Nalajr
Member
Hey all,
I need some help and/or advice from you all, if you don't mind. I am 54 and was never a good golfer, but I loved the game. Unfortunately I was born with an AutoImmune disease in my spine, Ankylosing Spondylitis. It's a disease that effects young men and symptoms present in the early 20's. It's a degenerative disease that causes your body to attack the discs in the spine or the hips. The vast majority of patients have the hips effected and only a small percentage have the spine afflicted. Guess I was one of the unlucky ones. As the disease progresses it will, for lack of better wording and descriptors, attack the discs and steadily destroy them, leaving you with no discs in your spinal column at all. That's where I am. I have lost about 4 inches of height since finishing high school until the disease finished it's mission to eat away my discs.
As you can imagine, I have ZERO flexibility. I cannot look up...at all. I can turn my head side to side, but not as much as you guys and gals can. I thought about it for a while and decided that I didn't want to let this thing take the game I loved away from me as it has done with so many other facets of my life. I figured that if I was ever going to play golf again, I had to get started now. If I put it off any longer, I'll be 60 and wondering where the last 6 years went.
Its been over 10 years since I played golf. I hit some balls a couple years ago and got so discouraged that I left the range extremely down in the dumps. This disease, and the lack of physical activity that comes with it, has taken a good bit of my strength away from me. As you can imagine, I don't have much movement in my lower body when I swing so any kind of repeatable swing I will be able to come up with will be mainly with my arms. The advice that we all are given to try and get your belt buckle to point at the target in your follow through, is likely not possible for me. I'm not going to say it would be impossible for me to do that, but it would be difficult. What I need is to get some basic exercises that I can do with resistance bands that will strengthen my arms and enable me to gain club head speed. The problem is that I don't know which ones to do. I'm hoping you all can give me some advice and instruction on how I can get stronger with the goal of being able to swing the club better, quicker and more efficiently. That's going to be the only way I can ever hope to play golf again. I want to aim for a club head speed of 85 mph. I figure I'm at about 67-68 right now, maybe a tad higher, but not much.
SO..if you all don't mind, and you want to help someone that will really appreciate it, please give me some strengthening exercises that I can and should do on a daily or every other day basis. I'm in Houston so I won't have to worry about colder weather and I'll be able to hit balls anytime I want..if I can get stronger. I'd love to get to 85 mph by Halloween. That might be overly optimistic, but it's a goal that I want to reach for.
If there are any questions, feel free to PM me or post them and I'll answer as best I can.
Lastly....this disease is passed on so pay attention to your sons guys and gals. If he's in his late teens or early 20's and starts complaining of back or hip pain and it just seems to hang around and nothing really helps it, take your son to get a blood test that can tell you if he's got it. Believe me, it'll be the greatest thing you'll do for your son. Things are so much better now that we have modern biologics to combat this disease. It's possible now to keep the disease from ever making it to where I'm at, with a totally fused spinal column, or needing a total hip replacement.
Thank you all for your time and any help you care to give me.
Have a great Sunday.
Larry
P.S. I'm not thinking about clubs or gear right now. I need to get stronger first, then I'll start looking at clubs when it's evident that I'm going to be able to play again.
I need some help and/or advice from you all, if you don't mind. I am 54 and was never a good golfer, but I loved the game. Unfortunately I was born with an AutoImmune disease in my spine, Ankylosing Spondylitis. It's a disease that effects young men and symptoms present in the early 20's. It's a degenerative disease that causes your body to attack the discs in the spine or the hips. The vast majority of patients have the hips effected and only a small percentage have the spine afflicted. Guess I was one of the unlucky ones. As the disease progresses it will, for lack of better wording and descriptors, attack the discs and steadily destroy them, leaving you with no discs in your spinal column at all. That's where I am. I have lost about 4 inches of height since finishing high school until the disease finished it's mission to eat away my discs.
As you can imagine, I have ZERO flexibility. I cannot look up...at all. I can turn my head side to side, but not as much as you guys and gals can. I thought about it for a while and decided that I didn't want to let this thing take the game I loved away from me as it has done with so many other facets of my life. I figured that if I was ever going to play golf again, I had to get started now. If I put it off any longer, I'll be 60 and wondering where the last 6 years went.
Its been over 10 years since I played golf. I hit some balls a couple years ago and got so discouraged that I left the range extremely down in the dumps. This disease, and the lack of physical activity that comes with it, has taken a good bit of my strength away from me. As you can imagine, I don't have much movement in my lower body when I swing so any kind of repeatable swing I will be able to come up with will be mainly with my arms. The advice that we all are given to try and get your belt buckle to point at the target in your follow through, is likely not possible for me. I'm not going to say it would be impossible for me to do that, but it would be difficult. What I need is to get some basic exercises that I can do with resistance bands that will strengthen my arms and enable me to gain club head speed. The problem is that I don't know which ones to do. I'm hoping you all can give me some advice and instruction on how I can get stronger with the goal of being able to swing the club better, quicker and more efficiently. That's going to be the only way I can ever hope to play golf again. I want to aim for a club head speed of 85 mph. I figure I'm at about 67-68 right now, maybe a tad higher, but not much.
SO..if you all don't mind, and you want to help someone that will really appreciate it, please give me some strengthening exercises that I can and should do on a daily or every other day basis. I'm in Houston so I won't have to worry about colder weather and I'll be able to hit balls anytime I want..if I can get stronger. I'd love to get to 85 mph by Halloween. That might be overly optimistic, but it's a goal that I want to reach for.
If there are any questions, feel free to PM me or post them and I'll answer as best I can.
Lastly....this disease is passed on so pay attention to your sons guys and gals. If he's in his late teens or early 20's and starts complaining of back or hip pain and it just seems to hang around and nothing really helps it, take your son to get a blood test that can tell you if he's got it. Believe me, it'll be the greatest thing you'll do for your son. Things are so much better now that we have modern biologics to combat this disease. It's possible now to keep the disease from ever making it to where I'm at, with a totally fused spinal column, or needing a total hip replacement.
Thank you all for your time and any help you care to give me.
Have a great Sunday.
Larry
P.S. I'm not thinking about clubs or gear right now. I need to get stronger first, then I'll start looking at clubs when it's evident that I'm going to be able to play again.