Golf asks more of a back than its reputation suggests. The swing is a fast rotation done with a bent spine, repeated dozens of times a round and hundreds on the range. For a golfer with a grumbling back, the load is worth understanding before it is worth worrying about.
What does a golf swing actually do to your lower back?
It twists it, at speed, while the spine is side-bent and the hips resist. The combination of rotation and lateral bend is the one the lumbar spine likes least, which is why the lower back is the most common place amateur golfers hurt.
Interestingly, the ball tells on you. Where the ball goes reveals what the club face and swing path did at impact, and Hail Ridge Golf explains golf's ball flight laws plainly: the same mechanics that send a ball left are the mechanics that loaded your back.
Why does hitting more range balls sometimes make a sore back worse?
Because volume is the load. A round is maybe fifty full swings spread over four hours of walking; a bucket of range balls is a hundred swings in forty minutes with no walk between them. The range is the higher dose, and the tired swing at the end of the bucket is the ugliest one.
Shorter sessions, more deliberate shots, and a warm-up that is more than two practice swings all reduce the bill.
When should a golfer stop practising and get a back looked at?
When the soreness pattern changes: pain during the swing rather than after it, pain into a leg, or a back that stops settling between rounds. A professional lesson and a physical check are both legitimate next moves.
The rules side of the game, handicaps and relief and all, is set by the R&A at randa.org.
For the week between rounds, starting exercise again covers the sensible rebuild.