Do you need to be flexible to hit it far?

[Golfbeat]

John Rahm

 

[airjammer]

You only need enough flexibility to reach the point in your backswing where you can attain maximum swing speed on the downswing. Imo you probably need somewhere close to 90 degree shoulder turn and 45 degree hip turn. Obviously there are some that can do with less and some that might need a little more.

[Golfbeat]

He rotates his hips 34 and his shoulders 78 in the back swing. He has a bowed left wrist in his back swing and he seems (therefore?) to shallow the club very quickly in transition. It that the move which creates the speed?

[jslane57]

Only if you ask the wrong folks. The long drive guys aren't all flexible, but they are strong and fast.

[Petunia Sprinkle]

If you get your distance from swing arc length, then yes, flexibility is probably a key component. If you're an oaf with anger issues, and you get your distance from huffing and puffing and blowing the ball off the tee, then flexibility is less of a concern.

[Golfbeat]

John Rahm does not seem to be able to do squats. So it must be genetics that make him strong?

[TB07]

No you don't. It helps but technique (which will give you speed) and contact have a much greater influence.

[naws-golfer]

you have to be fast, flexibility can help that, but speed is numero uno

[dlygrisse]

In my opinion, flexibility is more about longevity and reducing injuries. And it's not always in the places you think it might be.

 

Think about it this way, How flexible is a female Olympic gymnast? How far do you think they hit golf balls?

[pinhigh27]

In my opinion, flexibility is more about longevity and reducing injuries. And it's not always in the places you think it might be.

 

Think about it this way, How flexible is a female Olympic gymnast? How far do you think they hit golf balls?

 

If they golfed and got good they'd hit it farther than an unathletic woman

[Dave D]

I'm fairly overweight and not very flexible, I hit it fairly far - so no

[dlygrisse]

In my opinion, flexibility is more about longevity and reducing injuries. And it's not always in the places you think it might be.

 

Think about it this way, How flexible is a female Olympic gymnast? How far do you think they hit golf balls?

 

If they golfed and got good they'd hit it farther than an unathletic woman

 

Well sure, but my point is they are as flexible as anyone you will ever see and athletic, but I would bet none of them would be considered long hitters, even for women, let alone men. So flexibility it's self is not the recipe for long hitting.

 

I am more flexible at 51 years old than when I was younger but don't hit it as far. Age and injuries have robbed me of speed, but I have worked on my flexibility to combat injuries, just so I can function. I am star ting to work on my strength in order to feel even healthier and hopfully gain some speed back, but I know plenty of people who are less flexible than me who hit it farther.

[jslane57]

This is an interesting thread, especially with the others about how great the athletes of today are vs. the golf greats of yesterday. I will say from my own experience, I've been extremely fit (running/biking/weight training/stretching) and I've been not so fit (as in 30 lbs overweight not doing much but golfing, and inherently not flexible) and I've always hit the ball the best and the furthest when in the middle. If I only cared about golf, I'd stay 15 lbs overweight and not stretch. It is no surprise to me to see the fittest golfers (like Jason Day and TW) be the ones with the injuries.

[ScratchyDawg]

Mass X velocity (speed) = momentum

 

Momentum and loft determine distance.

 

That's what you need to hit it far. Do you need to be flexible? No. Does it help? Possibly

[Golfbeat]

Personally, I think that the real speed comes from the correct unhinging of the wrists in the transition/down swing. It seems that all other things - speed of hands, speed of hip turn, speed of shoulder turn - can be performed by an average, reasonably athletic person?

[thejazzmarauder]

Fwiw I have the flexibility of a lawn gnome but I hit driver a long ways. I'm trying to work on my flexibility, but not sure I can add much distance.

[MichaelJScott]

It depends on the individual athlete and swing. I know guys who are not flexible at all that flat out crush the ball. I also know guys who are super flexible that also crush the ball but are more consistent because of balance and kinetic efficency. In my opinion the more flexible you are the farther you will be able to hit it. Of coarse there are outliers who were born to crush the ball but more times than not in my experience the more flexible and balanced the swing is the more powerful and consistent it can become. In the long term flexibility is key if you want to keep getting better and avoid injuries.

[gators78]

For how much they talk about how long Rahm is, it's WILD to see he's only 56th in clubhead speed.

 

His max clubhead speed YTD is 119MPH, for reference that's the average of Alexander Noren.

