Golf tips and Acupuncture to help prevent injuries and improve your swing!

Age, repetition of common motion, stress, tension and desk jobs can inhibit flexibility and range of motion, which directly impacts a golfer’s game and leads to sub-par performance. 

Dwayne Lee L.Ac , acupuncturist, avid golfer and specialist in golf-related injuries at PLACE360 Health + Spa in Del Mar, CA., helps golfers enhance flexibility in order to gain range of motion and rotation.

In conjunction with Place360, Dwayne has sent me a list of Six Health Tips to Improve Your Golf Game:

1. Flexibility: Most golf related injuries can be avoided by keeping muscle and connective tissue warm and pliable. Crucial are low back, hips, shoulders and upper torso. Take a fifteen minute pre-round stretch to avoid having to take weeks off the course due to back strain.

2. Strengthening core/abdominal and the big upper leg muscles will prevent undue stress on the back and arms. Keep the center tight and the centrifugal force of your swing will be safer and more powerful.

3. Avoid tendonitis. Don't over-squeeze. Keeping the hands and forearms soft until ball impact will reduce strain on the joints of your elbows and wrists. Let your muscles do the work to avoid the dreaded tennis or golfer's elbow.

4. Not enough time to stretch? Are you running to the tee box? Then schedule an appointment with a trained massage specialist a day or two before your round to keep tight muscles loose and address problem areas before they complicate into bigger problems. This may be especially important on golf vacations or in tournaments when your body starts to tighten up after several rounds. Most golf resorts offer spa services for men and women with varying body types.

5. Balance is key. There are sets of acupuncture points on the hands and feet that can create better balance and muscle sequencing. These points can be stimulated with magnetic pellets or tiny tacks that will adhere to your skin for an entire round, helping you stay on plane and over the ball or better accuracy and better impact.

6.  Acupuncture is also great to keep connective tissue pliable and healthy as well as reduce inflammation of joints from repetitive overuse. Super fine needles are non-painful and are strategically placed to release spasmed and stubborn muscles. Acupuncture is also proven to be especially helpful for joint problem areas in the wrists, ankles, knees, elbows, back or neck.

Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that is thousands of years old and involves inserting and manipulating needles into various points in your body to relieve pain and help restore the balance of yin and yang.

The Golf Series package at PLACE360 Health + Spa was designed to increase or maintain a golfer’s flexibility while improving power and the overall game. A combination of acupuncture, massage and relaxation techniques help get golfers back out on the course while lowering their handicap.  

Although I have never tried acupuncture, it has been in practice for thousands of years. Seeing that KJ Choi has met with some success using acupuncture...I'm open to discussion!

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Play Before the Pros Canada Golf Vacation at The Fairmont Banff Springs

The 2011 TELUS World Skins will once again be contested on the
historic Stanley Thompson Course at The Fairmont Banff Springs, Canada, July 25th to 26th.

Golf enthusiasts worldwide can enjoy a head start on the PGA Tour professionals with the resort's "Play Before the Pros" vacation package.

Known as the "Castle in the Rockies," The Fairmont Banff Springs is located in the heart of Banff National Park and is styled after a Scottish Baronial Castle, offering commanding views of the surrounding Rocky mountains and the stunning Bow River.

Just steps from the charming village of Banff, the Fairmont Banff Springs resort is a National Historical Site and offers a tremendous blend of luxury and recreation.

In addition to its two golf courses (Stanley Thompson 18-Hole and Tunnel nine), The Fairmont Banff Springs offers exceptional dining and shopping options in addition to a Willow Stream Spa and a host of additional recreational activities.


The Play before the Pros Canada golf vacation package includes:

The package is available from May 13 to July 24. Rates start at $798 CAD per night based on double occupancy:

    * Accommodations in a Fairmont Room (I'll bet most rooms have beautiful views)
    * Two rounds of golf on the Stanley Thompson Golf Course
    * Two tickets to the TELUS World Skins, July 25-26
    * TELUS World Skins souvenir Nike Golf shirt
    * Contest entry to win a complete Nike golf outfit (ladies would love this!)


