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Back in the game Posted: Monday September 02, 2002 2:19 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer John Garrity was a 42-year-old 8-handicapper when he suddenly lost his swing. Since December 1989 he has been looking for it -- a modern-day Odysseus adrift on the troubled waters of swing theory. As Garrity travels the world reporting on golf, he visits as many driving ranges as he can, avoiding the dreaded "mats only" ranges that prevent him from teeing it up. Monday, Sept. 2 KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- I'm back. Or, rather, my back is back. My last entry, you may recall, ended with me heading out to Milburn Country Club for a long-overdue practice session. Sad to say, it only lasted 30 minutes. As I leaned over my golf bag to unzip the pocket in which I keep my caviar, a sharp pain suddenly ripped through my lower back. "Oh, god!" I yelled. "My spine is rent!" Since then, I have spent most of my waking hours in various supine positions, interrupted by the occasional duck-walk to the medicine chest for ibuprofen. My wife, who prefers a sleeping surface as firm as macadam, blames the pillow-top mattress we bought last year. ("I told you it was too soft. You don't listen.") My sportswriter friends console me with their own tales of lower-back distress brought on by cramped airplane seats and Torquemada-inspired press-room chairs. ("You're lucky. When my back went out, they had to use a block and tackle to remove me from a massage parlor in Shinjuku.") I, of course, know the real cause of my back troubles: that three-day Golf Digest school I attended 13 years ago in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The worst thing about back pain is that everybody gives you advice -- some tidbit they read in Back magazine or saw on the Back Channel. John Novosel , my tempo-teaching friend from Leawood, Kan., recommended some exotic pharmacological product that he could barely pronounce and told me to visit his back-alley chiropractor, who cures with the single magic touch of a cattle prod. David Henson , my old college roommate, told me to read a 19th-century bestseller, Quasimodo's Faults and Fixes. Jaime Diaz , the noted golf writer, said, "You're thinking too much. You've got to learn to trust your back." None of these nostrums will get me back on my feet. The way I see it, my technique is faulty. I've been walking around for years with my head tilted about four degrees to starboard and my hips shifted a little left, in homage to John Wayne . That way of walking inevitably stresses the back. From now on I'm going to walk more like ... well, like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Will my golf game be affected? I don't know. Yesterday afternoon I finally felt good enough to drive back out to Milburn for a few test swings. I practiced chipping for about 30 minutes before moving over to the range. I hit a few low-flying wedges with a tentative, chopping action. I then tried some half-shots with my 8-iron -- a few were successful -- before hitting some more wedges with a fuller swing. My back felt stiff, but there was no sharp pain. Afterward, I went home and read a few back issues of Sports Illustrated Golf Plus. "We really need to replace that mattress," my wife said. "Do it," I replied. "But don't get anything with a cement core." Watch this space for another installment of Mats Only. To send John Garrity advice, share your experiences, or suggest a driving range, click here.
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