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Some things you either love or hate. For example, I love chocolate and I hate cockroaches. But Golf? I both love and hate golf. I love it when I am consistent and thus play well, and I hate it when I’m scattered and have to guess where the next shot is going to end up. All that said, I don’t like to gamble on whether or not I’m going to enjoy my outing on the course.

So what is a person to do to increase the positive feelings in the golf department? I’m lucky because I’m in the healthcare field and can find seminars on golf fitness, sports performance, and injury prevention.  So for business and selfish reasons, I took a seminar that addressed all three of those issues with regards to golf: analyzing swings, proper mechanics and sequence, and physical approaches to correct swing defaults.  Now I have concrete evidence that can specifically show where I fall short and why I am inconsistent. Add specific mobilizations to areas of my back and shoulders where I am tight or restricted and strengthen weak muscle groups and I see vast improvements in my game where before there was only frustration.

The game of golf is much more fun when you have the right tools for the job and more than half of them are in your body. You can buy the latest in technology but it would account for more if you have better range of motion in the shoulder joint and can stabilize the lower back. Most of the tools I use to achieve better range of motion or strength are inherent in my job. Since I’m a chiropractor, my main job is in the enhancement of the body’s performance and function and helping people to obtain and maintain this balance for the betterment of their game is just really fun.

For example I’ll use my father’s story. He works construction and is always tight and sore. He loves to golf, but has been losing distance off of the tee box so I filmed him hitting some shots and analyzed them with an iPad app. It turns out he is standing up in his downswing and losing power. Once I showed him his fault and what he should be doing, it was a simple manner of strengthening leg muscles so he could hold a better form.

The good news about all of this is that when I turn my lens on to other people, I can find the problems as well as help fix them. Golf Professionals help fix the mechanics of the golf swing, and I help fix the mechanics of the human frame so the golf swing can occur without hindrance. It takes a bag of clubs to play 18 holes, and it takes a team of people to optimize a person.

I don’t like to gamble on whether or not I’m going to have fun on the course, so I make sure that I have the right tools before I go.  Everyone can have the right tools, you just need to find the right team to help.