This whole built like a linebacker thing.

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, saevel25 said:

It also depends on genetics as well. You can have two 6-4" 245 lbs guys look completely different. 

True this, and that gets back the linebacker thing.

Assuming they have the ability to play even college level football at a D3 level, does it help to be built like a linebacker or more of a track star type like Maurice Allen? He's only 5'8" and many 100m runners are about his size ranging from 5'8" to 5'11"?

I can honestly see a lot more people looking like Maurice than a typical linebacker?

[saevel25]

1 minute ago, Lihu said:

True this, and that gets back the linebacker thing.

Assuming they have the ability to play even college level football at a D3 level, does it help to be built like a linebacker or more of a track star type like Maurice Allen?

For football a linebacker, but that is a bit off-topic since this is about golfers who look like linebackers. You get a 230 lb running back coming at you, you probably want to be as big or bigger ;) 

 

[Lihu]

26 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

For football a linebacker, but that is a bit off-topic since this is about golfers who look like linebackers. You get a 230 lb running back coming at you, you probably want to be as big or bigger ;)

Sure, no question about that, but for golf where there is supposed to be no contact does it help?

[saevel25]

Just now, Lihu said:

Sure, no question about that, but for golf where there is supposed to be no contact does it help?

I have no clue. For amateurs, its not really worth talking about. For PGA Tour players, who knows. Having the same height and weight as a linebacker doesn't mean they are built like a linebacker. I doubt Vegas is built like a linebacker. 

[Lihu]

How about built like a baseball player? That probably makes more sense. . . Wes Patterson 6'2" (possibly with shoes on?) and a svelte 220 pounds.

[Buckeyebowman]

6 hours ago, Lihu said:

How about built like a baseball player? That probably makes more sense. . . Wes Patterson 6'2" (possibly with shoes on?) and a svelte 220 pounds.

Or Jose Altuve. He's 5'6" and 165! He hits for average and plenty of home runs for a man of his size. I think he compares to Justin Thomas.

I think pure strength is an advantage as long as you learn how to use it. We've all seen plenty of "sluggers" on the tee who can't play very well.

But then, I could hit the ball a lot farther back when I was young and strong instead of in my current state!

[billchao]

19 hours ago, Lihu said:

Are you sure having more muscle mass helps this sport? Seems like heavy arms could be an impediment?

I've never met any of the Long Drive pros in real life, but it seems there's a higher percentage of them who are more muscular than PGA Tour pros. I can't attest to how large they actually are, though, just on TV they look like they have bigger forearms, shoulders, pecs, etc.

Come to think of it, maybe bigger pecs will get in the way of my left arm in the backswing and I won't be able to overload PA4 

12 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Depends on how they exercise. You can be big and be very flexible. 

That's a common misconception, that big muscles are less flexible. Muscles that are trained are able to stretch more than muscles that aren't. Olympic weightlifters are very flexible.

Range of motion, on the other hand, can be limited if your muscles get in the way of each other. I had a friend in high school who powerlifted. He was 5'2" and could squat 500lbs past parallel, but he had to waddle when he walked because his thighs were so big they would hit each other as he took his stride.

[Alx]

On 11/12/2017 at 8:13 AM, Lihu said:

Are you sure having more muscle mass helps this sport? Seems like heavy arms could be an impediment?

For producing speed? Definitely. Speed is essentially refined strength so the cross sectional area of a muscle makes a big difference. Untrained individuals have greater variance in cross section vs strength.

Also keep in mind were not talking about going from Bubba to Arnold here. Theres a healthy middle point for optimal performance. Tour players just do not look like athletes(on average).

 

 

ps. Arms getting heavier has an insignificant effect on speed. If you think about how the arm works in the golf swing its basically a lever.

The mass is mainly built in the upper 40cm down from your shoulder. Forearm mass doesnt increase significantly. The added mass is at the end of such a short lever it doesnt really add resistance.

I dont think theres value in being bigger for the sake of being big. Added size comes as a byproduct.

[Lihu]

8 minutes ago, Alx said:

For producing speed? Definitely. Speed is essentially refined strength so the cross sectional area of a muscle makes a big difference. Untrained individuals have greater variance in cross section vs strength.

Also keep in mind were not talking about going from Bubba to Arnold here. Theres a healthy middle point for optimal performance. Tour players just do not look like athletes(on average).

 

 

ps. Arms getting heavier has an insignificant effect on speed. If you think about how the arm works in the golf swing its basically a lever.

The mass is mainly built in the upper 40cm down from your shoulder. Forearm mass doesnt increase significantly. The added mass is at the end of such a short lever it doesnt really add resistance.

I dont think theres value in being bigger for the sake of being big. Added size comes as a byproduct.

Interesting...

[iacas]

28 minutes ago, Alx said:

For producing speed? Definitely. Speed is essentially refined strength so the cross sectional area of a muscle makes a big difference. Untrained individuals have greater variance in cross section vs strength.

I'm not so sure about that. Some of the fastest guys aren't what you'd call "muscular" and strength is most often considered at very slow speeds.

Speed != strength, and muscles can be slowed down by bulking them up and developing them the wrong way.

Based on what things I've read, anyway.

[BaconNEggs]

3 hours ago, Alx said:

Also keep in mind were not talking about going from Bubba to Arnold here. Theres a healthy middle point for optimal performance. Tour players just do not look like athletes(on average).

Compared to what? 

The average professional soccer player is about 5'10-5'11. Weight typically falls in the healthy range for BMI given a height. Not all that much different from what a typical golfer looks like. Not saying that golfers are as fit or athletic as professional soccer players, but they still look relatively athletic to me.

