Has anyone's golf swing gotten worse after lifting weights?

Well, you're not the first to encounter problems and you won't be the last. I can't speak to your problem personally but it reminded me of what two-time PGA Tour winner Keith Clearwater went through soon after he hit the weights hard. Jaime Diaz wrote an article about it in the May 24, 2002 issue of Golf Digest. There was a sidebar to the article that covered Clearwater's problems. Mind you this was eons ago in the perspective of how far science has come in golf fitness. But much of it is very relevant today. Here's the sidebar in its entirety:

<For all its perceived benefits, there is sometimes a downside to increased training for golfers.

The most cited example of a tour player damaging his career through too much strength training is Keith Clearwater. The winner of two events in his rookie year of 1987, Clearwater began a serious weight-training regimen in 1990. The 6-foot Clearwater went from 170 pounds to 205, with much less body fat, but he lost his exempt status in 1995.

Clearwater, who plays both the PGA and [Nationwide] tours today, adamantly maintains that his training regimen had nothing to do with his slide. "In 1992 I was at my strongest and most developed, and that's when I had my best year," he says. "There's no doubt in my mind that my program made me a better player physically, and it has been confirmed by the fact that Tiger and David Duval are doing very close to what I did. My poor play was due mostly to bad thinking and bad putting."

Dr. Michael Yessis, an expert in kinesiology and biomechanics who has designed sport-specific training programs for elite athletes, says golfers can be fooled by their improved fitness. "Initially, strength training will probably improve performance by simply increasing fitness," Dr. Yessis says. "But without accompanying golf-specific exercises to promote speed and the proper movements, the golfer who simply keeps getting stronger will eventually see his swing slow down."

The other risk of increased training is injury, which hampered both Duval and Woods. Meanwhile, the more violent and big-muscle-driven action of the modern swing is stressing players in ways that can be exacerbated by intense or improper training. The hip joint seems particularly susceptible, as evidenced by the surgery to repair torn labrum undergone by Greg Norman, Jesper Parnevik, Steve Elkington and the LPGA's Kris Tschetter. Says Scott Hennig, who works with Bob Estes: "Pro golfers get beat up just hitting balls and playing. It's easy for guys to overtrain and make things worse."

Rick Provost, a conditioning coach who works with PGA Tour players, believes as golfers become more knowledgeable they will benefit more from their workouts and become less susceptible to injury. "Golf fitness is still in the early days," he says. "The downside will go down, and the upside will go up.">

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That's not uncommon. As your body changes, so must your swing. You just changed your body faster than you could adjust your swing, and now must teach yourself how to play with your new body shape.

Don't listen to anyone who tells you lifting is bad for your golf game. Probably 99% of top players these days spend time in the weight room. The idea that lifting weights will ruin your swing is an archaic rumor that was passed down from the old timers. Serious bodybuilding can have short term negative affects, but once you 'level off' and are mostly lifting for strength training you'll have no problem maintaining and improving your game.

Weight Lifting For Golf

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RE:

Has anyone&#39;s golf swing gotten worse after lifting weights?

I’ve been lifting hard the past few months and gained 10 pounds of muscle. My strength is great, but I’m now shanking the ball.

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It happens sometimes, not just with golf. I used to be spot on for three pointers then i gained 12 pounds, none of my shots were hitting. I had to 'recaliberate' my aim to accomodate my newfound strength. I practiced at it day and night for a week until i got my 3 pointer back. After that, i was once again able to hit at least a dozen in a row consistently during practice..

Johnny Miller was the leading money winner on tour for awhile, then he spent several months in the offseason working on a ranch that he had bought. He returned stronger, but he lost the fine putting touch and his game never really recovered.

David Duval was #1 for awhile, but he started an intensive fitness training program, probably in response to Tiger. Shortly after that he dropped out of the top ranks and had trouble making the cut. Did the training contribute to his difficulties? It's hard to know for sure.

A golf swing is a delicately balanced motion involving precise coordination of hundreds of muscles and perfect timing. The margin of error at impact is very small. Changes in the strength and flexibility of some of those muscles can easily throw the overall result out of whack. You may need to retrain your swing to get used to your new strength.

For some people, strength training can lead to "trigger points", which are tiny muscle cramps or knots in a single muscle fiber. You usually don't know that you have them unless you probe around with on your muscles with your fingers. A trigger point is very sore right at one spot, but you can't feel it unless you are pressing on it. Some people get just a few; other people get dozens of them. A trigger point will interfere with the smooth operation of the muscle group that is it in - not good for golf.

The bad new is that a trigger point often will not go away by itself. The good news is that you can usually make a trigger point relax by pressing hard on it with your thumb, moving side to side crosswise to the muscle fiber. Do it about 12 times and the trigger point will relax a little or a lot. Repeat a few times over several days and that will often take care of it.

If you have trigger points, getting rid of them will make you feel much better overall, because they often cause funny pain in other unrelated areas, and they make you feel generally tense.

Lifting weight is not recommended to help improve the golf swing. It may or may not help depending on your actual body, muscle mass added strength added etc.,

Golf is more about co-ordination and while strength may help speed and skill are far more important. Specific golf exercises to increase flexibility and build elongated muscles rather than bulging muscles are recommended. Too many bulges may get in the way and reduce flexibility which would be counter productive.

It is unlikely weight lifting made you swing worse, that may have happened as a result of false expectations.

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I think weight training is excellent for golf. The vast majority of the top players in the world are on some type of strengthening program. I would make sure and include 2 things in any program: Stretching is an absolute must! Also, plenty of sets with lower weights and higher reps.