golf has came about from making the effort and practising properly with a plan.
This morning it is back to the cold and heat treatment of the injured part and wondering when I should get on the course for a chip and putt. Contrary to what the name suggests, you do not have to play golf to develop this condition. In fact, golfers elbow is more commonly seen in non-golf players than in golf players. Patients typically develop this condition due to activities involving repetitive wrist flexion against resistance or forceful or repetitive gripping of the hand.
Golfers Elbow Exercises
Along with keeping up with the stretching, the 3rd physio gave me a list of exercises to do twice a day. The regime was this:
■Heat the elbow with a wheat bag for 10 minutes
■With an empty dumbbell bar (weights 1.5kg) do 10 palm up wrist curls, with back of forearm resting on your leg and hand jutting out past your knee.
■Reverse the hand so palm is down, and do 10 reverse wrist curls i.e. back of hand is raised, again forearm rests on leg.
■Keep the arm resting on your lef, grasp the dumbbell bar at one end, and tilt the bar back and forth from the horizontal on the left, through 180 degrees, to the horizontal on the right, and return. Do that 10 times.
■Setting the dumbbell bar aside, form a circle with the tips of your fingers (make your hand like a claw) and wrap an elastic band around the outside of your finger tips. Now try to stretch the elastic band by spreading your fingers out wide, maintaining the circular shape. Do this 10 times.
■End by cooling the elbow with an ice cube.
There is a little pressure as it is my semi-final in the club championship matchplay on the coming Sunday. Yet having practised diligently for so long and kept a record of the routines and program, gives me total confidence in having the grounding to get myself in form. I can say that the performance off the tee especially yesterday was a continuation of last week, there as not a single penalty stroke in the round. The four three putts all cost me par scores on the holes, so many first putts were short of the hole. I really tried to correct it and had no ‘feel’ for the stroke all day. Never getting close to hitting the right distance or accurate enough either.
The chipping was the same, short all day. No bladed or fat shots, again without any ability to measure the strength needed to play the shot. In this instance perhaps as most fell short I could have changed back to using the pitching wedge for chipping as I have in the past. Instead I chose to keep using the 60 degree wedge, which previously was only used rarely, as a sand wedge. I know that the past two weeks of beginning to use this club for chipping is going to be a major benefit in the future. I know that many golfers have always used a lob or gap wedge for chipping, for me it was a club not carried. It is now a must to be able to chip and have the ball not run on so far, as happens with the pitching wedge in my game. No matter the week to come will have me back into better form.
Today the greens are being cored and I will have to give the working be a miss this year, making up for it tomorrow at the Junior Golf Clinic. A five hour stint helping out with the days running is not a problem in this case. With PGA Tour player Gary Simpson and Professional Michael Justin doing the golf coaching the juniors will get some very effective guidance. Gary Simpson has a preliminary win of the SA OOM finishing with a six point lead over previous SA OOM winner Brent McCullough. The SA OOM will be finalised officially at the end of the OOM season being 31st October 2011. The successful experience with the local primary school coaching clinic last month and a follow up so soon hopefully is going to give the club a good base to develop a regular junior golfing program at the club.
Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”
Geoff
At the minute I have “no short game”. Having to dig deep this week into the patience reservoir, the “Golfers Elbow” injury is affecting my game at the core of scoring. The cliche’ of having a good short game is a key to getting low scores is true. After putting in the work to develop one, having it stymied with an injury has been a challenge to my character. Five of my past 7 rounds have been 90 or higher off the stick the other two rounds being an 80 and an 87. This time last year, albeit when on a 19-20 handicap my scores were in the same range, so it is still fresh in my memory of this being me playing at the best I could. Kinda cool though to be sitting here and realising how much improvement in my golf has came about from making the effort and practising properly with a plan.
This morning it is back to the cold and heat treatment of the injured part and wondering when I should get on the course for a chip and putt. Contrary to what the name suggests, you do not have to play golf to develop this condition. In fact, golfers elbow is more commonly seen in non-golf players than in golf players. Patients typically develop this condition due to activities involving repetitive wrist flexion against resistance or forceful or repetitive gripping of the hand.
Golfers Elbow Exercises
Along with keeping up with the stretching, the 3rd physio gave me a list of exercises to do twice a day. The regime was this:
■Heat the elbow with a wheat bag for 10 minutes
■With an empty dumbbell bar (weights 1.5kg) do 10 palm up wrist curls, with back of forearm resting on your leg and hand jutting out past your knee.
