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Strength vs Flexibility in Golf Swing

Ole Gray

Ole Gray

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I love my gym as I always feel better when I walk out after a good work out. The plus is having a body that is in better shape and more toned. My arms are firmer, larger, and feel strong. What I have noticed over the last few years is my swing speed dropping. I know in my case, age and surgeries have had alot to do with this however what do you folks think about strength vs flexibility and how it affects that silky smooth swing we all are chasing for. Is stretching more important than heavy gym work. Stuff to think about.
 
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I think flexibility is much more important. If the club swings back on a wide and long arc, a huge amount of speed is acquired on the downswing through centrifugal force.
 
Couple of things on this. First, lack of flexibility is often due to lack of strength in a movement and is just the body's way of protecting itself. Not only that, but if you do the right exercises with the correct form, you are working on not only strength but mobility. Perfect example is the squat. There is not a much better mobility exercise for the hips than a full squat. Not the 1/4 squats you usually see at the gym. A full squat to where your thighs are at least parallel to the floor.

Those of us that have had a few more birthdays are also losing muscle mass faster as we age. So, we need to do whatever we can to offset that loss. Losing muscle mass or strength and you cannot be as powerful. Again, your body will put the brake on movements to protect itself. The body had to not only be able to accelerate, it also has to be able to handle the deceleration of body parts in explosive movements like a golf swing. Think of strength as the base of any power or explosive movement. Weak base inhibits the ability to be powerful. Best analogy I have heard is it is kind of like trying to shoot a cannon out of a canoe if you do not have a good base.
 
OG, as a life long weight lifter I have made the effort to downsize and get more flexible. I fully agree with you I always feel better after a good weights workout but I do really believe after 50 (soon to be 56) it is lean muscle and lower weight that helps the golf.

Trying to do more Cardio after the heart scare which I hate and hurts the knees, been riding a bike more which is a bit more interesting at least the scenery changes.
 
they just said it on golf channel
Bubba's the longest at Hero and he has tiny arms
I'm not sure how much you have bulked up but I experienced a similar thing. I got larger in the shoulders chest and back and I have definitely noticed. I used to be able to generate a lot of clubhead speed with a long flexible swing and I had to spend a lot of time learning how to generate speed with a larger frame. I had to just bite the bullet and realize I couldn't comfortably get the club as far back as I used to.
I have been doing a lot LESS muscle building exercises and much more flexibility work and joint/connective tissue work.

There is a great article in Mens Fitness this month (I believe) about connective tissue training - basically low impact stretching and flexibility work every 6 hours in combination with copper and collagen supplementation increases joint strength and flexibility faster than any other common training. check it out!
 
BigTex said:
Couple of things on this. First, lack of flexibility is often due to lack of strength in a movement and is just the body's way of protecting itself. Not only that, but if you do the right exercises with the correct form, you are working on not only strength but mobility. Perfect example is the squat. There is not a much better mobility exercise for the hips than a full squat. Not the 1/4 squats you usually see at the gym. A full squat to where your thighs are at least parallel to the floor.

Those of us that have had a few more birthdays are also losing muscle mass faster as we age. So, we need to do whatever we can to offset that loss. Losing muscle mass or strength and you cannot be as powerful. Again, your body will put the brake on movements to protect itself. The body had to not only be able to accelerate, it also has to be able to handle the deceleration of body parts in explosive movements like a golf swing. Think of strength as the base of any power or explosive movement. Weak base inhibits the ability to be powerful. Best analogy I have heard is it is kind of like trying to shoot a cannon out of a canoe if you do not have a good base.
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Man ain't this the truth! I can vouch for this big time as having a very weak base these days has took it's toll. I am strong from the waist up however due to injuries I have loss so much from the waist down. My balance is so fricking poor it's not even funny.

It's hard for me to do the deep knee bends and squats. My hip hollars out and my right knee says no too. The funny thing is during my knee rehab the therapist had me doing those knee squats as part of the rehab. I hated those but he said no pain, no gain.
 
They are both important. I don't believe for a second that flexibility alone equals a long golf swing. If so, ballerinas would be long drive champions. You have to produce force along with that flexibility.
 
_burn_ said:
they just said it on golf channel
Bubba's the longest at Hero and he has tiny arms
I'm not sure how much you have bulked up but I experienced a similar thing. I got larger in the shoulders chest and back and I have definitely noticed. I used to be able to generate a lot of clubhead speed with a long flexible swing and I had to spend a lot of time learning how to generate speed with a larger frame. I had to just bite the bullet and realize I couldn't comfortably get the club as far back as I used to.
I have been doing a lot LESS muscle building exercises and much more flexibility work and joint/connective tissue work.

