Pain in the fingers during a round?

[J9293]

Ouch! Anyone else get this?

Hello,

I am new to this forum and have learned a lot from everyone out there - this is truly a great community for golfers.

I play 1 round a week and hit up the range at least once a week. As the season progressed I have been developing pain in my left hand (I am a righty like 95% of golfers). When I play, the first few holes are o.k but when hole 8 or 9 comes around the pain gets quite bad. It has got so bad that I would lay off golf completely for a week or 2 and the pain would go away only to return the next round I play.

To be more specific my left pinky, ring and middle finger hurt to the point where I have trouble closing and opening my left hand. I would say the the pain is more in the tendons and ligaments rather than the than the muslces in the fingers. I use an interlocking grip btw so those 3 fingers + thumb are my main contact points on my left hand when I grip a club.

I am 23 years old and in good shape. I doubt it is arthritis or anything (I hope). I don't have this problem in my right hand. If I go to the doctor they will probably say lay off the golf for a while. Since I am part of a golf forum we all know I cannot do this!

Any input would be appreciated!

[sshadow2]

Welcome to the forum!!

It's due to the fact that you are primarily gripping the club too tightly, and it's possible that the grips are too small for your hands. I've recently dealt with this and corrected both. I was surprised how lightly I could hold the club and still not have any issues with speed or slipping.

You can take it a step further and get less stiff shafts which is what I did but, I don't think this isn't necessary for everyone. I relieves some of the feedback you get from the shaft which make the club go easier on your fingers.

From my experience:

It's not arithritis in this case (if you and I are similar -- I'm 32) but I suspect you are hurting the tendons in your finger joints. That's what it felt like with me -- like my hand was always stiff, and my middle finger wanted to bend on a curve when I made a fist.

Also in my case, my grip became tighter the more tense my arms were. At the time, I was really focusing on keeping my left arm straight in the backswing, and keeping my hands in front from my body. I wanted the most power possible and in trying to stay connected, everything went tight.

Now, by swinging within myself (swinging as fast as I can without using strength and tension, and losing balance and tempo), not only has the pain stopped, but my swing became more repeatable.

I took about 4 days between range sessions/rounds to let my hands rest until I was able to regularly keep my hands soft. When home, I slowly swung the club with an even lighter grip and used the time to work on technique. I'm still working on it, but yesterday was the first full range session I had using only driver and 4 wood and left without any pain.

One unfortunate truth is that it will take a while to completely healed (weeks), but if you can get your hands to relax (a fav analogy in golf circles is gripping the club as tightly as you would grip a bird in your hands), and not try to swing really hard, you should still be able to play golf. And play without making the problem worse.

[retexan599]

My situation is different in that I do have arthritis in my fingers (age 72). However, what I do to help:
[list=1]
I use a reverse overlap grip -- index finger of left hand in between little and ring fingers of right hand.
oversized grips so I do not have to hold so tightly.
graphite shafts to lessen the vibration impact.
2 tylenol plus 2 ibuprofen at about hole #8.
[/list]

[Zorblack]

I did this a few weeks ago (age 29) and I know it was because I was death gripping the club.

You need to do extremely light practice and no full impact golf for at least a week. It's a real injury.

[J9293]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I think I may be gripping the club too tightly. I like the bird analogy too. I am going to try one of those gripmaster hand exerciser things to strengthen my hand.