VL...you are too cool....love your posts...and your fire. Not to discount Mr. Hogan's accident and his near death experience...but I see Tiger's career now being compared similar to Mr. Hogan's in terms of before and after his accident and Tiger pre- and post-surgery. It will be interesting to see how his swing evolves and like Mr.Hogan if Tiger becomes post-surgery even a better ball striker where distance will take a back seat to accuracy. Many years from now Tiger may be remembered more for his post surgery swing and his greater dominance on the Tour. I am expecting a more improved Tiger after surgery...as difficult as that is to imagine.
Great post, Vickie. I'm reading and learning. Thanks!
Anybody out there with an injury similar to (or, better yet, identical with) Tiger's? If so, do tell.
For the rest of us . . . post your thoughts!
Not only is this thread topical, it also can help us 'weekend warriors' avoid injury in the pursuit of our favorite sport.
For what its worth, I have a reconstructed ACL, right knee (target side knee as I am left handed). I had a completely torn ACL, 20+ years ago. Reconstructed Nov/06
I would have to say that the torn ACL had zero effect on my golf game. Either that or I had completely compensated without being aware of it. Certainly there was no pain. And as a younger adult, the muscles around the knee provided enough stability that the ACL tear was all but unnoticable.
Post ACL reconstruction, a bit of pain and discomfort but more from the trauma of the surgery rather than structural knee pain. I had a patellar tendon autograft - there is some residual pain when kneeling - and maybe some minor stiffness after walking 18 holes, carrying clubs. But in terms of golf....little to no impact. I can't even recall one instance of pain caused by a hard, awkward, or off balance swing.
Who knows what other damage is present in Tiger's knee. But in my opinion the ACL reconstruction will stabilize and pressumably reduce the risk of other complications.
Quite a few years ago, Tiger used to snap his left knee straight close to impact when he needed extre power. That was probably not the healthiest trick of the game ...
For regular shots with reasonable lie and stance, no problem, he can handle it.
For getting the ball out of a deep rough to the green with a not so good stance, that's where the problem arises.
Beware!!
Sorry and my best wishes to Tiger.
__________________ Yani Tseng, Go! Go! Go! Yani Tseng Did It Again! YOU load and sustain the "LAG", during which the "LAW" releases it, ideally beyond impact.
"Sustain (Yang/陽) the lag (Yin/陰)" is "the unification of Ying and Yang" (陰陽合一).
The "LAW" creates the "effect", which is the "motion" or "feel", with the "cause", which is the "intent" or "command".
"Lag" is the secret of golf, passion is the secret of life.
Think as a golfer, execute like a robot.
Rotate, twist, spin, turn. Bend the shaft.
Tiger Woods had reconstructive surgery on his left knee Tuesday in Utah to repair a torn ligament, and doctors said it was “highly unlikely” there would be any long-term effects.
Originally Posted by Tiger's doctors
There were no surprises during the procedure, and as we have said, with the proper rehabilitation and training, it is highly unlikely that Mr. Woods will have any long-term effects as it relates to his career.”
Let's hope so. I could do with a few more decades of his kind of golf!
If Tiger was not such a successful athlete and still so young he might choose to retire and leave the world guessing. But the Golf stars are shining brightly and I predict that we have a lot of good Tiger play ahead of us. Many ACL injuries are not surgically corrected if a sedentary lifestyle exhists. Likewise many people walk around with undiagnosed stress fractures with much pain and complaints that eventually dwindle when the fracture heals itself and the symptoms subside. I have sent no less than four people to their doctor before I started working with them because the pain they described and the history indicated that their whole body alignment had caused enough inappropriate tension that the associated bone suffered the consequences.
So here I will pick up my usual banter and suggest that Tiger's knee problems have not been isolated to that particular joint or his golf swing. I love TGM because it teaches the most geometrically accurate application of the golf form to the human anatomy. And still I know that if the golf stance is the only request you ever require of your body it will lose it's way back to proper (neutral) balance that allows the body to be at ease.
I know it might sound arrogant in light of the number of professional trainers available to the professional players but maintaining a balance of tension is about more than how heavy or how long you train. Over and Under training are all relavent to lifestyle, activity, individual anatomy, nutrition and recovery. So often we get so focused on training the muscles associated with our sport we forget that all of the other muscles must maintain a very specific and appropriate relationship or we are creating a well intended but risky imbalance.
I hope everyone will remember that your flexibility is a part of your strength training program. But unlike all of the other methods of exercise, flexibility is associated most specifically with the soft tissue that connects muscles to bones,called the tendons or ligaments that connect bone to bone. Improvements happen in millimeters and not in the large measurements that we can see and feel. With cardiovascular work we look at speed, distance, and terrain. In strength we are looking at pounds, and numers of repetitions and sets. In diet we are looking at calories, often too many. If you stop and think a little differently about the spine you will catch my drift. The spine is really a series of 27 joints that have about a 3 degree range of motion between each one. Even though the spine has an "S" curve the vertebrae are spaced perfectly parallel to one another. However, if the curve is held in a manner that alters the natural pathway, the vertebrae lose their perfect relationship. At some point this misalignment begins to send signals that we call pain to alert some attention to the problem. Too often we treat the symptom instead of finding out where the problem started.
Muscles function in an agonist and antagonist agreement. They have two primary functions, to contract for power and to elongate to offer an appropriate equal and opposite reaction for the movement being performed. Balance your workout so that the muscles all have the same strength so they will give you all the power you want with none of the impingements that cause grief.
Oops, was I talking Tiger? Somebody get us back on line.
There are questions about the timing of this incident with drug testing coming in...always a murky topic... one which Tiger would do well to silence by what might be seen as "out of season" testing right now.
There are always those that don't need any proof to start speculating before propagating malicious rumours. Its the same reason why they always root for the underdog - because they are the underdogs. They do not try to get better at whatever their endevour with any real conviction but when facing someone with that conviction they have nothing but a cold hate.
Of course it doesn't help matters that he is black. It's a double whammy. It particularly denotes the mild underhanded racism that occurs within the USA - basically it is an appeal to a stereotype - that because he is black he must be doing something illegal because blacks are all criminals in the mind of many white americans.
What amazes me is that everytime drug use/testing in golf comes up, Tiger's name isn't too far behind. Now, I'm not a Tiger Woods superfan, but think about this:
1. He's only 180-185, at 6 feet tall. That is not very big at all. I doubt he would have needed steroids to get to that size. I repeat, he's not big.
2. He's been lifting for at least 10 years. I would be really disappointed if he, with his drive and resources, didn't look like he does after 10+ years of lifting weights.
Tiger's physique stands out because of his peer group. Golfers, in general, don't tend to look like he does, although that's changing. If he were in a different sport besides golf, we'd be talking about his need to put on weight, rather that making him sound like some overly muscled freak of nature. He's only 20 pounds heavier than when he came on tour. I know that sporting news in the last 5 years or so has really been pounding us with the steroid issue, especially the American favorite pastime, but it's overboard to accuse any well-built individual of using pharmaceuticals to get there. Unfortunately, that's where we are at this stage.
TIGER’S TEST RUN
Tiger Woods is still a candidate for drug testing, even though he will not be competing the rest of the year. But he already knows what to expect, having gone through private testing.
“I’ve done it twice, actually,” Woods said.
Why did he require two tests?
Woods didn’t say when the tests were conducted, but both came back negative. After the first test was clean, he said he changed the brand of amino acid as part of his nutrition program, and wanted to make sure the change didn’t alter the results. He said the second test came back negative, too.
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