Can't Play Golf for 3 - 4 Months minimum - Cursed Elbow

JLN · October 9, 2006

Any suggestions on what I can work on?

Just found out that I have my inner right elbow has a partial tear in the tendon, and I also have a nice little floating bone chunk in the same area to add to the festivities. Barring surgery (which I'm getting an opinion on later this week), I'm looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of at least 3 to 4 months before I can even swing a club - maybe longer. If surgery is necessary, it might be even longer than that. Hurts like hell - I can't even put my car in reverse (manual transmission - pull left, push up, scream).

At any rate, not much I can do about it (at least we are approaching the rainy season here in the Great Northwest), but I'm curious if anyone has any ideas about things I could be doing that will help my game once my elbow is given the green light to return to the turf.

Thanks in advance...

Hungsolo · October 10, 2006

chip and putt like a fiend. minimal stress on the elbow.

JLN · October 10, 2006

I definitely plan to putt. Can't chip - too much stress according to the doc. Even putting I have to wear this Darth Vader-esque brace on my wrist to protect against unwanted wrist movement (somehow wrist action is tied into this elbow injury).

Might be a good time to try to become more ambidextrous. Also, plenty of time to send my fertilizer-impaired Cameron back to the custom shop for a new finish.

JLN · October 10, 2006

I've thought about shafts - but more with regard to vibration than weight. Sensicore, maybe? I've never seen a graphite iron shaft that I'd want to play...

rok78 · October 10, 2006

Do some one-hand chips with your left arm only. good time to do a lot of body pivot drills, etc. You can work on minimizing all excess body movement.

alcap26 · October 10, 2006

:( 12 ounce curls....

TRAV1 · October 10, 2006

Research has shown that visualization is a powerful tool. I would practice with a physical club when possible (docs orders), and practice visualization skills on the shots you can't do (you might even try mimicking the swing while visualizing).

Juan73 · October 11, 2006

I "feel your pain!" I had problems with my elbow earlier in the year and could not play golf for almost 3 months. And there was no way I could even chip.. So I worked on putting.

I spent about 3-4 hours each day for almost this entire time working ONLY on putting. I could do this since I am retired. I put together about 12 pages of putting drills from every resource I could find so that I would not get bored. Then every day, I practiced. When it rained I worked inside with Dave Pelz's Putter Clips, Putting Track, and some other putting training aids.

BTW, I have improved tremendously. I now scored like a plus handicap golfer on The Pelz Short Game Handicap (which you can find on his website) as well as the assessments from the book Golfer's Red Zone Challenge by King and Akins.

I tell you this since doing these assessments on almost a daily basis kept me motivated.... by allowing me to see my progress.

And my on course performance and confidence has gotten better. I had one 3 putt in the last five rounds.

Let me know if you want a copy of the drills I assembled.

AND of course I also spent time with daily flexibility exercises using the Roger Fredericks DVD. You can use anyone's. At 59 I am not as flexible as I was when younger or what I need to be to be a better golfer.

Ducky · October 11, 2006

How did you manage to do that to your elbow?

JLN · October 11, 2006

Quite honestly, I'm not 100% sure how I did it. I do hit a lot of balls off mats - it is the only option around here (no grass ranges unless you are fortunate enough to belong to a club). But that has never been a problem before.

Here's what I think happened - the same week of the injury I had purchased a big bean bag chair for my son - when I picked it up, it was in this big shrink-wrapped block. I just assumed that when I unsealed it, it would expand. Well, when I unsealed it I discovered that the reason it looked like a big block was because it really was a big block - a solid block of fairly substantial foam rubber. In order to pick the thing apart, I had to work at it for about six hours in odd positions. It was very tedious and began to make my arm muscles sore, but I refused to be defeated by a bean bag chair and pressed on until I was done picking it apart.

Anyway, I was a little sore the next day, but no big deal. Then I played golf the day after that, still a little sore, but no big deal. Then I went to the range that evening to practice shots I wasn't happy about from my round earlier that day, and I couldn't finish the bucket - it just hurt too much, especially trying to do things like half wege shots. I couldn't even wash my hands - it hurt my elbow too much to apply pressure from my right hand to my left. In the end, I suspect that the battle with the bean bag chair probably got the injury started and then something golf related finished it off.