■Reverse the hand so palm is down, and do 10 reverse wrist curls i.e. back of hand is raised, again forearm rests on leg.
■Keep the arm resting on your lef, grasp the dumbbell bar at one end, and tilt the bar back and forth from the horizontal on the left, through 180 degrees, to the horizontal on the right, and return. Do that 10 times.
■Setting the dumbbell bar aside, form a circle with the tips of your fingers (make your hand like a claw) and wrap an elastic band around the outside of your finger tips. Now try to stretch the elastic band by spreading your fingers out wide, maintaining the circular shape. Do this 10 times.
■End by cooling the elbow with an ice cube.
There is a little pressure as it is my semi-final in the club championship matchplay on the coming Sunday. Yet having practised diligently for so long and kept a record of the routines and program, gives me total confidence in having the grounding to get myself in form. I can say that the performance off the tee especially yesterday was a continuation of last week, there as not a single penalty stroke in the round. The four three putts all cost me par scores on the holes, so many first putts were short of the hole. I really tried to correct it and had no ‘feel’ for the stroke all day. Never getting close to hitting the right distance or accurate enough either.
The chipping was the same, short all day. No bladed or fat shots, again without any ability to measure the strength needed to play the shot. In this instance perhaps as most fell short I could have changed back to using the pitching wedge for chipping as I have in the past. Instead I chose to keep using the 60 degree wedge, which previously was only used rarely, as a sand wedge. I know that the past two weeks of beginning to use this club for chipping is going to be a major benefit in the future. I know that many golfers have always used a lob or gap wedge for chipping, for me it was a club not carried. It is now a must to be able to chip and have the ball not run on so far, as happens with the pitching wedge in my game. No matter the week to come will have me back into better form.
Today the greens are being cored and I will have to give the working be a miss this year, making up for it tomorrow at the Junior Golf Clinic. A five hour stint helping out with the days running is not a problem in this case. With PGA Tour player Gary Simpson and Professional Michael Justin doing the golf coaching the juniors will get some very effective guidance. Gary Simpson has a preliminary win of the SA OOM finishing with a six point lead over previous SA OOM winner Brent McCullough. The SA OOM will be finalised officially at the end of the OOM season being 31st October 2011. The successful experience with the local primary school coaching clinic last month and a follow up so soon hopefully is going to give the club a good base to develop a regular junior golfing program at the club.
Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”
Geoff
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Always look on the bright side of Golf, don't dwell on the negatives...
26/9/11 Sunday’s competition was a touch and go decision to enter. Carrying the “Golfer’s Elbow” the last week has been painful and disruptive in more than just hitting golf balls. It is tender all of the time and the disabling effects are in use that is mundane. Picking things up and reaching feel the strain with sharp stabbing pain then a hot buzz of discomfort while it abates. Swinging golf sticks is not fun after a very short time. Purchased an arm brace to assist with relieving the discomfort which definitely helped. Went out and played a poor scoring round 23 points in Stableford Comp. Was ready to pull the pin after the front nine but as feeling good about the fairway accuracy, finished with 11 fairway hits and won a ball on the day.
Had no short game whatsoever, could not chip or putt well and the injury was the fault. This was frustrating, being able to hit the long ball shots well without any discomfort. Short chipping and approach shots were the poorest quality in a long time. The chipping and putting was at the most damaging with the in close shots, could not swing smooth and easy or keep the strokes consistent, blading the ball or hitting little bunny hops. The longer shots from 25-100m were a problem with the distance being hit a shot in the dark, going long and short all day. No consistent error to try and correct just the numbness of the arm in the brace. Playing with out the brace would have been more damaging long term to the existing injury so I was happy to play out the round as it went.
Reflecting on the day and the score returned from playing to a 26 handicap was not a bad thing. It was only a couple of years ago that I was on that handicap. Playing like that again showed me how little difference there was in playing to a 25 to 20 handicap in the day. Although on Sunday it was the result of an injury, all that needed to happen was a 2-3 chips that bunny hopped forward to have been hit well and made the green saving a second chip shot. Then 4-5 putts not falling short or rocketing past the hole and the score would have been much improved. The 37 putt total on the day showed how much I struggled on the day considering the average putting total is 25 for me from 1/8/2011 to the end of September. Golf is a fickle game good and bad results happen, not letting the crap days disrupt your enjoyment of playing and also your playing partners is never acceptable.
