Question 80

I had nerve damage to my left shoulder (I play lefty) and as a result have significant atrophy of my left anterior and middle deltoid muscles. Because of this, both my shoulders have had degenerative changes and I get a lot of soreness with the traditional golf swing as well as with my experimentation with the Natural golf swing. (I didn't have as much soreness after swinging the "Swing the club head" way, but my play has been inconsistent as heck, even though I practice like a lunatic!) Basically hoping to find a more connsistent, reliable and easier way to play the game and at least get some rewards for the practice I put in.

Reply:
The ideal mechanical advantage golf swing is as easy on the shoulders as any golf swing. But unfortunately because the deltoid plays such an important role as support muscles you will see some soreness. I too have a problem with my left shoulder. Because you play left-handed I assume that your right shoulder is somewhat better than the left thereby reducing the damage to the left.

Among the benefits of the single axis golf swing is that you will take a much shallower divot, and you will be making a motion that is a full release and fold, compared with a hit and hold natural golf action. The way that the forward elbow bends and the way that the forward wrist bends after impact, along with the shallow arc, provide maximum club head speed without torque.

Incidentally, I saw the film clip on Kuykendall's new swing (Lever Power) but was not able to reliably/consistenty replicate it. What do you think of his new swing? Is it easy to learn?

Reply:
I support Jack in his quest for golf mastery, however I achieve a remarkable consistency from my students using Moe's technical advantage.

Is there any reason why I should be getting more pain in the shoulders from the "Palm grip?" It just seems like when I use it, I wake up with more pain than normal.....I can't imagine why!

Reply:
It's more likely that you're using a hit and hold motion without a full release. That is what is causing the pain, not the palm grip. In fact eliminating the rotary motion of the forearm will alleviate stress on the shoulder.

I never quite got NG working well, however I did recently try just swinging the club head using a palm grip and got some really great results......I don't even think I was consistently doing a single axis swing either! What do you think of that?

Reply:
Again, when you swing the club head using a palm grip you took away tension from the arm and shoulders by letting the arms release and fold and the hands release and fold. Because of your injuries you must stay connected with the elbows more toward your rib cage and your tricep on top of your chest so that you're using your truck to help stabilize the arms. Moe used to do a thousand deltoid lifts each day with a 10 lb bar, so he could support his arms swinging in a free space away from his body. You and I do not have this luxury or strength, so we must stand closer to the ball, but we can still be single axis and make a straight line hand motion.

Well, as usual..thanks very much for your time & effort in answering all my questions I appreciate it.

Brian

Brian, I'm happy to help you.

Best of luck,
The SAGE

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