Arnold doesn't look athletic. Most NFL QBs don't look athletic. 

Edited November 14, 2017 by BaconNEggs

[mdl]

On 11/11/2017 at 3:17 PM, saevel25 said:

NFL linebackers are around 10% body fat or lower. Even if his body fat percentage is low, that doesn't mean he has a linebacker type body. They specifically work out different body parts to be at the peak athletic ability for their position. 

I'm 100% with you on people don't understand what size actually is, and just see guys who are cut and don't understand that an NFL wide receiver (much less a linebacker) most of the time has 50 lbs on Rory and would just laugh at him on the way to cracking back on the linebacker who's a real threat.

But those linebackers ain't <10% body fat.  That's basically only body builders on competition day.  I'm embarrassed to say it, but I've watched a few youtube videos of body builder type guys doing the fancy body fat percentage thing, and dudes you think are ****ing jacked and lean come in at like 12-15%.  

[rehmwa]

On 12/11/2017 at 12:54 PM, Lihu said:

How about built like a baseball player?

You made me laugh out loud there - I was having morning tea also - it burns

 

 

IMO -

• I'm glad the players are emphasizing fitness more lately.  Especially if we want to take the activity seriously or even call it sport. 
• Announcers say a LOT of stupid things (we should start a list) - but if they take a bit of literary license in how they express their thoughts - that's their job, anyone taking any comment like that literally is really being a bit naive. 
• I like the euro commentators a lot more than the US ones - they let the game play more without nonsense.

Edited November 14, 2017 by rehmwa

[TN94z]

On 11/12/2017 at 8:18 PM, billchao said:

Range of motion, on the other hand, can be limited if your muscles get in the way of each other. I had a friend in high school who powerlifted. He was 5'2" and could squat 500lbs past parallel, but he had to waddle when he walked because his thighs were so big they would hit each other as he took his stride.

Yeah, but you can't take power lifters as an example though because power lifters could care less about flexibility. Being tight actually helps them lift more weight. I know guys that can squat 500 and their thighs are no where near that big, but they still aren't that flexible. And on the other hand, I know some "built" guys that are very flexible with no range of motion issues.

I believe that having a lot of lean muscle mass can greatly benefit a golfer. But being "built" and "big" are not necessarily going to be beneficial.

 

[Lihu]

32 minutes ago, rehmwa said:

You made me laugh out loud there - I was having morning tea also - it burns

 

 

IMO -

• I'm glad the players are emphasizing fitness more lately.  Especially if we want to take the activity seriously or even call it sport. 
• Announcers say a LOT of stupid things (we should start a list) - but if they take a bit of literary license in how they express their thoughts - that's their job, anyone taking any comment like that literally is really being a bit naive. 
• I like the euro commentators a lot more than the US ones - they let the game play more without nonsense.

Yeah, given that the commentator’s job is to fill the silence, I suppose we could be reading too much into “Built like a linebacker”.

[TN94z]

8 hours ago, mdl said:

 

But those linebackers ain't <10% body fat.  That's basically only body builders on competition day.  I'm embarrassed to say it, but I've watched a few youtube videos of body builder type guys doing the fancy body fat percentage thing, and dudes you think are ****ing jacked and lean come in at like 12-15%.  

Those bodybuilders can't be winning much then. Most bodybuilder shows I have been to and had friends in, you're going to have to be around the 3-5% range to do any good, unless you are in Men's physique. I know several guys that are jacked and walk around daily at 7-8%. You really don't even start seeing abs until around 12%, so just think about all of the guys you see with abs.

Edited November 14, 2017 by TN94z

[Lihu]

18 minutes ago, TN94z said:

Those bodybuilders can't be winning much then. Most bodybuilder shows I have been to and had friends in, you're going to have to be around the 3-5% range to do any good, unless you are in Men's physique. I know several guys that are jacked and walk around daily at 7-8%. You really don't even start seeing abs until around 12%, so just think about all of the guys you see with abs.

I see my ab every morning when I look at myself in the mirror, only I have a one-pack.

[Alx]

16 hours ago, iacas said:

I'm not so sure about that. Some of the fastest guys aren't what you'd call "muscular" and strength is most often considered at very slow speeds.

Speed != strength, and muscles can be slowed down by bulking them up and developing them the wrong way.

Based on what things I've read, anyway.

Take a look at practically any top level sprinter. Long drive guys? Javelin? 

Strength = speed potential. Speed athletes are not inherently going for size its just a byproduct of getting stronger and faster. If it was we would have meat balls like IFBB pros breaking records at everything speed related. The whole bulking up too much is pretty much a myth for natural athletes anyways.

"Developing muscles the wrong way" is a myth atleast for the part that it would be a permanent hindrance to performance.

 

12 hours ago, BaconNEggs said:

Compared to what? 

The average professional soccer player is about 5'10-5'11. Weight typically falls in the healthy range for BMI given a height. Not all that much different from what a typical golfer looks like. Not saying that golfers are as fit or athletic as professional soccer players, but they still look relatively athletic to me.

Arnold doesn't look athletic. Most NFL QBs don't look athletic. 

Compared to an average non gym trained human? Golf pros on average dont stand out as athletes based on their physique.

BMI is such a poor measurement when applied outside the general population. Top tier football players are in the 10% bf range while the general population sits at  around 20 on avg. A 170lb pro footballer and a 170lb avg joe have wildly different body comps.

 

To clarify:
Im not saying golfers need to be bigger for the sake of being big and jacked. All Im saying is pro golfers are leaving "free" performance on the table by having an avg Joes physique. Looking like an athlete is again just a byproduct not the the main goal.