Playing golf hurt or injured
is no fun. I can say this as for
nearly two years I played with a
bad back. I’m still not sure what
exactly was going on, but I do
remember the doctor telling
me there was pressure being
placed somewhere between my
L4 and L5. I’m not really sure
what that means either. What I
do know is at the height of the
pain, I could not stay upright.
I think my injury goes back
over 20 years when I was
playing in a basketball league
with a bunch of friends. I went
up for a rebound and twisted
awkwardly and felt a tiny
twinge in the lower back area.
At 25 years old, I didn’t think
much of the feeling as for a
long time, nothing came of it.
Spin it forward 15 years and
throw in 20 pounds and very
little exercise, and my issues
began. Over a 10-day span or
so, my back would catch every
so often when I bent over or
sat down in a stool like chair.
Generally, once I stood up, I
would gain relief and go on
about my business.
I can remember a particularly
bad day. I commuted into New
Orleans to open up the shop at
New Orleans Country Club,
and getting out of my car was
a huge struggle. By the time I
walked the couple of hundred
yards to the front door, I was
once again feeling okay. I sat
down in a office chair that was
very low to the ground without
arms to do the hole location
sheet for the day. When I
finished, I tried to get up and
once again couldn’t stand. This
time it lasted much longer.
I struggled around the shop
for an hour or two and finally
made the decision to go home.
I was dreading the commute
back to Ponchatoula, but the
pain in my lower back was
worse than the dread. When
I made it home, I could not
stand to get out of the car so I
crawled from the driveway into
my house and couch. I could
only think what my neighbors
would’ve thought if they would
have seen this pitiful display.
Of course by now, I had called
Amber numerous times to
come take care of me as I am
perhaps the worst patient ever.
When she arrived home, I was
laying on my bed begging for
relief.
Amber of course took great
care of me and helped me put on
my shoes because there was no
way I could have accomplished
this routine task. As we were
getting ready, I started laughing
hysterically as the pain in my
back was so great I wanted to
cry. For some reason this made
me laugh which only made the
pain worse.
After a couple of days, I was
back to work but was waking
extremely gingerly. Golf was
out for a while as all I wanted at
this point was no pain. For the
next couple of years, I did feel it
from time to time, even when I
was feeling “good” I had a very
tender back. Through therapy,
exercise and stretching, I have
felt great the last three years,
knock on wood. I still have that
extra weight in the front that
puts pressure on the back, but
I do my planks and stretch my
hamstrings on a religious basis.
I give a lot of credit to these
exercises and Scott Higgs at
Ponchatoula Therapy.
While I could play golf
during this time of agony, I
certainly played as poorly as I
have in a long time. My swing
speed dropped at least 10
miles per hour as I was afraid
to let it go. Even worse, my
mechanics changed for the
worse to compensate for that
feeling at impact that only
seems to go with a bad shot. So
now I’m trying to swing harder
to make up for lost distance
and of course this only makes
things worse. Overswinging as
we all know leads to less solid
contact which leads to short
and crooked golf shots. What a
vicious cycle and of course my
back was still killing me.
By the grace of the golf gods,
my exercising and stretching
helped me regain the speed in
my swing. Along with the speed,
the ability to practice allowed
my mechanics to get better,
and I feel as if I can produce
the shots and swings I know
I’m capable of producing. For
those of you who have this
common problem or any other
and battle through it, I admire
and sympathize with you. For
those of you who have yet to
experience golf with pain,
please enjoy and be grateful as
the violent twisting motion of
the golf swing gets us all at some
point. I encourage everyone to
do some type of preventative
maintenance for your game. In
the end, I think you’ll be happy
with the results.
Jake
Jake Narro, PGA professional, head golf coach
at Southeastern Louisiana University and
Backspin publisher