Yep, i got the same problem, After spending 5-6 hours at the golf range for 5 days in a row i tried some stiffer shaft clubs and accidently hit the ground one shot, i lost my breath for a second and i almost heard something snapped, this was after feeling a littlebit sore in the ribcage area. Struggeled for 2 months chiropractor thought it was a musslestraint, all doctors thought so as well, after 3 weeks i went out playing again, didnt go so well, had too much pain. Then i got really fed up and had my ribcage x-ray´ed, turns out i had a pretty severe fracture in my rib. It was completly broken.
I had to lay of the entire season since it takes about 2-3 months for a rib to heal properly.
Now, a year later i started playing again, after a few weeks i feel a bit of lesser pain in my rib area again, doh - I wonder whats wrong, i got a pretty fast swing, Its annoying me, since i wonder - i cant play golf? i gotta break the damn rib bone after a few weeks of playing? Im perfectly well in all other imaginable ways and play lots of different sports.
Maybe i can swing in a different way?
And, to all you who wonder what it can be, it sounds like many are describing a fractured rib, or stress-soon-to-be-fractured rib. xray it.
