Went to chiropractor....now drawing/hooking

[Dad-2-3]

I have been going to a chiropractor recently for some chronic neck/back issues. My game has never been great, but I could always count on a nice fade, or if I really stepped on it I would hit a huge slice. Anyway, now that this chiropractor has me nearly "adjusted" (his words) my range of motion is considerably more than it used to be and my mid/long irons are drawing and the fairway woods/driver sometimes have a nasty pull hook. Maybe it's all in my head and it has nothing to do with the chiropractor??? I have played golf for some years now and I have NEVER, I repeat NEVER, hit a draw. I don't mind the draw at all and am getting some added distance, but the pull hook absolutely has to go away!! I hope to get it figured out soon.

Anyone else experience a swing/shot shape change after chiropractic work?

[SubPar]

Sometimes tension in your muscles can block out a move the produces a specific result. Once you have more range of motion some new unexpected results might show up. Previously you probably compensated somehow for the discomfort and now you are freed up from that, your angles and timing have changed. But in the long term that is a net plus.

What a chiropractor does is much the same as a massage therapist, but using very different technique. The primary result is relaxation of tension. After and adjustment the stress in your muscles around your spine is reduced and balanced. You are probably now able to move more freely which changes your swing plane and/or timing.

If you have more range of motion, that is a good thing. Now you have to learn to use that to make better shots and lower your handicap.

You are a 25 handicap! Don't blame the Chiropractor. Don't blame it on the moon. Don't blame it on Bush. Don't blame it on your parents. Go forth, take lessons and fix your swing!



SubPar

(My opinions are based on more then 50 years experience with Chiropractors and they have done major good for me through many sports injuries. There are good ones and bad ones, but if you feel good and relaxed after the guy (or gal) works on you they've done their job. Don't go too often. Unless you are suffering some chronic pain, once every 2-3 weeks is sufficient to keep you out of trouble)

[Dad-2-3]

If you have more range of motion, that is a good thing. Now you have to learn to use that to make better shots and lower your handicap.

Yeah, not blaming anything on the chiropractor. My game is of my own doing.

I just thought it was great that I have more ROM and muscles are working as they should. Interesting to me as I've only played 1-2 rounds per year until this year, but have never drawn the ball until I got this work done to my back. Sorry if it sounded like I was trying to blame my problems on something besides my swing. LOL

[CarlSpackler]

My friend who always had a reliable fade recently inherited a draw after getting an adjustment at the chiro.

[PhilsRHman]

I've had some nagging hip/leg pain the past year or so, but figured it was tight muscles, etc. Six weeks ago, I played 54 holes in two days, which was a lot for me. Woke up a day later with stabbing pain in my lower back/hip. After a couple days I saw a chiropractor who found some issues on my x-ray with a compressed disk at the bottom of my spine. He said it's likely been there a long time, causing the nagging pain, and then overdoing it made the pain elevate.

Anyway, he put me on a twice-a-week program. First, I get 30 minutes with a massage therapist, then worked on by the chiropractor. He straps me into a table that bends in half, so he's able to stretch me out in a way I've never had before. It's like there's glue in my vertebrae, and he's pulling it apart. Hurts like hell when he starts, but by the end feels pretty good. I also get stretched in my hamstrings and calves.

Fast forward 6 weeks to this weekend. I was nervous, haven't swung a club since I hurt my back, and don't feel great. Spent about 20 minutes stretching before my tee time, but just couldn't get loose. Turns out, I hit it better than I have in at least a year. Once I got going, I felt like all the stretching of the past month-plus must have done far more than I'd thought. No pain in my legs all day, back never tightened up. Swung within myself all day, which had to help, but I shot 83, and when considering I didn't make a putt longer than 4 feet, and had two triple bogeys (both from the middle of the fairway), it was by far my best ball striking round in memory. I felt so good that I went out for 9 more -- started with 5 pars, birdied 6, then finished bogey, triple, triple, all thanks to some go awful short game play, that I'll chalk up to rust and fatigue.

What sort of experience do you guys have with chiropractors, massage, stretching, etc? As if I wasn't already certain that being loose and limber was huge, this really drove it home. Anyone have any programs they follow? I'm already planning to do some yoga/pilates once my back is up to it. Any good yoga for golf programs out there? I know there are special stretching tapes that seem designed for 80 year old dudes, but would probably help my fat ass, too.

[shipdadip]

I'd go back to the chiro and explain to him that your golf game has suffered and ask him to put you back to the way you were before

[Golfing Dad]

I used to be a chiropractor. I had a patient one time who was an avid golfer. He had been in a car accident and came in for some minor work. As I worked on him, he told me he could now hit the ball about 20 yards further than before.

Chiropractic works by not only increasing the range of motion of the vertebrae in the spine, but releasing pressure on the nerves as they exit the spine. This allows muscles to relax which increases the range of motion. It also breaks up what is called "fibrotic tissue" that may build up around joints as we get older. Now that you have more range of motion, your spine is rotating more causing you to close the club face when you hit the ball leading to your "hook."Just my theory.

[Golfing Dad]

To put it another way, having more range of motion would be similar to going from a stiff shaft on a club to one that is more flexible.

[Golfing Dad]

For what it's worth, here is Tiger Woods take on chiropractic...

"I've been going to chiropractors for as long as I can remember. It’s as important to my training as practicing my swing."

-Tiger Woods

Zach Johnson's dad was a chiropractor

Jack Nicklaus and Jim Furyk also go to chiropractors.
http://www.dynamicchiropractic.ca/mp...e.php?id=53305

[PrairieParson]

My guess is that your swing is consistently cutting accross the path of flight from outside to inside. Whatever the chiropractor did, loosened something and now you can close the face on impact causing the hook. Since your loosened up, try to change your swing so that you have a straighter swing through the impact zone.