This is part II of a three-part series Bamberger In short series that explores different aspects of a phrase that no golfer wants to say, but most golfers will eventually: I can’t play today – my back is out. This series draws excerpts and insights from a recent GOLF.com interview with Dr. Tom LaFountain, PGA Tour director of chiropractic services, who for the past 27 years and counting has seen some of the most famous backs in golf up close and personal.
Part I: Explosive Swings + Explosive Bags = Explosive Backs
It comes tomorrow. . . Part III: Your Back, Your Choice
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Justin Thomas didn’t make it The first tournament starts this year until early March, at Bay Hill. That’s because last November he underwent a microdiscectomy procedure to relieve pain caused by a damaged disc in his lower back. If you know this surgical term, it may be because Tiger Woods has had four microdiscectomies since 2014. micro part can make it sound like a cute little you’re in, you’re out of the procedure.
Thomas did not play for 10 weeks. There are no Silly Season events. No. DATE. No West Coast Signature event. Dr. Tom LaFountain, PGA Tour director of chiropractic services, was not surprised to see Thomas, a two-time PGA Championship winner and who has logged many rounds with Tiger Woods, so overlooked, because he is not surprised when any player placed on IL with back problems.
Rory McIlroy withdrew from Arnold Palmer’s invitation after a round of backstabbing. When he played the following week in The Players Championship, he was not his normal self. Collin Morikawa did the same in the first round of the Players Championship, courtesy of a practice swing. You could see Morikawa putting his hands on his back and clearly writhing in pain. No player would fake such an injury, not when you’re playing for a $4.5 million first-place check. But when you have the Masters coming up in April, the PGA Championship in May, the US Open in June and the British Open in July, you’re more than willing to give up a week to improve your chances of being ready for golf’s four most prestigious events.
“You can see a really fit, strong, thin player like Collin and think, ‘Oh, nothing’s going to happen to him,’ but you never really know,” LaFountain said in a recent interview. “You don’t know what the player’s back strength is like. You don’t know what their strength and flexibility training is like. And you don’t know about their genetics, their family history of back problems. Did mom or dad have bad backs? Because that’s a major factor.
“The guys are going to see pictures of John Daly,” LaFountain continued. “He’s very overweight. He eats everything, he has serious health problems, but his back is fine. And they say, ‘Why me and not him?'” Genetics is a big component.
Thomas underwent microdiscectomy surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. According to the HSS website, the surgery involves “removing the fragment of herniated disc tissue that is causing the patient’s symptoms. Because most patients will recover from a herniated disc without surgery, microdiscectomy is recommended only after conservative treatment, including physical therapy, cortisone, and other medications, have been tried for a period of at least six to 12 weeks without relief.”
On the HSS website, among other places, you’ll see the operation described as “minimally invasive.” In other words, it is not a heart transplant operation. But LaFountain makes the following observation: “Any time you’ve had surgery, you’re cut, your body isn’t the same afterwards. You have a different body. You’re going to have to make adjustments. Players want to be 100 percent the same. That’s not going to happen. Surgeries have never been better, but you still change normal tissue mechanics.”
If you accept this as an essential and logical truth, No. the professional golfer will sometimes treat each operation as something random. Thomas did what he did because he had no choice. Tiger Woods has said essentially the same thing after each of the seven known back surgeries over the years.
LaFountain says there’s another element contributing to back problems that’s been around forever but is more prevalent now, with modern equipment that allows the player to swing harder and harder: “These guys are athletes. They have egos. They don’t want to be left behind. They see another player do something to get an extra 10 yards, that’s what they’re going to do.”
LaFountain points out that Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, John Daly, Phil Mickelson all had incredibly long backswings with the driver in hand, so much so that the driver’s head, when they were at the height of their power, was below the belt line at the top of their backswings. In their downfalls, they had the loads time to build speed gradually. If anything, they were over the line at the top of their swings. That is, for the right-handed player, the axis points to first base.
Nobody rocks like that today. But with much shorter swings that are often left on top (right pointing toward third base), players are still able to generate amazing velocity, regardless of their body type. It’s hard to think of weak lefties Akshay Bhatia creating the same swing speed as the familiar lefty Phil Mickelsonwith his wide stance and big arms and legs and flexibility like Gumby, he once did. But he does.
Bhatia has found a way to keep up with the chesty Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka, with his defender’s build. If you watch Bhatia just before contact with the driver, his chest is towards the target and his hips are right there with them, his back is very arched and his head is about a foot closer to the ball than it was at address. His back leg is almost off the ground and he looks like he’s about to take a giant leap. Is he a candidate for back problems?
“They all are,” LaFountain says.
Mickelson was wearing heavy leather golf shoes that appeared to weigh about 30 pounds each. He was the most sedentary of golfers. He won a PGA Championship at age 50 and was virtually never overlooked.
But Tiger Woods didn’t move that way, and the elite players who approached him didn’t move that way. The tiger went DOWN after that golf ball, and at impact and immediately afterwards there was a violent northward strike. You have to see it in slow motion to really appreciate it, but it was there for all to see. He had all those surgeries, of course — but also $120 million in tournament earnings, the lion’s share coming from his 82 PGA Tour wins.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com
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