Welcome!

Golf Injury Specialist, Advanced Sports Nutrition Specialist & Chiropractor
Dr John DeWitt

We are glad to have you here at Longer Safer Drives. Here you will learn tips and tricks regarding golf related injuries, hitting longer drives, and how to play well into your later years without pain.

Cinco de Mayo Aftermath

HAPPY BELATED CINCO DE MAYO!

So it’s the morning after Cinco de Mayo.  Did you imbibe a little too much?  Well if you’re planning on hitting the links today dehydration could be a problem.  Some of the symptoms include:

Headache

Poor sense of overall well-being

Sensitivity to light and sound

Diarrhea

Loss of appetite

Trembling

Nausea

Fatigue

Increased heart rate and blood pressure

Dehydration(dry mouth, extreme thirst, dry eyes)

Trouble concentrating

Anxiety

Difficulty sleeping

Weakness

Obviously this is going to effect your golf game.   Hydration is the key to lessening the effects of a night out.  Drinking a glass of water after every drink (or every other) is a good pre-emptive strike to prevent deydration the next day.  If it’s too late for that, drink as much water as you can the morning after and include a good B-complex supplement.  This will help to replenish your nutrients that have been depleted during the previous night.  The B vitamins also give you a boost in energy that should aid your golf game when you are “struggling”.  Deep breathing also helps to detox the body.  Breathe in deeply through the nose and hold for 5-15 seconds then exhale through the mouth.  The key here is to exhale twice as long as you inhale.  So if you inhale for a count of 10 exhale for 20.  This forces more oxygen into the tissues which aids in the detoxification process of all the free radicals in the system.

Happy Golfing!

Warm Up is Key

Ideally, spending some time at the range before playing a round helps keep a golfer warmed up if done properly. The average golfer swings the club at 95-115MPH. That places a huge demand on the spine, shoulders, and hips with each and every swing.

While at the range, take 60seconds for each ball. Most golfers make the mistake of just going rapid fire without any warmup or stretching. This is a recipe for disaster!

It’s important to have a proper stretch and warmup to avoid possible injury. Make sure to address each of the following:

1. hamstrings

2. adductors (inner thigh)

3. piriformis muscle

4. hips

5. shoulders

6. spine

7. wrists

Side bending is also a crucial part of the golf swing. Hold each side for ten seconds.

Rotation of the lower back is crucial for safe and technical golf swings. Rotate each side 10 times per side.

Hold for ten seconds each side and repeat three sets.

Hold for ten seconds each side. Increased range of motion in the shoulders gives more power in the long game.

Keeping shoulders back, hold for 30 seconds. This keeps the legs warmed up and strong for long rounds of golf.

Hold each for ten seconds. Helps prevent injury from hitting it fat or snapping the wrist at the follow through.

Go side to side but DO NOT ROLL your head as this can cause injury.

Hold for 20sec on both sides.

The adductors are crucial during the downswing to pull the hips through the swing. Hold for 60sec.

This is key to maintain a proper spine angle during the golf swing. Hold for 10 sec each side repeat three times.

In combination with the soleus muscle, the calf is crucial to maitaining a constant spine angle during the golf swing.

Even Tiger knows that proper spine mobility is a key ingredient to a good golf swing.

The ability of Tiger to get his left arm up to almost 12:00 in the training zone, while keeping it fully extended, gave him amazingly powerful drives.

Comic Corner

Man to friend: ” After three sets of clubs and ten years of lessons, I’m finally getting some fun out of golf. I quit.”