How many golf courses are in your community? More than 25 million people enjoy the game of golf in the United States, so chances are good your community has more than one.

Some areas of the country have dozens of courses. Florida boasts the largest number of golf courses per capita; Palm Beach County alone has more than 150 golf courses, public and private.

Each of those golf courses offers an opportunity to put on a golf-injury protection “clinic,” and in the course of your presentation, attract golfers to your practice.

Here is an outline and script of what you can talk about to those golfers.

1. Introduce yourself. Give your credentials.

Script: “I’m Dr. xxxx. I’m a chiropractor who has a special interest in sports medicine, especially golf injuries. As a golfer myself — or better put, a hacker — I’m aware of how easy it is to hurt yourself trying to get a 300-yard drive. So, what I’d like to do today is talk about how and why golf injuries occur, what you can do to help yourself prevent injury, and perhaps even give you some tips on improving your game.”

2. Golf injuries. Discuss how and why injuries occur.

Script: “As I said earlier, more than 25 million people enjoy golfing. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of them suffer from chronic pain — mostly back pain.

“It’s not difficult to understand why golfers incur back injuries. Most golfers are weekend hackers; they are not in prime condition like Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods. Weekend golfers have weak and underdeveloped core muscles.

“And, as you know, golf is a game of repetitive motions. It requires a repetitive, one-sided torquing of the spine. This is hard on the body. The problem is compounded in amateurs, because they notoriously use poor swing mechanics that cause a greater load or stress on the low back.

“Imagine going to the fitness center and working only one side of your body everyday for years and neglecting the opposite side. Golf tends to create this same type of imbalance.

“Many golfers contract their bodies into oddly twisted postures, and combine this motion with a bent-over stance, which they repeat 100 times during a time period of three or four hours. Needless to say, these golfers set themselves up for some type of injury.”

3. How injuries occur. Explain the physics of golf injuries.  

Script: “To make a proper swing, you need unrestricted joint motion in the spine and pelvis. If your joint motion is restricted, you will be unable to make a complete weight shift during the backswing.

“Think of your body as a machine that stores and uses energy. In physics, angular momentum can only exist through fixed axis rotation. Your axis is your spine.

“It is around the spine that your arms, hands, and golf club rotate. As the spine turns, the body creates a centrifugal motion for the club to follow. To allow this to happen, it is imperative to have a healthy, freely moveable spine, as well as proper muscle balance around the spine.

“To understand this better, imagine a spinning top. The top can move very fast if the axis remains constant. The top will not spin for any length of time, however, if the axis is not stable. Bump the axis, and the top falls over. The momentum is lost.

“Go to the driving range and watch golfers hit balls. What you will see is a lot of tops falling over. Professional golfers, on the other hand, use their bodies well and perform like a perfectly balanced spinning top.

“Golfers have been given faulty advice that not only has a bad effect on their golf shot; it has worse consequences on their back. That bad advice: Keep your head down.

“If your head kept popping up, keeping it down would be good advice. But in reality, proper swinging is a posture issue. It’s not a ‘head’ issue. When you keep your head down, you place your chin close to your chest, and this causes excessive curvature in your neck and upper back. 

“The body works best when the spine is in a neutral, athletic, and balanced position.

“In biomechanics, there is a term called hysteresis. It means if you repeatedly stretch a ligament or spinal-disc material to its limit, it will begin to deform and, eventually, start to tear. 

“If the body is not in the correct position to swing, hysteresis is much more likely to occur. You cannot optimize your performance if you have posture problems, flexibility issues, or muscle groups not performing correctly.

“Flexibility is obviously important in making a good golf swing. So is stability. I’m not talking specifically about balance when I mention stability. Rather, I’m talking about your bones being in the correct position in the lumbar spine.

“If you have a bone not in the correct position — that is, you have instability in the lumbar spine — you will have a mechanical, as well as a neurological, deficit. The brain does not like the spine to be unstable, and it will protect the spinal column at all costs. It protects it by stabilizing it.

“This is how it works: Every time you make a movement, the brain and motor system attempts to stabilize the spine by contracting the innermost core muscles.”

4. Preventing golf injuries. Discuss how to prevent injuries through proper conditioning, good posture, and warming up.

Script: “Good golf posture requires the secondary curves in the cervical and lumbar spine to be in lordosis — that is, to be somewhat swaybacked. This posture provides mechanical leverage for strength and facilitates your ability to rotate.

“If you have a collapse of the secondary curves, you get restricted spinal rotation. Then you tend to overswing, and overswinging leads to soft-tissue injuries.

“To prevent injuries, get into good condition. Prepare your core muscles. And work on flexibility.

“A flexible body is a golfer’s best friend. Warm up before you tee off. Warming up — stretching and making gentle swings to both sides of the body— allows muscles to function better and move over a greater range. Increasing your flexibility reduces chances of injury.”

5. How chiropractic helps your golf game. Explain how chiropractic positively affects an individual’s posture, flexibility, and rotation.

Script: As an athlete — even a weekend golfer — you know the benefit of getting into shape. Regular exercise and stretching will help improve your game.

“But something else can improve your game, too: Chiropractic care. Even if you are not in pain from a golf injury, you can benefit from chiropractic care, which improves posture, increases and improves flexibility, restores proper nerve function, and increases secondary curves to improve rotation. 

“Many people are bad about going to the doctor. They wait until they hurt, and then go to get out of pain. This is not the best way to take care of yourself. Pain is your body telling you something is wrong. Instead of waiting for something to go wrong, keep your body right.

“Professional golfers use chiropractic care on a regular basis. They get adjusted before they play. And, of course, they get adjusted after they play.”

6. Close with an offer. Provide golf-tip sheets (such as illustrated stretching exercises) and an offer for a free evaluation.

Script: “I know some of you already visit your chiropractor regularly. Others have never been to a chiropractor. Chiropractic can help improve your game by helping you improve your golf swing. On your way out, you’ll find some tips on improving your swing, along with an invitation to come by my office.”