Jo Napier People who love golf often pay for it. Jack Nicklaus has a tender spine. Fuzzy Zoeller's on a first-name basis with back surgeons. And when Tiger Woods's sore heel hobbled him a fortnight before last year's U.S. Open, many shared his pain. Each sport favours one set of muscles over another, and golf has its own walking wounded.
Amateurs often run the risk of overuse injuries.
While overused muscles are subject to chronic fatigue, leading to weakness, loss of flexibility and eventual injury, underused muscles tend to be weakened by time, placing tissues in adjacent joints at risk of injury. Consider the hips. Golf strokes involve twisting. Many golf magazines offer basic strengthening programs for the major muscle groups involved in the golf swing. What most of them fail to emphasize, Ms. Tasker says, is the importance of how these muscles must work together to produce a smooth, dynamic motion.