Opinion & Analysis
Is Rory too jacked for his own good? A definitive answer
Most men would kill — but not hit the gym — to have Rory McIlroy’s physique. Since he burst onto the golf scene nearly a decade ago with a mediocre build, the Northern Irishman has transformed his body into one worthy of a Men’s Health Magazine cover.
One thing Rory didn’t shed, however, were his critics.
Several members of the golf media have recently voiced their pointed opinions about Rory’s beefed up body. Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee went public with his worries early in 2016, saying “it does give me a little concern when I see the extensive weightlifting that Rory is doing in the gym.”
McIlroy famously shrugged off Chamblee with this unforgettable response:
@GolfChannel @chambleebrandel pic.twitter.com/tz7lSH7Z6k
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) February 16, 2016
NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller joined the attack during the 2016 British Open. While explaining why Rory hasn’t won more majors (he’s stuck at a lowly four, double Miller’s career total if anybody’s counting).
“I think he overdid the weight room,” Miller said. “I don’t think that helped him at all. Same thing with Tiger Woods. You just get carried away with wearing the tight shirts and showing off their muscles.”
Golf Magazine columnist Alan Shipnuck also has an opinion on the matter, recently firing off this tweet regarding the muscle madness on Tour:
It seems obvious that golfers should be supple and flexible. Getting thick and bulky – like Tiger, Rory and JDay – can’t be a good idea.
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) May 12, 2017
If you didn’t already know who Rory McIlroy is before reading this, based on these criticisms, you might assume he’s a washed-up meathead who can’t put a coordinated swing on a golf ball. And like Chamblee, Miller, and Shipnuck, you’d be dead wrong.
Despite the fact that his major championship “slump” sits at nine events without a win heading into the 2017 U.S. Open, and a nagging rib injury that has kept him on the sidelines for much of the year, Rory holds the No. 2 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings. How can this be, you ask, given Rory’s dedication to the gym? Golf fitness expert Carolina Romero, the woman behind the social media persona the Fit Golfer Girl, uses a simple formula to explain.
“When we think about the ability to hit the ball and generate swing speed, force equals mass times acceleration,” she says. “When Rory was tiny … he didn’t really have a lot of mass, he had to accelerate his little body a lot,” Romero told my At The Turn podcast, referring to McIlroy’s physique when he was noticeably less muscular toward the beginning of his professional career.
“This was actually hurting his lower back,” she said. “This was not exactly good for longevity. If he’s going to continue to play for many, many years … he needs to make sure that he continues to generate these speeds without putting so much pressure on his body. If he just increases his muscle mass a little bit, he’s going to be able to reach that same amount of force — meaning his same distances and his same speeds — with a lot less acceleration, which is going to put less stress on his body.”
To refute the critics even more, Romero goes on to explain that the added muscle Rory has built might actually do more to preserve his career than damage it.
“Even if his mass is a little bit higher, this is actually going to protect his back and his body and give him longevity in the sport,” she said.
Rory’s longevity remains to be seen, but his results speak for themselves. With four majors and a No. 2 world ranking, there’s no need for McIlroy to defend himself on Twitter… but it’s quite entertaining when he does.
As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
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Someone
Jun 17, 2017 at 12:28 am
The article is poorly written because he just restates what he quoted.
On another note everything is relative. In the world of golfers, Rory could be considered jacked because of his muscle mass. Compared to long driver champs, no way. Compared to body builders and powerlifters, nah. But again, putting it into perspective, compared to most golfers he’s pretty jacked. Ripped on the other hand is another story. Ripped is definition and lean. Villegas is absolutely the most ripped player on tour. Is he jacked? Not really, considering his muscular toning, he’s more ripped than he is jacked. Yes that is possible.
Those making the comparison of a golfer to a jacked football player, are comparing bananas to pineapples…they’re not even remotely related when it comes to golf and being “jacked.”
Write something new next time. Don’t just re-summarize past events and then quote them to be redundant. If you’re gonna write an article, do it the way Johnny miller thinks golf anchors should commentate. Don’t be afraid to make your own speculations about things and possibly be wrong. It’s not interesting if you wait until AFTER the shot and just comment on what happened. There’s no need for a sportscaster if all you do is repeat what we just saw. Be intersting. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t think he’ll make this putt.” When they do, just say “oh, well I guess I was wrong.”