[pinhigh27]

In my opinion, flexibility is more about longevity and reducing injuries. And it's not always in the places you think it might be.

 

Think about it this way, How flexible is a female Olympic gymnast? How far do you think they hit golf balls?

 

If they golfed and got good they'd hit it farther than an unathletic woman

 

Well sure, but my point is they are as flexible as anyone you will ever see and athletic, but I would bet none of them would be considered long hitters, even for women, let alone men. So flexibility it's self is not the recipe for long hitting.

 

I am more flexible at 51 years old than when I was younger but don't hit it as far. Age and injuries have robbed me of speed, but I have worked on my flexibility to combat injuries, just so I can function. I am star ting to work on my strength in order to feel even healthier and hopfully gain some speed back, but I know plenty of people who are less flexible than me who hit it farther.

 

Because they don't golf... I'm saying if they did golf they'd be long for women

 

Of course they aren't gonna hit it as far as guys

[Petunia Sprinkle]

In my opinion, flexibility is more about longevity and reducing injuries. And it's not always in the places you think it might be.

 

Think about it this way, How flexible is a female Olympic gymnast? How far do you think they hit golf balls?

 

Were there no rule against 'building a stance', and they were allowed to stand on a couple of old phone books, they'd be blasting every drive they made contact with.

[pinhigh27]

It's not about flexibility in a vacuum. It's about being athletic overall. Rapid force generation which requires mobility and strength. Before one of you says "how strong is a 90 lb gymnast?" very strong for their size

[chrisgilly09]

Very

 

And with those legs? Hell rahm could probably squat a few of me

[Singapore Joe]

In my opinion, flexibility is more about longevity and reducing injuries. And it's not always in the places you think it might be.

 

Think about it this way, How flexible is a female Olympic gymnast? How far do you think they hit golf balls?

I would also imagine flexibility helps with injury avoidance.

 

Also, flexibility means nothing (in this context) if it doesn't translate into energy. I trained some female ex-gymnasts in martial arts long ago and they were like willows. They just bend and bend and bend but all that bending never recoils back as power so their technique remained weak. Compare that, say, to Sadlowski. He is very flexible but he also recoils like he** to generate huge speed from that flexibility.

[jurr80]

To hit it far and straight, absolutely.

If you haven't felt torqued to the max (really stretched out) at the top of a backswing, then you haven't taken it far enough back to know what the tour pros do regularly.

 

That, in my opinion, is why the average (no lessons random guy) Joe has such a problem learning a swing. They watch tour pros and try to mimic those positions. Tour pros EARN those top of the backswing positions by being able to rotate their chests far enough to achieve them.

 

Everyone else throws their arms into the same position without the proper coil of the torso. That's why you see out of sync turns and arm run-off, collapsed left arms, and the rest.

 

That's why golf coaches looking to score a buck have to teach these guys to flap their arms at it from the top. Those arms have to speed up to get back down into somewhere near a decent position to square the face.

 

If the average person took the club back as far as they REALLY could in sync, there would be a ton of 9-10 o'clock full swings, and results would most likely be much better.

[Thrillhouse]

To hit it far you just need to swing it fast and hit it solid.

[TB07]

To hit it far and straight, absolutely.

If you haven't felt torqued to the max (really stretched out) at the top of a backswing, then you haven't taken it far enough back to know what the tour pros do regularly.

 

That, in my opinion, is why the average (no lessons random guy) Joe has such a problem learning a swing. They watch tour pros and try to mimic those positions. Tour pros EARN those top of the backswing positions by being able to rotate their chests far enough to achieve them.

 

Everyone else throws their arms into the same position without the proper coil of the torso. That's why you see out of sync turns and arm run-off, collapsed left arms, and the rest.

 

That's why golf coaches looking to score a buck have to teach these guys to flap their arms at it from the top. Those arms have to speed up to get back down into somewhere near a decent position to square the face.

 

If the average person took the club back as far as they REALLY could in sync, there would be a ton of 9-10 o'clock full swings, and results would most likely be much better.

 

This is completely false. Flexibility might contribute to about 10% of overall distance. I don't feel stretched at all, not flexible at all.

