Stop Wrist Pain from Golf
I recently received a question from a reader that was asking why her wrist was hurting during and after golf. The reasons for injuries and preventing those injuries is the number one factor behind the Perfect Connection Golf Swing. I myself was injured and struggled to even pick up a golf club. This feeling of your enjoyment, and possibly career being over due to injury is one that I do not wish on anyone.
Wrist Pain from Golf
Today I want to discuss the lower wrist area, or the ulnar region. This pain, which is the triangular fibro cartilage of the wrist, is one of the top 5 areas of golfer’s injuries. Early casting or fat impacts cause this. This is the area of the triple stack position that the Perfect Connection golf swing addresses. In order to stop the early cast a player must have a lot of things going well in their golf swing. Imagine impact like a series of dominoes. In order to have impact correct the dominoes must be falling in order and in sequence. If one of those dominoes is out of order the entire chain of dominoes stops and therefore you must do something with your swing and therefore you will lose consistency and also bring about injury into your golf game. A great drill to feel this impact is the pre-impact setup. Simply take your address position. Now simply press your weight and hands forward towards the target while straightening your lead knee. About 80% of your weight should be on your lead foot and your hips slightly open. This is the proper impact position and notice how your lead leg will be in the Triple Stacked position of having the hip, knee, and ankle joints stacked perfectly on top of each other. This is a position of strength and will allow consistency and power to be a mainstay in your golf game.
After feeling this position for several seconds, hit some balls softly and try to recreate this feeling of a proper impact position in your golf swing.
If you are struggling with injuries or inconsistencies in your golf game than you can be assured that your triple stack position is off. Working on this drill can save your body and add the consistency your looking for. Best wishes.
Keep em long and Straight,
CJ
Do you want to avoid injury and end aches & pains once and for all? Click Here: http://perfectconnectiongolfswing.com/signature-series.
22 Comments
Hi,
I’m trying to implement the PCGS since last fall. Now I got in my first tounament over 9 holes and cut of 5 strokes off my current handicap (I wanna believe it would have been 10 strokes over 18 holes). By the way, I won the tournament (ok, most of the players had a higher handicap…).
I trust my swing more and more so I’m looking foreward to the next tournament which goes over 18 holes from the back tees (have to practice with my driver a lot – and re-watch the driver series!).
Oh, I nearly forgot – no more back pain, no more aching tennis-elbow…and: what the heck is a “slice”?
Thomas
Thomas Metschies,
Thomas my friend keep it up. thats awesome about the improvement, but even more so about the pain being gone. Keep it up and let me know if you have any questions.
Keep em Long and Straight,
CJ
I’ve been impressed by your signature-series, but have a question re ‘release’. At the impact position the wrist hinge (that produces the major power) appears to be completely released. From the videos I can see it happens after the hinged wrist and club has dropped in response to the lateral bump. Is this correct, and if so, does the ‘un-hinging’ happen automatically in the downswing as the body rotates and ‘squares’ the club face, or does the player need to take some action to do/delay it?
Alan,
Great question Alan. The wrists release due to centrifugal force and I don’t want my students to have to try to delay the wrist. Although this may be something we might need to work on if your use to dumping the lag, however trying to keep the lag will always result in bad shots. I agree with you that the lateral bump and the body rotation is the key to creating the lag and the proper golf shot. Hope this helps.
Keep em Long and Straight,
CJ
Thanks CJ. I’m glad we don’t need to ‘time’ the lag; the forces are much too great to control. All we need to do is relax and let it all happen!! If only we could!
My impression is that in the downswing the left wrist uses predominantly the ‘chopping’ hinge motion and the right wrist uses predominantly the ‘patting’ hinge (to support and maintain, not change, the left wrist at impact) and these change over in the follow through as one can see in the L to L drill. I also think that this is one of the reasons why grip position and structure is different for each hand; the left most in the fingers and the right more in the palm.
Alan,
Thanks for the question Alan. thats a good way to describe what the wrists are doing. I have never thought about it like that and your correct. Keep in touch.
Keep em Long and Straight,
CJ
Just to say thanks C.J. I bought your discounted programs, test drove it on the range and got my £30 back the same week in a comp! ( 2nd best round all year and in the wet and cold). What a relief it was to not have to strain on every back-swing looking for power. I hit the ball like it was someone else. Keeping my body stacked, relaxed and sort of emulating your easy rhythm did wonders. My mates were sick of me saying “Dynamic Balance!” after every sound Tee shot. I only messed up once when I stupidly reverted to type and tried to smash one. Will this form last I ask myself? Maybe I’ll improve even more. Whatever the case, I have a rejuvenated swing and am excited about using it again…..