One of the most memorable Telus World Skins Game was hosted at The Fairmont Banff Springs in 2006. Five decades of golf personalities were represented: Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, John Daly, Stephen Ames and Sergio Garcia but it would be John Daly who hoisted the trophy taking nine skins and $210,000.

This year, Telus World Skins Game partners with Nike Golf with the field all belonging to Nike athletes: Anthony Kim Paul Casey and Stephen Ames have already been tapped with two other PGA Tour golfers being announced shortly. The golf event is owned and operated by IMG in Canada.

If you are fortunate enough to visit Canada to attend the 2011 Telus World Skins Game and stay in the fabulous Fairmont Banff Springs, the visuals...scenery as well as the old world charm of the hotel, will surely take your breath away!

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Was age a factor in David Toms defeat at The Players?

While watching the final round of The Players Championship, I heard an announcer question whether or not David Toms could go the distance this particular Sunday, a long, tiring day in which both third and final rounds were being decided. Because of his age, would Toms tire as he progressed through the back nine?

I reacted by posting a similar question to Twitter but without the age variant, wondering if Toms could hold on for the nine remaining holes to win The Players. Responses ranged from simple yet effective "yes" to "yes, he is cagey"  @BobFriend_golf. No one mentioned that age may play a factor in his defeat.
And why should it? Forty-four year old Toms is certainly not old yet he has had his share of career-limiting physical ailments. Even so, age was not the reason why David missed a three-footer on the first playoff hole at TPC Sawgrass, handing over a well-deserved win to K.J. Choi.
 

His wife Sonya's telltale thought, "You get to this stage in your career..." coupled with remarks from his caddie Scott Gneiser, "He got to the point where he was maybe kind of going through the motions," spoke volumes about what might have been rummaging through Toms' conscience. David even added that he was basically in the event to show his son how its done, not necessarily for himself.

Age limitations do play a factor in every professional golfers career but not necessarily in a physical sense. The lingering question as to "how much good golf is left?" may creep thoughts into the mental game in a sport where the median age on the PGA Tour is 30-35 years-old. Mistakes also come easier as older golfers choose the wrong shot, thinking they can still "go for it" realizing afterwards that a safer approach may have yielded far better results.

The right attitude can help diffuse the signs of aging. After forty-six-year-old Paul Goydos' third-place finish at The Players, he made reference to his age but also that this finish is something that he "can build on," adding "I'm getting to that age where I need to find something to hang onto. I don't feel old"

"No, that's a lie. I feel old." Goydos continued, "But I didn't feel old until this year. Playing bad does that to you. I've got a great job, and I'm going to keep trying to do it."

Goydos hit the nail on the head...playing bad and squandering chances make you feel old!


Media plays up the angle of age versus youth as in the battle between 47-year old Miguel Angel Jimenez - Lee Westwood on the European Tour at the Ballantine's Championship. The strut and swagger of Jimenez forced naysayers to comment on the "coolness" of Jimenez not believing that age was a factor; Westwood merely performed better that week.

That being said, with a fan base in golf getting younger all of the time, forty-something players like Toms are paving the way for a new generation of golfers like McIlroy, Fowler and Manassero. Kids identify with the coolness of the clothes, the connection on Twitter and the fact that their parents don't necessarily like the change. Hopefully, this infusion of youth will take the game to the next level.

Winner of The Players, forty-year-old KJ Choi, when asked after his win about the ability to compete and win, had advice for the younger generation of professional golfers:

"You have to be very regimented in order to have a long career out here on the TOUR.
I was able to focus, I was able to maintain physically and mentally my body very well. And I felt like I still had the confidence that I could play well out there. I train hard, I practice hard, and I think all the young players need to do that.
And I think you need to live your life to the fullest. And when I say that, I don't mean partying all the time. Live a systematic, regimented life, always be humble. That's my motto."

As for David Toms' performance this week at The Players Championship, he was the 36-hole leader and could hardly be considered "old". "No excuses, no spike marks, no ball marks, no nothing," Toms said of his three-putt bogey on the first sudden-death playoff hole. "Maybe a lot of pressure. But other than that, there was no excuse."

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