Michelle Wie SF Gate article is so poignant

[gregsandiego]

Michelle Wie misses cut at Women’s Open; Sung Hyun Park leads

I read this and  felt so bad for her. Especially this line:

In women’s golf, players tend to peak early and practice endlessly. To bend an old Yogi Berra quote, maybe they get old young.

http://www.sfgate.com/sports/ostler/article/Michelle-Wie-misses-cut-at-Women-s-Open-Sung-8349410.php

 

[iacas]

I think the issue is two-fold:

• Injuries.
• Leadbetter.

Two-fold, but not necessarily unrelated. (Not necessarily related either.)

And that sucks, too, because a dominant or at least good Michelle Wie is good for women's golf.

[gregsandiego]

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

I think the issue is two-fold:

• Injuries.
• Leadbetter.

Two-fold, but not necessarily unrelated. (Not necessarily related either.)

And that sucks, too, because a dominant or at least good Michelle Wie is good for women's golf.

I didn't know who Leadbetter was until you posted this. He apparently coaches both Wie and Lydia Ko.

You think he is bad for Wie?

[70sSanO]

I always thought there was a mental side of her game that needed to be addressed, regardless of the injuries.  Once a solid swing is developed, a swing coach can't help you if you can't execute under pressure.  The coach can even be counter-productive if what is broken is the mental approach to the game.

Somehow she needs to get past the golfing world's expectations that have been placed on her a decade ago.

John

[gregsandiego]

44 minutes ago, 70sSanO said:

I always thought there was a mental side of her game that needed to be addressed, regardless of the injuries.  Once a solid swing is developed, a swing coach can't help you if you can't execute under pressure.  The coach can even be counter-productive if what is broken is the mental approach to the game.

Somehow she needs to get past the golfing world's expectations that have been placed on her a decade ago.

John

If you can figure out how to execute under pressure, let us all know

[MrDC]

She should be making a swing coach change, but chances are she doesn't care to be told how to swing at this point, Leadbetter has all but said she doesn't really listen to him much, so I don't think he's the problem.

Looking at the women's game these days being so dominated my teenagers she may be thinking it's futile to get too crazy about her swing and just ride out her career, maybe grab another win or two before it's over, but not worry too much and try to overhaul her swing at this point.

Edited July 12, 2016 by MrDC

[Yukari]

IMHO - Biggest problems by far were Leadbetter and her parents. 

Too bad she had a such a wonderful talent. 

[iacas]

47 minutes ago, MrDC said:

She should be making a swing coach change, but chances are she doesn't care to be told how to swing at this point, Leadbetter has all but said she doesn't really listen to him much, so I don't think he's the problem.

That's only if you believe Leadbetter, which… few seem to do.

[Groucho Valentine]

I know somebody who used to work in Wie's management team. I won't mention names, but Ill paraphrase most of what the person said about her over the years. Its is pretty biting and i felt like this person might have had personal issues with Wie, which could mean theres some exaggeration going on.

This person told me that Wie more or less hates the game. Always has. She's had injuries and can have self esteem issues at times, but the fact she hates golf is the root problem. She has to be practically forced to practice by her personal assistants from IMG. This person believes the only reason she continues with the game at all is sponsor commitments and because it is the vechile that provides her with lifestyle and celebrity -  which she does love.  She's also chronically insecure about her height, apparently. Which i thought was weird... 

But when she won the US Open, this person said it was like letting the air out of a balloon. Any motivation for the game she had left disappeared the moment she woke up the next morning. She's just playing out the string until her sponsor commitments expire, in this persons opinion. Then she'll likely never play the game again. 

[DrvFrShow]

Michelle is 6' 3", but lists herself at 6' 1". Average height for Korean women is 5' 3". Tall women receive an inordinate amount of bullying in school. It is very difficult to find clothes that fit, and shoes that fit. Going out with the girls means getting asked to dance by a guy and you stand up and the guy is 6" shorter and that's your dance for the night. I'm tall, and I understand her height insecurity. She needs to say "f*** 'em" but she's too nice a person.

