Rib Muscle pull

[progrmr]

Well I went and done it now.

It's my week off from work - my fiance is in Canada for her brothers wedding. Should be golfing bliss right?

At the range monday night I was hitting my irons very well. However I think I'm doing something totally wrong.

I am really trying to kill the ball. Monday night though I believe I pulled a rib muscle. It's just below my left man-boob about an inch. Also some pain on the side/back. If I breath deeply I get pain on exhaling. in the front/slightly on the left side of my body. I'm a left handed golfer. A buddy watched my swing and said that I was rotating my upper body like a baseball player would through a swing.

Needless to say I'm down all week and I still have alot of pain and can't even consider hitting any balls right now.

I think that I am trying to hit the ball so hard that I am using my upper body/chest to try and pull through the ball. I've done some serious damage though and I want to avoid it in the future.

Anyone else have this muscle pull? How do I get more power when hitting the ball if I don't pull down through the ball? Should my upper body stay square with the ball while I swing? I feel like I need to 'wind up' by rotating my upper body to hit the ball powerfully. But I also think that's how I caused my injury.

[DaveE]

It's a pretty common problem but swinging harder isn't the answer. I read this article the other day and it made a lot of sense to me. Hard to argue with Ernie, he's pretty good.

Sorry, but I've not had that injury so help here.

http://www.golfdigest.com/instructio...1ernieels.html

[Bama Duffer]

progrmr--Sounds like you're hitting the ball about the same way I did in college. I learned to use nothing but my upper body to strike the ball and concentrated on keeping my lower body completely still. It helped me make good, consistent contact with the ball, but I lost power instead of gaining it. I got to where I could regularly play in the lower 80's that way.

I'm in my mid-40's now and when I try to use the same swing I could manage in my 20's, I feel something similar to what you're describing. I haven't hit enough balls hard enough this way to do any damage but the potential is there.

The past few months I've been trying to develop a more regular-type swing--that is, more like what you read about in the magazines and see on tour. My scores have suffered with the change, but I feel less pain this way. What I concentrate on now to generate more power is hip movement. I start my downswing with a shift of my hips to the left--specifically my left hip.

Like I say, I haven't gotten very consistent with this, but when I slow my swing down slightly and make good contact, I've actually gained yardage this way. For someone like me who played for years using my upper body to generate power, it feels odd at first and I still fight a tendency to keep my lower body motionless, but I think it will work.

Take the time to heal and give it try.