On the second bad round day in recent weeks I copped a bit of sledging, and still had the good humour to fire back. It could have easily been a DNF card for the day. After nine holes the soreness was not going to abate, the round was not going to improve, I kept going because I thought that I was a chance for the Most Fairways hit on the day. A very small goal and a enough to lift me to do the best possible off the tee. It was a good choice and a valuable victory. Hitting fairways off the tee was the reason for changing drivers through the season now with a 400cc Big Stick that is delivering the results and getting that extra 20-30m more that the 380cc Driver. Unfortunately my next upgrade the 420cc Driver is going to have to sit out the coming weeks of competition golf while the injury recuperates. Which is a hurdle in my planning having already practised several times at the range with this stick and getting another 20-30m off the tee in distance easily. That was a calculation I had been estimating would be the result and with the accuracy give me a step up against the single figure players in the match play of club championships. It may not be all lost though as the warmer weather is already delivering longer ball flight and run putting me within 7-9 iron range of greens on par fours. These are irons that my accuracy is better than 50% unlike the 3-6 irons down to the 35% accuracy statistic for GIR.
Going to rest up this coming week working on being 100% for the Matchplay semifinal on the 9th of October. Thankyou for your time and attention all, “Hit ‘em straight”
Geoff
Had no short game whatsoever, could not chip or putt well and the injury was the fault. This was frustrating, being able to hit the long ball shots well without any discomfort. Short chipping and approach shots were the poorest quality in a long time. The chipping and putting was at the most damaging with the in close shots, could not swing smooth and easy or keep the strokes consistent, blading the ball or hitting little bunny hops. The longer shots from 25-100m were a problem with the distance being hit a shot in the dark, going long and short all day. No consistent error to try and correct just the numbness of the arm in the brace. Playing with out the brace would have been more damaging long term to the existing injury so I was happy to play out the round as it went.
Reflecting on the day and the score returned from playing to a 26 handicap was not a bad thing. It was only a couple of years ago that I was on that handicap. Playing like that again showed me how little difference there was in playing to a 25 to 20 handicap in the day. Although on Sunday it was the result of an injury, all that needed to happen was a 2-3 chips that bunny hopped forward to have been hit well and made the green saving a second chip shot. Then 4-5 putts not falling short or rocketing past the hole and the score would have been much improved. The 37 putt total on the day showed how much I struggled on the day considering the average putting total is 25 for me from 1/8/2011 to the end of September. Golf is a fickle game good and bad results happen, not letting the crap days disrupt your enjoyment of playing and also your playing partners is never acceptable.
On the second bad round day in recent weeks I copped a bit of sledging, and still had the good humour to fire back. It could have easily been a DNF card for the day. After nine holes the soreness was not going to abate, the round was not going to improve, I kept going because I thought that I was a chance for the Most Fairways hit on the day. A very small goal and a enough to lift me to do the best possible off the tee. It was a good choice and a valuable victory. Hitting fairways off the tee was the reason for changing drivers through the season now with a 400cc Big Stick that is delivering the results and getting that extra 20-30m more that the 380cc Driver. Unfortunately my next upgrade the 420cc Driver is going to have to sit out the coming weeks of competition golf while the injury recuperates. Which is a hurdle in my planning having already practised several times at the range with this stick and getting another 20-30m off the tee in distance easily. That was a calculation I had been estimating would be the result and with the accuracy give me a step up against the single figure players in the match play of club championships. It may not be all lost though as the warmer weather is already delivering longer ball flight and run putting me within 7-9 iron range of greens on par fours. These are irons that my accuracy is better than 50% unlike the 3-6 irons down to the 35% accuracy statistic for GIR.
Going to rest up this coming week working on being 100% for the Matchplay semifinal on the 9th of October. Thankyou for your time and attention all, “Hit ‘em straight”
Geoff
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Footyheads review 2nd Semi Carlton V West Coast
2nd Semi Final over in the West and Carlton played the game out to the very end. So close to victory coming back and in with a chance several times throughout the game. Even so the loss sucked. Season 2011 is over now and 2012 is the next outing for the Blues and at the minute looking good for fans. GO YOU BLUES!!
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
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