There is a great article in Mens Fitness this month (I believe) about connective tissue training - basically low impact stretching and flexibility work every 6 hours in combination with copper and collagen supplementation increases joint strength and flexibility faster than any other common training. check it out!
Click to expand...

Very interesting stuff here. I will do some googleing on this for sure.
 
Hawk said:
They are both important. I don't believe for a second that flexibility alone equals a long golf swing. If so, ballerinas would be long drive champions. You have to produce force along with that flexibility.
Click to expand...

It's funny how I feel my arms and chest get in the way of my swing all too often. :confused2:
 
I like to think that flexibility is strength in a golf swing. Being able to get that rotation helps create clubhead speed, right?
 
i think its a good combination of both. flexibility helps in the swing but the strength is just as important in helping to maintain the golf swing.
 
Ole Gray said:
Man ain't this the truth! I can vouch for this big time as having a very weak base these days has took it's toll. I am strong from the waist up however due to injuries I have loss so much from the waist down. My balance is so fricking poor it's not even funny.

It's hard for me to do the deep knee bends and squats. My hip hollars out and my right knee says no too. The funny thing is during my knee rehab the therapist had me doing those knee squats as part of the rehab. I hated those but he said no pain, no gain.
Click to expand...

Oh don't I know those. Mine has me sliding down a wall and holding it for 30 seconds.
Doesn't sound tough but on two recovering knees...yowza.

And and the week lower part. I was told in PT that I have a "weak butt" she laughed but said there was no other way to put it. Ha
 
I need to hire a trainer at the beginning of next year when things settle down a bit. At least for six months to figure out how to properly train my body to stretch correctly. I've seen old chicks doing all kind of wild moves on you tube who are much older than I am.
 
I think they're both pretty important, we need a little strength to maintain posture, club path, and balance while being flexible allows the swing to happen more naturally. At least that's the way I look at it for myself.
 
CAA_Beat said:
Oh don't I know those. Mine has me sliding down a wall and holding it for 30 seconds.
Doesn't sound tough but on two recovering knees...yowza.

And and the week lower part. I was told in PT that I have a "weak butt" she laughed but said there was no other way to put it. Ha
Click to expand...

I was told this too partner and the reason is we have been protecting ourselves from lower body exercise because of bad knees. We work around the body parts that hurt the most. I was going through a consultation at my gym and the guy I was talking with was talking how all the great athletes have strong butt muscles. Tiger has a big arse and look where that got him.
 
It is possible to be strong and flexible. They are not mutually exclusive.
 
This guy thinks this discussion is silly

zuback.jpg
 
Miller Time said:
I like to think that flexibility is strength in a golf swing. Being able to get that rotation helps create clubhead speed, right?
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If that were true, women would generally be able to hit the ball further than men. They tend to be hyper mobile. But they lack the strength to be able to control the power they could generate otherwise. Flexibility is important to get in position, but strength controls the acceleration and deceleration of the body.
 
Ole Gray said:
I need to hire a trainer at the beginning of next year when things settle down a bit. At least for six months to figure out how to properly train my body to stretch correctly. I've seen old chicks doing all kind of wild moves on you tube who are much older than I am.
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OG, good trainers are good. Bad ones can get you hurt, so be careful on your selection. My wife who was a Olympic class gymnast growing up, and is naturally off the charts strong and flexible. She ended up hurt working with every trainer she trained with in the past few years until we found a good one that understood the proper progressions and regressions for all of the different movements. As a rule I would stay away from those in the Big Box gyms. They generally only know one training protocol, weight loss, and don't generally even do that effectively.
 
The bigger question for me is how are you training? Not all weight training regiments are the same.
 
BigTex said:
OG, good trainers are good. Bad ones can get you hurt, so be careful on your selection. My wife who was a Olympic class gymnast growing up, and is naturally off the charts strong and flexible. She ended up hurt working with every trainer she trained with in the past few years until we found a good one that understood the proper progressions and regressions for all of the different movements. As a rule I would stay away from those in the Big Box gyms. They generally only know one training protocol, weight loss, and generally even do that effectively.
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My wife and I are members of BodyPlex and I do believe they stress the weight loss program as part of the training package.
 
blugold said:
The bigger question for me is how are you training? Not all weight training regiments are the same.
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I don't do any free weights these days because of not trusting parts of my body to hold up. I work on elliptical or treadmill four days per week followed by all the machines. I do three reps of 10 on each machine. The weight varies depending on what type of exercise I am doing. I don't do leg presses anymore due to problems with my right knee.
 
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