I can't blame Leadbetter. He's been successful with Lydia Ko and a number of other players on the LPGA tour. 

Quote

From article by Randall Mell 4/27/16:  Leadbetter believes Wie’s short, tightly coiled swing led to her hip, knee and ankle injuries last year, and while he isn’t saying her neck spasms are related, he still sees her putting stress on her body with her swing in ways that worry him. At this year’s start, Leadbetter delivered Wie a “tough-love message,” asking her to quit relentlessly tinkering with her swing and to commit to sticking with a more free flowing motion, with a bigger hip turn that would promote a more rhythmic tempo. Wie likes to restrict her hips and tightly coil around them. Leadbetter is still seeing more of that this year than he likes.

“Overall, her swing is more nice and full,” Leadbetter said. “She doesn’t have these short punches going, but she’s still tinkering a little bit more than I would like. We’ve been trying to get her natural and flowing, but Michelle has her own ideas about how things should be done. She is a very determined, single-minded person. Some of the things, I’m not in total agreement with, but in the end she has to make the decision. Again, I do like the fact that she’s back to a full swing.”

What concerns Leadbetter is how Wie is still coiling so hard around a restricted hip turn.

“I would like to see more lower body movement,” Leadbetter said. “It’s amazing she can swing it back as far as she does with that limited amount of hip rotation. The hip movement gives you your rhythm, your flow and alleviates any tendency to have lower body injuries.

“In her youth, Michelle had the ability to have a full windup with zero hip turn. You look at players today, and for the most part, there is a 45-degree hip rotation. Michelle has about a 15-degree hip rotation.”

Sound like Michelle is trying to do things her body doesn't want to do anymore. She pushed her body hard when she was very young. She probably doesn't like to practice a lot because it hurts. She may be only 26 but has the body of a 40 yr old. The year she won the US Open she was taped up.

[No Mulligans]

Michelle Wie over the hill?  She never climbed the hill.

The article stated Wei has only 4 LPGA wins.  Her superstar status certainly isn't based on her performance on the tour.  I believe it has more to do with her being a child prodigy and her athletic good looks.  She became a media darling and the biggest name in the sport at an early age, probably more name recognition than Annika Sorenstamn while Annika was still winning.  And Annika has 10 major titles and 62 other wins on the LPGA. Annika climbed the hill and so has Lydia Ko for that matter.

The expectations were just set too high for Michelle Wie, she never should have been considered a superstar.

[natureboy]

2 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

Going out with the girls means getting asked to dance by a guy and you stand up and the guy is 6" shorter and that's your dance for the night.

Sound like Michelle is trying to do things her body doesn't want to do anymore. She pushed her body hard when she was very young. She probably doesn't like to practice a lot because it hurts. She may be only 26 but has the body of a 40 yr old. The year she won the US Open she was taped up.

So was the dance good? Was the guy nice / presentable / attractive? If she is emotionally incapable of finding a shorter man attractive, she better start hanging around Steph Curry so she can meet an NBA guy who's into golf. 

I have to say I think Michelle has a lovely, statuesque figure but looks to me like she doe not do much in the way of cross-training. Her legs are long but not particularly defined / muscular compared to a lot of fellow pros. She seems a bit young to be developing so many injuries and would be smart to copy Rory's approach to non-golf physical training at least a little to stave off injuries.

[DrvFrShow]

44 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

Michelle Wie over the hill?  She never climbed the hill.

The article stated Wei has only 4 LPGA wins.  Her superstar status certainly isn't based on her performance on the tour.  I believe it has more to do with her being a child prodigy and her athletic good looks.  She became a media darling and the biggest name in the sport at an early age, probably more name recognition than Annika Sorenstamn while Annika was still winning.  And Annika has 10 major titles and 62 other wins on the LPGA. Annika climbed the hill and so has Lydia Ko for that matter.

The expectations were just set too high for Michelle Wie, she never should have been considered a superstar.

