Left Shoulder Pain
 

This might be better suited to the "Fit for golf" section... but it seems to be tied to my hitting escapades, so I'll post it here.

After giving "hitting" a concerted 2 weeks of practice (500 to 800 balls worth), I felt comfortable enough to take it to a full weekend of play. I committed to "hit" every shot in 2 rounds of golf (I'm a swinger who has experimented with hitting some, but more seriously lately). I played pretty well the first day and even better on day 2 shooting 74 with 5 birdies (in 20 mph winds), largely because of 3 "kick-ins" as a result of some new found accuracy on my approaches. After declaring that I was now going to move over to the "dark side" and that Craig Stadler was my new idol... I find that my left shoulder is hurting me. And hurting to the point that I had to go back to swinging on shots from Driver to wedge this weekend.

I love some of the shots you can "hit" ... very controlled and great into the wind... but has anyone ever experienced this lead shoulder issue? I definitely am more heavy on the extensor action when I hit, and I wonder if the combination of a stretched left arm with a "punch" action could be irritating to the left shoulder.

Please don't tell me I have to go back to that "feminine" swinging pattern full time!!! :)

CG

Pain
 

I'm not an expert on this... but it sounds like just an over-use of NEW golf muscles. Your body is not used to this new pattern , and you worked on it pretty hard in a fairly short time period.

Probably should take a rest from the Hitting for a while, until the inflammation in the shoulder goes away. When you are healed, come up with a stretching, and strength building routine, that is good for your HITTING pattern. With HITTING, THERE IS MORE PHYSICAL EFFORT INVOLVED THAN WITH SWINGING, so you might have to prepare your muscles and tendons, for this new activity.

New Pattern
 

Lagster,

I've tried to analyze the problem myself. Thanks for your input (and I realize you're not a doctor). It's one theory that's high on my list. Even as I type this I am feeling less pain in that shoulder afer giving it a bit of a rest today (I probably used a hitting motion 8 times today and mostly inside 120 yards). It'll get a few days of rest this week, so we'll see if that helps.

CG

Rest
 

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Hope that does the trick!!!

I've had right elbow pains after hitting balls, but that's much more obvious.

I think in the process of changing to a new pattern some groups of muscles will see a lot of tension from the conscious moves. When the pattern becomes natural, things will loosen up. Less pain and greater distance will be the benefits.