Cheers, Kevin.
Kevin,
Thanks for the update on your progress and keep it up. This will become the norm for you. Keep me informed and best wishes.
Keep em Long and Straight,
CJ
thanks for the right palm up drill and the L to L drill, solid shots now. GREAT STUFF!!!!!!! Can you do one on what Groove to impact the ball on , on the irons, I hit alot of thin shots, might help me and other golfers on this subject. THANKS
Leo,
Thanks for the question, although I am kinda laughing at this. What groove to hit on? In regards to that I have only heard the story of Ben Hogan say that he use to try to hit the ball on the second groove when he was hitting shots into the wind so as to keep the ball low. Their is speculation that he was joking with his dry sense of humor, but no one will ever know. First lets get rid of that technical thought. Way to complicated. If your thinning shots there is a reason. Do you also fade the ball? Let me know and lets figure this out. I have some simple drills that can definitely help you. Talk to you soon.
Keep em Long and Straight,
CJ
I enjoy your swing tips as well as other articles. Your recent tip re: distance #2…Swing as hard as you can 3x a day to increae swing speed…How long should someone keep these drills up?
Patrick Loughran,
Great question. It would be useful if you had a launch monitor or swing speed device to measure this, however I have seen this work in as short as an hour, or it may take a few weeks. Either way its training for speed. The more you do this ultimately you will swing faster and faster.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
CJ. In answer to your questiojn about my low back pain, the balls I hit have a slight hook. I am hitting better then before I read your course. I do have degenerative disk disease in the lumbar area, but not serious enough to prevent me from atheletics. I just get sore afterwards and it takes several days before I am back out there. I ice it and take motrin. Any other suggestions?
Darold Cornell,
Thanks for responding to me and giving me more insight into your game. It sounds like your hanging back on it which will produce a flip and the slight hook. this will also put too much pressure on your low back. Work on the Table top drill to get the connection through the shot and that will eliminate the pain.
keep em long and straight,
cj
CJ,
I experience problems sometimes with the top of the wrist (base of the thumb). I think I tracked it down to a setup issue. In a lesson from a Pro some years back, he told me I needed to raise my hands in the setup and reach more. Perhaps I exaggerated this a bit but in the end, my wrists were almost locked and the forearm to the thumb (including the wrist) was a flat line. After a couple of months I started having wrist pain. I went back to having my wrists in a more natural position in the setup and the wrists improved.
Is it just coincidence that my wrists improved after going back to the earlier setup or can the grip/setup also contribute to wrist pain?
Danny,
By straightening your wrists and creating a straight line you are creating too much strain on your wrist. It is no coincidence that the pain resulted from the setup. Keep it natural and you will be fine.
keep em long and Straight,
cj
CJ , I 63 years old and was shooting about 100-115.
Since using the PCGS, over the last month, I have lowered
my game to 87-92 and enjoying the game much more. I
know it will improve more.
jerry Matthews,
Seriously…? In the last month. That is so stinking awesome. Way to go buddy. let me know how I can help you even more in the future. Best of luck.
Keep em long and Straight,
cj
I have been suffering from golfer’s elbow (inside part of elbow) for the past year. Any ideas as to how this is caused in the golf swing, how I can relieve pain (I ice it and have tried acupuncture and magnets) and, most importantly, how I can still play golf without causing the pain.
Thanks!
Joe,
Thanks for the question and opening up a can of worms…Here goes..the golfers elbow can be caused by a lot of issues. Could be caused by early casting/fat shots, lack of width in swing due to tight lats, rounded scapula, right anterior capsules, immobile shoulder, unstable elbow, immobile wrist etc etc. I strongly suggest getting this looked at. My PGA Tour Doctor does a treatment called ART (Active release treatment). This is a great treatment for this although it may bring tears to your eyes. It basically breaks down any scar tissue in your elbow and allows blood flow for healing. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.
keep em long and straight,
cj
CJ. I am just getting back into golf and experience low back pain after hitting a bucket of balls on the practice range. I am following your methods, but still experience the low back pain which lasts for days. What can I do to prevent this?
Darold Cornell,
Since your just getting back into golf I want to make sure your stretching before you hit balls. It would be a good idea for you to stretch, especially hamstrings, low back, stuff like that a couple of times a day. This will definitely help. Secondly, I need to know what else is going on in your game. You should not be having any pains if you are doing the perfect connection swing, however what we feel like were doing may not be what were actually doing. What are your misses? Is your setup correct with right hip low? Please keep me informed and we will get this figured out.
keep em long and straight,
cj