Shoulder injuries in golfers are not as common as in overhead sports. The low back is most frequently injured, followed by the left elbow or wrist. Shoulder injury in golf is predominantly left shoulder injury. This has not been supported by electromyographic evidence. It appears there may be an age-related phenomenon with shoulder injury in golf as noted above in tennis.
Older players are more common in golf than in most any other sport.
Accumulative degenerative changes may predispose these individuals to impingements of the rotator cuff, bursa, or AC joint, in particular at the extremes of motion. In younger players, it appears that instability may be a factor in overuse injury. As with throwing sports, golfing requires substantial lower body contribution to the development of a powerful swing. The lower body and pelvis rotate ahead of the upper body during acceleration. For the forward swing, the main muscle activation is the latissimus dorsi, with assistance from the pectoralis major and rotator cuff.