Weight And See

I did something yesterday that I never thought would happen – I bought some dumbbells.
Reading various books recently has made me realise that the best players, as well as being technically very good, are all very strong as well.
As I see it, to hit a long, straight golf ball, you need 3 main things; technique, timing, and strength. Timing is a pre-requisite, without it you will not a hit a long, straight ball. Of the other two, if they were an exam marked out of 100 I would put the available marks at 80 technique and 20 strength.

I weigh 9 ½ stone (133lb), and am as skinny as a rake. At the moment I would say that my technique is sitting at 70 out of the 80, and my strength is at about 8 of 20. On that rough measurement I can probably hit a ball at 78% of my capability. At the moment I can carry a driver 240 yards on a good day, in summer it will roll another 30 yards or so and end up about 270 yards. That is an accurate distance, based on actual shots using known distances. Most people will add 20-30 yards when asked how far they carry the ball, this blog is about being honest, 240 is my carry on a good drive, no more, no less. If I can increase my strength to 15 out of 20 then I should be able to add about 22 yards in total onto a driver, and that’s before my coach starts work on the final 10 marks of the technique aspect. Carrying the ball 262 yards instead of 240 yards will make a massive difference. Going on the basis that I get the same 30 yards of roll it gives me a total distance of 292 instead of 270. It will give me wedges into greens instead of 8 irons, and 6 irons instead of 4 irons. It’s pretty much a 2-club difference right down the scale. Hitting a shorter iron means I’ve got a better chance of getting it close to the flag, which in turn gives me a better chance of sinking birdie putts, and so on and so on. The phrase ‘drive for show, putt for dough’ is probably the most accurate golf statement ever made, so I’m not suggesting that if everyone builds up the right muscles they will hit the ball like a dream, as if they aren’t scoring well of the technique side of the golf shot exam you can get 20 out of 20 for strength and still not hit it any distance at all.
The main things I’m working on are bicep curls, tricep curls, and shoulder presses, as well as good old fashioned press-ups. I did it for the first time last night and definitely felt like I’d been lifting weights afterwards. It is over a decade since some of the muscles I exercised had felt any sort of labour coming their way.
Something I need to be aware of is that by building up muscle it doesn’t upset my technique or timing, there’s no point in being stronger if it is counter-balanced by not having the same rhythm as before. I’ll be working on that one with my coach.

One thing I did notice was that my left side is especially weak, especially the tricep. I wonder if there is any bad shot caused by having one side stronger than the other? I’m right handed and my bad shot is a hook, I’d like to think there is some sort of logic that says if your right side is more powerful then it can cause a hook, as the right shoulder and arm turn in too quickly. It’s something that sounds as if it could be true but almost certainly isn’t. If anyone knows any different please let me know.

Anyway, another 6 inches of snow fell today, so there won’t be any golf for a while, so looks like the weights will be seeing a bit more action over the next few weeks.