3 Easy Steps to Protect Your Lower Back | Reduce Pain from Golf Swing (2022)

Have you ever left the golf course or driving range with a sore lower back? If yes, pay close attention…I am going to show you 3 main causes of back pain in the golf swing, and more importantly, I am going to show you how to prevent it once and for all!

Whether you’ve played golf for 30+ years or you are just starting out, you must have a good understanding of how to protect your body when swinging the club. We’ve watched tons of professional golfers sit on the sidelines for months due to back problems caused by their golf swings. Why is this though?

To be honest, it just boils down to the simple fact of poor golf instruction and a poor understanding of biomechanics and kinesiology. Don’t be scared off by those big fancy terms that you may have heard of, but knew nothing about.

It is our job as your golf instructor to teach you what those terms mean and how the relate to your current golf swing.  This does not mean you have to sit through a 2 hour boring anatomy class in order to better understand.

I want you to ask yourself a few questions…

1. Are you setup over the golf ball correctly?
2. Is your backswing under control?
3. Do you generate most of your power from your legs and not your shoulders?

If you answered “no” or “hmmm, I don’t know” to any of the above questions, then consider this mission critical time to figure out the answers, because you can blow out your back faster than you can say “my glutes didn’t fire”.

In order to make the golf ball soar down the fairway like an eagle, you have to start with a proper AND safe address position. If you are unclear if you are setting up over the ball correctly, then click here for a quick must-see video.

Often times, one of the most common mistakes made in the backswing is allowing the spine to over rotate. This can start to compress your lower vertebrae and leave you in some severe lower back pain at the end of a round. In order to keep you spine from over rotating, you need to make sure you have good axis tilt at the address position. If you are unclear is to what that means, click the “here” button in the above paragraph. You also need to make sure you transfer your weight to load your glutes up and stabilize your hips. If your hips are stable, you will now keep yourself from over rotating in the backswing and start to tighten your swing up with more power and control than you ever had before.

Now, the downswing is where a lot of the damage to your back can be caused. You must refrain from throwing your arms and shoulders from the top of the swing down into impact. I know it feels powerful, but this is going to hurt you. You need to use your legs just as you did in the backswing. Watch this Rotary Swing member favorite on how to build your golf swing from the ground up so that you can protect your back and play this game for years to come! Play safe!