I would make sure you can not do any permanent damage if you continue to play.
How did you hurt your shoulder?

Bob... In my opinion I think the damage was done during the winter from hitting off mats on a regular basis. I truly believe the impact of hitting the mat is a lot different than taking turf on a regular range. I think that in the future when I practice indoors on mats I will tee it up and avoid the impact with the mat.

I tore my rotator cuff last September so I had the winter to recover and be ready to play in May. You’ve done it right in the heart of golf season. That sucks.
I suggest getting to physio right away to help strengthen the shoulder and, this will be hard to swallow, take a break from swinging the clubs. Ice, rest, and physio did wonders for me. I’d say my shoulder is 98%. It still clicks and pops and I get the odd pinching sensation.
I wouldn’t risk injuring it more.
Speedy recover.

I would say stop now. You don't want to do more damage and have a long term health problem. Think of it as never being able to fully play golf again, that should give you some motivation to get better. Heal up and come back out next season strong!

Darius, you need to stop golfing now. Get a note from your doctor and submit to your club as most will credit you the difference of the remaining season toward next year's season/rates.

Then get yourself to physio and treatment where they can help repair the damage. The injury is like a curtain with a lot of crinkles and wrinkles and where the bottom of a curtain is off the ground where nothing is really lifting it up. Physio will help get rid of the wrinkles and then the crinkles and then get the "curtain" to hang straight again (over time). Take the time now and stop and you'll be like new sooner than you think.

Get well!

Sorry to hear the bad news Darius. In the past, I have experienced 2 rotator cuff tears in the same shoulder (left) and I am a right handed player. Painful and I tried to use anti-inflammatories to deal with it. But, at the end of the day, the best thing that I did was simply stop. You cannot continue to aggravate the rotator cuff without doing more damage -- and at our ages, it takes longer, becomes harder to recover from such injuries.

The other thing is to see a good physiotherapist -- you need good exercises to rebuild the muscles around the injured shoulder that can help prevent future injury of the rotator cuff.

Unfortunately, playing with the torn rotator cuff -- even for a short time, has led to scar tissue build up and has resulted in excessive tightness in the shoulder that inhibits my ability to achieve a higher shoulder turn on the backswing. My swing has become significantly flatter as a result and leads to more difficulty in my case to achieve optimal trajectory.

Sorry about the long-windedness Darius -- take care of your shoulder and try using this period of time off to focus on the physical fitness aspect of the game. It could prove to be beneficial for you in the years to come, allowing you many more years of playing good golf!

Thank you all for your honest and valuable input. It sounds like the overwhelming recommendation is to give the shoulder a rest and sufficient time to recover. Not sure if I have the brains to follow the great advice I got and pack it in for the balance of the season, but I will definitely cut back significantly. I have made big changes in that when I get restless (and my wife is tired of having me at home) I do go to the course to work on my putting. Generally I only take my putter with me to avoid any temptation of going to the range and hitting balls.
Crossing my fingers and hoping for a quick recovery !

Hi Darius,
I have been treating shoulders in golfers for 20 years. Its my thing. Range of motion before strengthening is essential.
Visit a TPI certified doctor, or I am happy to offline discuss your shoulder with you.
In the mean time visit the following link for stability exercises from Tom House, who had worked a great deal with TPI.
www.youtube.com/watch
I took these courses years ago and they are true gems.
Good Luck my friend.
James

I would be very careful with that type of injury Darius, I had a similar injury and it developed into a frozen shoulder very painful which took a year to recover. My advice would be to shut done the golf and get physio and keep your shoulder mobile with some simple slow exercises.

I tore 2 muscles in my rotator. Acupuncture helped greatly. I did try to play through it. Lucky for me it was my left shoulder. Acupuncture and some hot cupping (sounds weird, but affective) to get new blood moving changed my whole golf season. I was back taking full swings within 2 sessions over 2 weeks. Speaking from experience, it’s worth it.

It must be a minor minor tear, a couple of months is pretty optimistic considering your going to keep golfing.
Be sure you don't do more damage or you will find yourself needing surgery and needing almost a year for full recovery. You need to decide if the risk is worth it, good luck with your rehab and recovery

That youtube video exercise looks like it will help my shoulders; I had a "frozen shoulder" 2 years ago. Even with all the physio I ended up doing, none of the exercises were like that video. That will be part of my off-season regimen.

Apparently the tear is through the muscle and not across so that is why everyone feels it will heal with rest. My physio has helped a lot as the Physio Therapist started working on the sub scapula nerve which has pretty well eliminated the harsh burning pain. Now I just need to work on slowly getting my range of motion back. I am confident at this point that I will be back to a full swing and hitting balls deeper into the woods next season !

Hi Darius! I hope you’re recovering well and you’ve followed advice already given. I tore both rotator cuffs years ago when I used to work with racehorses. Fortunately I didn’t need surgery but I did need physiotherapy and had lots of exercises to do. You’ll heal up just fine if you behave and let it heal. Best of luck to you.