PGA Career Destroyed On Practice Range

It’s Thursday afternoon, I’m listening to Jason Isbell, and it’s almost time for the LIVE Q&A at 2p CST. 

Ice Cube is gonna be proud because around 10p tonight, I’m gonna be singing “Today was a good day.” 

I was just going through the injury report in the NFL for fantasy football, and saw a number of injuries that I don’t think most guys could recover from. 

It reminded me of an email I sent about a cautionary tale we can all learn from: 

In the 1970s, the brightest young star on the PGA Tour was a golfer named Jerry Pate.  In 1976, at the ripe age of 22, he won the U.S. Open.   

He was a regular on the major leaderboards… 

Won the 1982 Players Championship at Sawgrass (his last win)… 

Leading up to the 1982 British Open had eight career victories under his belt… 

And had one of the most beautiful and clean swings you’d ever want to see. 

So what happened to Jerry? 

At the 1982 British Open, he tore the cartilage in his shoulder by hitting some impromptu 1-irons without properly warming up and was never the same. 

He continued to play until his first surgery in 1985, then finished the job soon after tearing his rotator cuff, requiring two more surgeries.  

When talking about his lack of preparation, he said, “It was the long, slow death of my career.” 

It’s a sobering story of what-could-have-been. 

But you know what? 

These stories don’t just happen to PGA Tour players.  They happen to golfers of all ages, abilities and fitness. 

As a Physical Therapist, I see them, and have watched golfers go from perfectly healthy one day…to 6, 8, 12 months of painful therapy to recover (unfortunately, not always to 100%).   

This is why I’m so passionate about strength training. 

It’s also why our 18STRONG Membership App includes four pre-round Warm-Up Routines for you, depending on how much time you have. 

Here is the link to check out the app: 18STRONG.com/app 

Your #1 Fan, 

Jeff Pelizzaro 

PS – In 2003, Jerry Pate made a comeback on the Champions Tour and won twice:) 

Click Here to check out the Warm-Up Routines in the app.