is it better to be straight than longer?

[FLOG4]

If you look at the guys who have won the long drive championship the past 10 years they tend to be guys who are jacked.  Sadlowsky may only be 5'11" and 175ish at this point but he is still quite young. And jacked for his size.  Zuback is a beast and Sean "The Beast" Fister....the guys knocking it way out on tour are all big guys....Johnson, Woodford, Watson, Garrigus.....The golfer of the future on tour is destined to be a bigger stronger athlete.  If you lookk at the developement of baseball over the past few decades, the average player is bigger and stronger.  I believe the "Tiger Factor" has brought athletes toward golf for the first time and they are now just starting to appear.

On a personal level I have a buddy who was a very average hitter in HS and College.  He gave up the game for about 7 years. He became a power lifter.  He was pretty dedicated to his power lifting and improved quite a bit...Fast forward a couple years and he becomes involved in marketing at a corporate level and goes back to golf after not playing for 7 years. Using the same clubs he had he goes out and he is driving the ball 350....Not 350 every now and then, but 350 like every swing.  He is absolutely flaborgasted by the distances he was generating with every club...This guy plays out of a nice club in CT and the club he is at has stories of him.  He has driven 4 par 4's on the course that are thought to have never been driven by anyone else.  All are 375 to 410.

It's about swing speed. Natural abilities set the basic tone[decent swing pattern repetitiveness]. Limberness adds a 2nd gear.  Quick twitch muscle developement is the 3rd gear and pure power may be the 4th.  Slam all that stuff together in a repeating pattern and look out.

This is a specific case study that goes against the logic of not everyone can hit it as far as Bubba.  If you start early enough, whilst still limber and developing muscle mass this guy went from 250 tops to 400 every now and then. 6' 210 guy. But pure dedication. This guy lifted like a maniac for 5 years. And a decade past his brutal prime long driving he still knocks em past just about everybody.....and still pops 350 a few times a round.

[FLOG4]

http://www.golf.com/golf/video/article/0,28224,2023121,00.html

A clip showing Sadlowski pound a few.

[Deryck Griffith]

Quote:

http://www.golf.com/golf/video/article/0,28224,2023121,00.html

A clip showing Sadlowski pound a few.

Absolutely incredible....

[jshots]

Originally Posted by FLOG4

If you look at the guys who have won the long drive championship the past 10 years they tend to be guys who are jacked.  Sadlowsky may only be 5'11" and 175ish at this point but he is still quite young. And jacked for his size.  Zuback is a beast and Sean "The Beast" Fister....the guys knocking it way out on tour are all big guys....Johnson, Woodford, Watson, Garrigus.....The golfer of the future on tour is destined to be a bigger stronger athlete.  If you lookk at the developement of baseball over the past few decades, the average player is bigger and stronger.  I believe the "Tiger Factor" has brought athletes toward golf for the first time and they are now just starting to appear.

On a personal level I have a buddy who was a very average hitter in HS and College.  He gave up the game for about 7 years. He became a power lifter.  He was pretty dedicated to his power lifting and improved quite a bit...Fast forward a couple years and he becomes involved in marketing at a corporate level and goes back to golf after not playing for 7 years. Using the same clubs he had he goes out and he is driving the ball 350....Not 350 every now and then, but 350 like every swing.  He is absolutely flaborgasted by the distances he was generating with every club...This guy plays out of a nice club in CT and the club he is at has stories of him.  He has driven 4 par 4's on the course that are thought to have never been driven by anyone else.  All are 375 to 410.

It's about swing speed. Natural abilities set the basic tone[decent swing pattern repetitiveness]. Limberness adds a 2nd gear.  Quick twitch muscle developement is the 3rd gear and pure power may be the 4th.  Slam all that stuff together in a repeating pattern and look out.

This is a specific case study that goes against the logic of not everyone can hit it as far as Bubba.  If you start early enough, whilst still limber and developing muscle mass this guy went from 250 tops to 400 every now and then. 6' 210 guy. But pure dedication. This guy lifted like a maniac for 5 years. And a decade past his brutal prime long driving he still knocks em past just about everybody.....and still pops 350 a few times a round.

Sort of what I think too. I think the people who disagree are only thinking about cases where the average joe is trying to gain some strength... of course hes not going to hit the ball much further because he never actually REALLY trains.

[LankyLefty]

Yup if we just lifted weights we could all be pitchers and long drive champs.... wish I knew that before I got into IT.

[trackster]

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

Yup if we just lifted weights we could all be pitchers and long drive champs.... wish I knew that before I got into IT.

This is just stupid.  No one has presented this as fact.  I (and quite a few others) have said that an increase in strength through lifting will increase YOUR hitting distance.  YOUR is the key word. I have not said you will hit it farther than some one else, I have not said you will drive 300 yards, I have not said that you will be a long drive champ.  I have said that you will see an increase in your hitting distance.

Also I like how people laugh at the simplicity of lifting weights.  Actually move some real iron and report back to me.  15 minutes with the Ol' shake weight won't get it done.

[x129]

Golfers need to gain power not strength. The training is slightly different. The right muscles also need to be targeted. Getting huge biceps or a monster bench really isn't going to help your swing. In many ways golf is 20+ years behind other sports. Back in the 70/80s you would still hear people question the benefits of weight and power training for sports like baseball, basketball and even hockey. By the 90s pretty much everyone in those sports were hitting the gym on a regular basis. Golf has started that transition and I expect in a little bit it will be shocking to hear about PGA pros that don't hit the gym on a regular basis. It definitely isn't magic that will turn a 30+ handicaper into scratch golfer. But it will make pretty much any golfer better.

Originally Posted by jshots

Sort of what I think too. I think the people who disagree are only thinking about cases where the average joe is trying to gain some strength... of course hes not going to hit the ball much further because he never actually REALLY trains.

[Leftygolfer]

I agree a tiny bit about working out and hitting it longer.  But the problem is if you don't play for a living, have a job, you really can't have a bunch of hobbies.  Playing well isn't about hitting it as far as possible, it is about playing consistantly, recovering.  Hitting it long is a big advantage for sure.  But in the world I live in with a family some  have to choose.  Do I want to work out really hard and not play as much golf (probably should have done this as my play has been bad) or play/practice more.  I'd bet that people who can really play play alot.  I'd venture if your playing to a 5, your probably playing/practicing 4 days a week.  I don't like waking up at 5 in the morning to workout, I like to sleep.  My family needs me around a little bit.  I can't just go to the gym and then the range everyday after work.  That is why I believe in the real world playing more is much more benifical to playing well than having a gym routine.

In the winter I workout and focus on fitness.  I've gotten results in the gym but I can't say I have personally seen that big of an improvement in my golf game.  In the summer I play golf and try to get in the gym twice a week for an hour just to keep from regressing.