Golf swing: Get it in shape

Want to avoid golf injuries? Start by understanding the mechanics behind your golf swing. The more you know, the less likely you'll be sidelined by injury.

It's been a few months since your last golf outing. You're at the first tee, working out the kinks of your rusty golf swing. What better training, you think, than getting out there and playing?

Think about it some more. Golf isn't a contact sport, but it puts significant demands on your body. Fine-tune your golf swing now to prevent injuries later on.

Think through your golf swing

Understanding the mechanics behind your golf swing can help you prevent injuries.

• Use proper posture. Think about your posture as you address the ball. Avoid hunching over the ball, which may contribute to neck and back strain.
• Stay smooth. The power of a golf swing comes from force transferred smoothly through all the muscle groups, from your ankles to your wrists. If you depend on one part of your body for your hitting power, you may be more prone to injury. For example, overemphasizing your wrists during your swing can lead to golfer's elbow — a strain of the muscles on the inside of the forearm.
• Stabilize your lower back. Keep your pelvis as level as possible throughout your golf swing.
• Don't overswing. If your golf swing is too hard or too fast, you may lose control of the club and hurt yourself. Relax and take a nice, easy swing at the ball.

Sometimes lessons can help. "The more you learn about correct mechanics early in your golf career, the less prone to injury you'll be," says Edward Laskowski, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist and co-director of the Sports Medicine Center at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. "It's harder to break bad habits later."

Tips to keep you on the course

Of course, there's more to golf than your golf swing. Consider other ways to lower your risk of injury:

• Warm up. Before you practice your golf swing or play a round of golf, walk or jog for a few minutes to warm up. Then try a few gentle stretches.
• Start slowly. You might practice your golf swing for hours, thinking it's helping your game. But if your muscles aren't conditioned for the extra strain, practicing your golf swing may do more harm than good. Instead, work up to your desired level of activity.
• Get aerobic. To improve your stamina for a day on the course, include aerobic activity in your daily routine. Try walking, jogging, bicycling or swimming.
• Focus on flexibility. Regular stretching can improve your range of motion and lead to a more fluid golf swing. It's especially important to stretch your back, shoulders and hips, as well as the pectoral muscles on the front of your chest.
• Strengthen your muscles. You don't need bulging muscles to hit a long drive — but the stronger your muscles, the greater your club speed. Better yet, stronger muscles may be less prone to injury. Try biceps curls and triceps extensions with resistance tubing or dumbbells. On weight machines, try the lat pull-down, seated row and leg press. To improve muscle balance, work on muscles in the back of the shoulder and the shoulder blade area, as well as the front of the chest.
• Lift your clubs carefully. If you jerk heavy clubs out of the trunk of your vehicle, you may injure yourself before you reach the first tee. Keep your back straight and use the strength of your legs to lift your clubs and other heavy objects.
• Choose proper footwear. If you've had a leg or foot injury — such as ligament or cartilage damage — wear tennis shoes or golf shoes with short cleats. Long cleats dig into the sod and hold your feet planted as you swing, which may strain your knees or ankles.

While golfing, watch for symptoms of dehydration, heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Red flags might include a headache, dizziness, nausea, rapid heartbeat, irritability or confusion. Drink plenty of water, and cut your game short if necessary. Call it quits at the first sign of threatening skies or lightning.

Champions Skins Game

Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen rallied to win the Champions Skins Game on Sunday, winning six skins and US$320,000 in alternate-shot play to beat defending champions Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.

Zoeller and Jacobsen were each making their second appearances at the tournament and their first as a team.

"These guys in this thing are Hall of Famers. These are legends," Jacobsen said. "Once we got past the resumes on the first nine holes, we kind of settled in."

Nicklaus and Watson won eight skins and a record $270,000 in the first nine holes Saturday, but were shut out Sunday. Gary Player and Loren Roberts finished third with $180,000 and Arnold Palmer and Jay Haas were shut out.

"It was Jack's and Tom Watson's day yesterday. But today, it's another day. It's golf. It's a crazy game and things were just falling our way," Zoeller said. "Guys were missing putts and we had an opportunity to make a couple to get us into the positive category and it just blossomed from there."

After Zoeller-Jacobsen and Nicklaus-Watson halved the final in regulation, Zoeller tapped in for par on the first extra hole to take the final $100,000.

Greg Norman is back again

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Playing crisply on a course he designed, Greg Norman was making his way up the leaderboard at the Mayakoba Golf Classic on Thursday, using a run of birdies to get into a tie for fifth.

Then his tournament rustiness kicked in.

Norman's concentration wavered when a clump of grass blew across his ball in a greenside bunker on his 16th hole. Instead of pausing, he hit anyway - and didn't make it out, the ball rolling back to nearly the same spot. Then it happened again. Norman wound up with a double bogey. Another concentration lapse on the next hole resulted in a three-putt from about 12 feet for a bogey.

After coming up inches short of a birdie on the final hole, Norman walked off with an even-par round of 70 - tied for 40th, along with 18 others.

''I pretty much let a good one get away,'' Norman said. ''You need the feel for tournament play and I don't have it. At the end of the day, I did hit some quality shots out there, so you know they're still in the system.''



This is Norman's second PGA Tour start of the year, but only his fifth in four years. He's trying to make the cut for the first time since the 2005 British Open.

''I would like to make the cut, obviously. I'm certainly not going to walk around here and be a ceremonial golfer,'' Norman said. ''At least I know I can get it to 3-, 4-, 5-under par around here. So we'll see what I can do tomorrow.''

The field is chasing John Merrick, who holed a roughly 50-foot putt on his final shot for a 6-under 64 and the lead all by himself.

''It was one of those days where everything kind of went your way,'' said Merrick, who shot a 64 in the first round of this event last year, too, but couldn't sustain it. His score went up each round and he finished tied for 48th.

Larry Mize, who beat Norman in a memorable playoff at the 1987 Masters, was among four players at 65.

John Daly, Tommy Gainey and Brian Gay shot 66s. Gainey, nicknamed ''Two Gloves,'' is in his first year on the tour, but already known to golf buffs because of his appearances on The Golf Channel's ''Big Break.''

Reigning champion Fred Funk may not be around to defend his title this weekend. Funk opened with a birdie, giving hope to chasing the course-record 62 he shot in the opening round of last year's tournament, but he followed with two bogeys and never made it back to par. He finished with a 3-over 73, tied for 95th.