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Thread: Is Strength for Golf Finally a Real Thing?

  1. #11
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Le Comte View Post
    Tiger gained strength, but used it to be able to tough shots out of the rough etc rather than maximising swing speed.
    Many years ago, I used to read that Tiger was incredibly strong. He used to live in my little beach town in the L.A. area at the time and he trained at a small neighborhood gym that I went to (pre-SS for me). He did NOT train very hard for strength. He only used the machines and they were always set at low weights for high reps. NO barbell work. I used to smile when I saw articles about his great strength.

    His personal trainer was a gorgeous, young cutie who "provided encouragement". I know I too felt encouraged by osmosis.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by JFord View Post
    Many years ago, I used to read that Tiger was incredibly strong. He used to live in my little beach town in the L.A. area at the time and he trained at a small neighborhood gym that I went to (pre-SS for me). He did NOT train very hard for strength. He only used the machines and they were always set at low weights for high reps. NO barbell work. I used to smile when I saw articles about his great strength.

    His personal trainer was a gorgeous, young cutie who "provided encouragement". I know I too felt encouraged by osmosis.
    Yes he didnt train strength in the most effective way and did some crazy stuff (which is probably what lead to the injuries). He did get stronger though with a combination of novice effect and going from a skinny teen to an adult.

  3. #13
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    Strength for golf started with Tiger. There will not be an uptick of barbell training for golfers because of Bryson because he uses machines.

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  4. #14
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    There are many things about Dechambeau that make me not a fan, and wish it was another player doing this, but he might finally be the one that gets things moving. In the golf forum I post in, this comes up many times, and I always say, as long as you can get the club in the proper positions, you can never be too strong. This gets met with a bit of agreement, and a lot of mental gymnastics to say it is not so.

    There are always the posts mentioning Chesson Hadley, who I am not sure could safely stand on a storm drain without sliding in, and "he can hit it just as far". They always talk about the injuries the workout players have, but they never talk about how the skinny whippets stress their joints with their moves, and no muscle to support it. I think it really comes back down to not wanting to do something that is hard. Especially when the training aid industry can produce maybe 10% of the items with actual value, but a whole lot more people can make money from it.

    Some people will point to how Matthew Wolff, who is not the same size, hit it past him on some holes, but conveniently ignore the role of launch angle etc.

    While I think this can be good in terms of getting recreational golfers to think about this, it will likely have a greater effect in rolling back the golf ball(which needs to happen) than getting some real strength training happening on tour.

    I think the other thing that is not mentioned though is that Dechambeau is recognizing that you need to put on weight in order to really get stronger. The rest of these guys that "lift heavy" do workouts but nothing that will wrekc their tight shirt loving physiques. Strength gains lose value once the bro bod is gone.

  5. #15
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    Didn't Annika Sorenstam put on some weight and strength train to play with the men at some point?

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluefan75 View Post

    There are always the posts mentioning Chesson Hadley, who I am not sure could safely stand on a storm drain without sliding in, and "he can hit it just as far".

    Some people will point to how Matthew Wolff, who is not the same size, hit it past him on some holes, but conveniently ignore the role of launch angle etc.
    The comparisons between individuals people miss the point IMO as some people are naturally faster than others. I squat more than Usain Bolt (at least I think I do) but am so much slower. The real question is whether someone like Chesson would be a better golfer if he was stronger?

    In general why to men hit it further than women - surely its being bigger/faster/stronger on average. Why are steroids banned at the olympics and old shot put records unlikely to be beaten for a long time?

    Mark McGwire....

  7. #17
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    starting strength coach development program
    My thoughts:

    • I love the fact that he has added strength to his list of "ingredients". ..and as mentioned earlier in the thread, he stuck with his weird "get strong" thing. His irons are also all the same length as a 7 iron - another weird-ism. He also does all kinds of mathematical analysis of golf ("the Scientist").
    • Bryson has plenty of natural ability.
    • His putting within 10 ft is out of this world. He may be the very best currently. This is extremely important - think Tiger in his prime.
    • Bryson has hyper-mobility. I think this is good for golf - read flexibility. His joints go beyond straight - watch him walk with his arms swinging. Most golf coaches agree: flexibility is good and he's got plenty of it.
    • His sub-maximal effort is much greater than other's SM effort. This is probably true but he looks like he's swinging out of his shoes - are any of his swings off the tee with driver "sub-maximal"? I can't think of another PGA golfer who appears to be swinging so hard. Maybe he has more and we haven't seen it?
    • I wonder if he's lying about the way he works out. Why would he give away the "secret sauce"? Maybe somebody will bust him one day with a copy of SS 3rd edition in his golf bag .
    • My golf coach told me many years ago that people have tried to be very strong golfers and it just is not "a thing". I didn't believe him then and I don't buy it now.
    • My personal experience golfing while stronger is that everything feels easier (including time on the practice green without a sore back) and my drive picked up distance a bunch. I don't understand all of this but my irons remained consistent (in distance). I could guess that I never really had good control over my driver until I got stronger, but again, I'm not sure.
    • Most importantly, I think Bryson is enormously committed. I submit his "sticking to" his weird-isms as evidence. I once again draw a parallel with Tiger (enormously committed).


    An aside about hyper-mobility: My son was born with HM. Watching him straighten his joints would make you wanna puke. Joints look like they're going backwards ('cause they are). He's been doing SS since 12-ish and I don't see his joints doing that anymore which is fantastic (now 17) - I don't know for certain but I think lifting when young had everything to do with tightening his joints up. One of my football coaches had hyper-mobility and while playing basketball had someone land on his back while bent over and "straight" legged. His knee started beyond zero degrees and with the additional force blew his ACL to kingdom come. I have (probably unnecessary) heart skips sometimes when I watch people lock their knees hard at the top of a heavy single.

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