[Golfjack]

How far is far? LOL. I think there are two kinds of long hitters. Most guys can bulk up and swing it really fast with decent technique. The Jamie Sadlowski type is more natural talent where you can sync up a very long and flexible swing arc to generate the power. But most golfers can get decent distance over the overall average of amateur guys hitting it 90 mph with some decent technique. I know. I did it lol. I used to think I hit it 100 mph, but turns out I was really 90. Now I'm 100 on the course. I can get to 105 or even 110 when I'm lucky, but 100 is easy and reliable. That's far for most guys I play with. But it doesn't mean I score better than them though lol. Though I do want to hit it further, and never have I thought I need to be more flexible. More technique and speed strength. I'm decently flexible though (can do full shoulder turns etc).

[thejazzmarauder]

To hit it far and straight, absolutely.

If you haven't felt torqued to the max (really stretched out) at the top of a backswing, then you haven't taken it far enough back to know what the tour pros do regularly.

 

That, in my opinion, is why the average (no lessons random guy) Joe has such a problem learning a swing. They watch tour pros and try to mimic those positions. Tour pros EARN those top of the backswing positions by being able to rotate their chests far enough to achieve them.

 

Everyone else throws their arms into the same position without the proper coil of the torso. That's why you see out of sync turns and arm run-off, collapsed left arms, and the rest.

 

That's why golf coaches looking to score a buck have to teach these guys to flap their arms at it from the top. Those arms have to speed up to get back down into somewhere near a decent position to square the face.

 

If the average person took the club back as far as they REALLY could in sync, there would be a ton of 9-10 o'clock full swings, and results would most likely be much better.

 

This is completely false. Flexibility might contribute to about 10% of overall distance. I don't feel stretched at all, not flexible at all.

 

Yah, just complete nonsense. Plenty of us have the flexibility of someone in an old folks home yet can still bomb it (with arm overrun to boot). If you wanna argue that shortening the swing will improve consistency, then sure. But that's entirely different.

[TB07]

To hit it far and straight, absolutely.

If you haven't felt torqued to the max (really stretched out) at the top of a backswing, then you haven't taken it far enough back to know what the tour pros do regularly.

 

That, in my opinion, is why the average (no lessons random guy) Joe has such a problem learning a swing. They watch tour pros and try to mimic those positions. Tour pros EARN those top of the backswing positions by being able to rotate their chests far enough to achieve them.

 

Everyone else throws their arms into the same position without the proper coil of the torso. That's why you see out of sync turns and arm run-off, collapsed left arms, and the rest.

 

That's why golf coaches looking to score a buck have to teach these guys to flap their arms at it from the top. Those arms have to speed up to get back down into somewhere near a decent position to square the face.

 

If the average person took the club back as far as they REALLY could in sync, there would be a ton of 9-10 o'clock full swings, and results would most likely be much better.

 

This is completely false. Flexibility might contribute to about 10% of overall distance. I don't feel stretched at all, not flexible at all.

 

Yah, just complete nonsense. Plenty of us have the flexibility of someone in an old folks home yet can still bomb it. It's like saying that muscle = distance.

 

Again, flexibility contributes but give or take 10%. Prove me wrong. I'm not flexible relative to most.

[thejazzmarauder]

To hit it far and straight, absolutely.

If you haven't felt torqued to the max (really stretched out) at the top of a backswing, then you haven't taken it far enough back to know what the tour pros do regularly.

 

That, in my opinion, is why the average (no lessons random guy) Joe has such a problem learning a swing. They watch tour pros and try to mimic those positions. Tour pros EARN those top of the backswing positions by being able to rotate their chests far enough to achieve them.

 

Everyone else throws their arms into the same position without the proper coil of the torso. That's why you see out of sync turns and arm run-off, collapsed left arms, and the rest.

 

That's why golf coaches looking to score a buck have to teach these guys to flap their arms at it from the top. Those arms have to speed up to get back down into somewhere near a decent position to square the face.

 

If the average person took the club back as far as they REALLY could in sync, there would be a ton of 9-10 o'clock full swings, and results would most likely be much better.

 

This is completely false. Flexibility might contribute to about 10% of overall distance. I don't feel stretched at all, not flexible at all.

 

Yah, just complete nonsense. Plenty of us have the flexibility of someone in an old folks home yet can still bomb it. It's like saying that muscle = distance.

 

Again, flexibility contributes but give or take 10%. Prove me wrong. I'm not flexible relative to most.

 

To be clear, we're in agreement. I don't even think it's 10%. If I catch it well, it goes 320; if I become adequately flexible will I hit it 350+? No way. Improving flexibility may enable older individuals with legit mobility issues to hit it obviously further, but your average 5-10 hcp who can't touch his toes? I'm skeptical.