Anyone dealt with a shot shape change after an injury?

[Fongle]

I hurt my back pretty badly towards the end of last year, herniated a disc in my spine and took the better part of 3 months to get fully healed again. Previously I'd been hitting a natural fade my entire golfing life since I was a kid, but since coming back I've been hitting a draw on my shorter clubs/approaching a pull hook on my longer clubs. I can adjust for it easily enough (Shoutout to the HackMotion for breaking down what's happening), weaken my grip a little and adjust my aim a touch right, and my dispersion ends up about the same, but it's a weird feeling after hitting a fade for the better part of 2 and a half decades and it feels weirdly unnatural to me to have to adjust on every shot and not just when I need the draw.

Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation?

[NCDuffer]

Sorry about the back.  I have three herniated discs and I have three different swings/setups based on what I can do with my hips.  I too hit a fade prior.  Some days I have a consistent straight pull and adjust aim which is really weird but gets things in line.  Some days I have to have my feet real wide and restrict hips and fade.  Some days I have to drop my right foot back and hope it’s going generally where it needs.  If I’m drawing it’s due to my hands and if I hook I’m trying to make up distance with my hands that I know I’ve lost with limiting my hip turns.  Play with ball position on the range.  For me it doesn’t take much to change direction and flight.  You might find a combo that fits your body’s new back induced swing.

[cnosil]

11 hours ago, Fongle said:

I hurt my back pretty badly towards the end of last year, herniated a disc in my spine and took the better part of 3 months to get fully healed again.

My guess is that you are making a compensation to help "protect" the injuries; basically a defense mechanism.   I know when I have had some injuries in the past and my body made compensations. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

My guess is that you are making a compensation to help "protect" the injuries; basically a defense mechanism.   I know when I have had some injuries in the past and my body made compensations. 

I agree and I’m guessing a very restricted move that has the swing pretty arm dominant and closing the face. So there will be lots of pulls, hooks or pull hook shots 

[Fongle]

5 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

I agree and I’m guessing a very restricted move that has the swing pretty arm dominant and closing the face. So there will be lots of pulls, hooks or pull hook shots 

Yeah, that's where it's confusing me, because the swing motion feels the same, it doesn't feel like I'm restricting or pulling back, my swing speed is the exact same as ever too. Going to record my swings front on tonight to try see if I'm just stalling my body and swinging very arms dominant or if I'm swinging out of sync all of a sudden 

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 hours ago, Fongle said:

Yeah, that's where it's confusing me, because the swing motion feels the same, it doesn't feel like I'm restricting or pulling back, my swing speed is the exact same as ever too. Going to record my swings front on tonight to try see if I'm just stalling my body and swinging very arms dominant or if I'm swinging out of sync all of a sudden 

Film both face on and down the line. There are things that can be seen better in one view over the other. 

[Wmyoungiv]

Like previous commentors mentioned. You are probably adjusting with your body for the injury. Everybody naturally compensates after injury and retraining the movement pattern is the hardest part of the job. Videoing is a great way to get some feedback. Also looking for an assessment from a knowledgable PT associated with golf is a good step. I find most back injuries are due to hip/pelvis restriction and overuse of the lower back. 

[Shapotomous]

I have had back issues in the past and sometimes it pops up again.  When it happens i get way too little lower body and way too much arms in my swing.  Hooks are the result for me.  Even if i am just stiff and not in pain the shot shape trends toward bad hooks with longer clubs and pulls with shorter clubs 

My on course correction is to really open my trail foot to make turning easier.  I also will slide my trail foot forward at impact like Scheffler to make the follow through turn easier.  It feels ugly but i am in scoring survival mode for that round.

A couple decades ago due to another injury to my elbow i had to rework my iron swing.  It had to be much shallower so i didnt take an acre of divots.  That took a few years to work through.  I had to adjust to lost height, distance and spin from my irons.  It was worth avoiding the pain though because i had got to the point of playing only a couple times per year.