Wristy Business

One of the most common quests for the average golfer is the pursuit of more power! In fact, you rarely ever see a cover story about putting. In golf, it is power that rules!

Alberto came to me for what was a very typical lesson with very typical goals in mind. He began to tell me about his game, his scores, tendencies, etc. Like many golfers, Alberto had a little bit of a slice. He said his goal was to simply be “more consistent” and maybe not lose so many balls.

We spoke for a few more minutes about a variety of topics, before, finally, ready to hit a few more shots for me, he stops and says… “Oh, one more thing,” “I have tremendous pain in my left hand every time I hit!”

Now, you would think that being in “tremendous pain” would be something that you would mention at the beginning of a lesson. But, in Alberto’s case, after 10 minutes discussing every topic from his slice, to what he should order off the clubhouse menu at lunch, he sneaks in the fact the he is suffering intolerably.

I, of course, wish to further investigate. He says, “every time I hit, my whole left arm is consumed by pain, as though I’m being hit by a bolt of lightning! I think something is wrong with my grip!”

I take a good look at his grip, and in fact, his grip is perfect. We discuss grip pressure. Perhaps he is gripping too tight. This is not the case either. His pressure is as soft and proper as Gentle Ben Crenshaw.

Being a good detective, I ask if he can just hit a few shots for me. It’s not uncommon for deep divot takers to incur injury due to the shock of impact with the turf. Again, Alberto’s divots are shallow to non-existent.

I tell him, “Alberto, honestly, there is nothing about your technique that would suggest you injured yourself playing golf.” “Perhaps you hurt yourself somewhere else.” He dismisses the notion and shrugs off the pain with typical macho pride.

The rest of the lesson proceeds without a hitch and we manage to fix his slice. But what occurrs next is one of the most bizarre turns of events I have ever experienced in all my years teaching golf. Alberto reaches into his golf bag and says “Hey, have you ever seen one of these before?” He emerges with a ‘hydraulic forearm strengthening device.’ If you are not familiar, it looks like some kind of prototype made by the Space Program or perhaps the severed arm of “The Terminator.” Before I can even get a word out, Alberto fastens the device firmly to his arm and pulls with all his might to flex the machine. “Aaarghhh!!!!”. His face winces, and I swear I see tears forming in the corners of his eyes, as if someone has ripped a patch of hair off his chest or slugged him in the stomach.

Image by: Nishant  Choksi  www.nishantchoski.com


Originally published, Golf Punk Magazine, UK

“Alberto, Alberto…..stop, please stop,” I say. I ask him point blank: “What the hell are you doing?” He points to the machine and says, “I’ve been trying to get more power, so I use this before I tee off.” I shake my head. “Before you tee off? What do you mean?” “I do 40 pumps on every tee box for more power.”

Wait a minute…”You use this thing 40 times before every tee shot?” He confirms that I have understood him correctly. “Alberto, call me crazy, but do you think you might have hurt yourself using that thing?” He looks at me in disbelief and replies “You think this hurt my wrist?” He pulls one more time for good measure, yielding yet another bellowing yawp of discomfort before slinging his bag over his shoulder and heading on his way. It’s the last I saw of Alberto for some time.

As it turns out, Alberto hurt himself pretty bad using that thing. He had to take a month off golf and spent some of it in a soft cast. The saddest twist to this tale is that while in his cast, he lost hand strength. In the end, he lost nearly 20 yards off the tee!