Of course it had to do with her being a prodigy. It had everything to do with that. This is why when you're 16 years old and offered $10 million to turn professional, you take the money. If you're 14 years old and offered $10 million, you take the money. You always take the money. You can always go back and get an education later. The money offer won't always be there. 

In 2007 Forbes reported that she earned $19 million annually mostly from her sponsors despite her poor performances. Can you imagine if she turned down her initial signing and waited a few years to complete her education then went on to have the career she had? 

[Gunther]

50 minutes ago, natureboy said:

So was the dance good? Was the guy nice / presentable / attractive? If she is emotionally incapable of finding a shorter man attractive, she better start hanging around Steph Curry so she can meet an NBA guy who's into golf. 

I have to say I think Michelle has a lovely, statuesque figure but looks to me like she doe not do much in the way of cross-training. Her legs are long but not particularly defined / muscular compared to a lot of fellow pros. She seems a bit young to be developing so many injuries and would be smart to copy Rory's approach to non-golf physical training at least a little to stave off injuries.

I follow her on Twitter and once in awhile she sends some vids of her workouts.  Very intense and definitely diverse.  I doubt many on tour are as fit as Michelle.

Also, I'm not sure where @DrvFrShow got the stat that she's 6'3".  I've been pretty close to her and I'd guess 6'1" with shoes, so probably 6'0".  I have a pretty good eye given that my daughter is 6'2", but I could be wrong.  It would surprise me but who knows for sure?

I'm a big fan, she's really the only one on that tour who moves the needle, at least for me.  If she's in contention, I'm watching, if not, I probably won't.  So, I sure hope she finds some form, but I've been wishing that for 5 years.

[mcanadiens]

Four titles, one of which was a major, hardly seems like a failure to me.

The hype machine that began when she was so young may have built expectations too high, but there are much larger busts in sports history than Wie.

[DrvFrShow]

Wie is having a lot of trouble this season, and I'd look at the physical side first. If she's had back, hip, and knee problems those don't just go away. So And from what I've read about her she has a strong personality - i.e. stubborn. I can relate to that. She's no dummy either. She has a degree from Stanford in communications - look for her in the broadcast booth after her career is over . 

One of the pros up at the range who's seen both up close told me that both Thompson and Wie are taller than I am. I'm 6'1". Or at least I used to be. Maybe I'm 6'0" now.

[mchepp]

6 hours ago, iacas said:

That's only if you believe Leadbetter, which… few seem to do.

He also says this in the article. 

Quote

“When you’re smashing golf balls from 5 or 6 years old and your body is not really dialed in to do that, you probably at some stage down the road are going to suffer the consequences,” David Leadbetter, Wie’s long-time swing coach, recently told Golfweek.

He said Wie’s physical problems are a cautionary tale for young players. It is odd that Leadbetter would sound that alarm, considering that he runs a golf school that would seem to encourage specialization at a young age. Maybe he puts his students on a swing count, something Wie’s very-involved parents probably never did.

He is just full of excuses as to why she is struggling. She doesn't listen, she has hit too many practice balls, just excuse after excuse. A swing count? Come on.

When does he say what he is doing with her isn't working?

Ugh...

[natureboy]

1 hour ago, Gunther said:

I follow her on Twitter and once in awhile she sends some vids of her workouts.  Very intense and definitely diverse.  I doubt many on tour are as fit as Michelle.

I'm a big fan, she's really the only one on that tour who moves the needle, at least for me.  If she's in contention, I'm watching, if not, I probably won't.  So, I sure hope she finds some form, but I've been wishing that for 5 years.

I like her too, but she lacks definition in her legs IMHO relative to a lot of her competitors.

She had a run of form, but promptly lost it. Just look how she didn't maintain the putting setup (not fully horizontal) that she won with at Pinehurst.

1 hour ago, mcanadiens said:

Four titles, one of which was a major, hardly seems like a failure to me.

The hype machine that began when she was so young may have built expectations too high, but there are much larger busts in sports history than Wie.

I agree hardly a failure or bust except vs. hype. That's a good career and she's not done yet.