EddieEdwards
Jun 15, 2017 at 9:33 am
Nobody on the pro tour is jacked. Jason Zuback is, and he doesn’t seem to have any flexibility issues.
cgasucks
Jun 14, 2017 at 10:09 pm
I bet 10 years from now Rory will be pulled over by cops in Northern Ireland in the middle of the night for driving under the influence of all the painkillers he took to deal with his injuries from weightlifting from years past…
Quinn
Jun 15, 2017 at 11:57 am
Funny how Gary Player has been a fitness advocate his whole life, known for “weightlifting” and he is still very fit and strong at the age of 80 years old. He still trains 4 to 5 times a week and iss much better off than Jack Nicklaus physically at an old age. But you don’t seem to include him in this discussion. Who’s to say that Tiger wouldn’t have had these problems regardless if he weight lifted or not? More than likely its genetic and he would have had those problems regardless due to the strain he puts on his lower back with his swing. Without weight lifting he would have been worse off.
peter collins
Jun 16, 2017 at 3:57 pm
good post
stephen smith
Apr 8, 2023 at 9:30 pm
Weight training is fine. Lifting extra heavy dead weights that change your body is so wrong for golf. Feel, flexibility, and quick strength, are the keys to good golf. What? A slimmer, less muscled version of Tiger winning the U.S. Open by 15 strokes is not good enough???
Quinn
Jun 14, 2017 at 12:14 pm
One thing nobody ever talks about and is the fact that working out and building up your physique actually helps you mentally in the sense that you become more confident which directly translates to the golf course. The idea that working out and building muscle hurts your game is ridiculous, no you do not become less flexible, quite the opposite actually it can allow you to become more flexible as long as you stretch. If your muscles grow too big to properly swing the golf club then yes it could have an impact but nobody on tour has this problem and certainly not Rory. Building up muscle will help prevent injury and you will deal with less joint issues, muscle and strength training helps with this. I’ve had knee problems since I was a teenager due to damaging my meniscus and my knee would pop out of socket frequently. But ever since I’ve built up the muscle in my legs with squats and leg workouts I’ve never felt better. Working out will help you no matter what anybody says, its ridiculous to think otherwise. I would say one thing you have to be aware of is not to be too tight from a workout and be aware when to workout so as not to affect the day you play. But a lot of times even in Tiger’s case he said when he was younger he was too loose and I can agree with that because I’ve personally felt/seen that.
Jacked_Loft
Jun 14, 2017 at 10:45 am
14 months ago I weighed 125 lbs at 5 foot 4, now I weigh 150 lbs and have put on 25 lbs of muscle with only the help of free weights and body weight exercises.
14 months ago I had to swing out of my shoes to get a 100 mph driver headspeed, now I just have to effortlessly turn and release to reach 102 mph.
As I don’t have the leverage of someone 6 ft tall, I have to produce head speed by createing more torque through larger muscle mass. It took me a while to stop forcing but now it’s easy-peasy just to let go.
I look good, feel good and haven’t had an injury all season. At 58 I’m quite happy with the change.
If the guys want to workout and play it’s ok with me.
Matt
Jun 14, 2017 at 3:56 am
Good on Rory for taking care of himself (it doesn’t take much to look ripped next to all the overweight PGA players). Ripped gym junky he ain’t.
Z
Jun 14, 2017 at 2:52 am
He ain’t ripped, whatch’all talking about? He’s a shrimp! Make him wear some baggy shirts and not them skintight swimsuit shirts, you’ll see how he’s really not ripped at all.
JThunder
Jun 13, 2017 at 8:55 pm
It’s awesome how people here know more about training and physical fitness than the top golfers in the world, their coaches, and all the trainers in professional sports and the PGA Tour. Congratulations! Seems like you should ply your advanced knowledge to put some of these people out of work and turn Rory, Tiger, etc, into the perfectly fitted athletes that you know you can sculpt. Or are you all wealthy and busy enough already?
Your superior skills and knowledge are wasted in comments sections of blogs. The real world is just like the internet, only taller.
Brian
Jun 13, 2017 at 7:59 pm
Sure…force = mass X acceleration…however, the mass in this equation is in the golf club, not the human that is producing the acceleration.
H
Jun 13, 2017 at 8:26 pm
But the body has to be able to support those mass and acceleration, otherwise you won’t get solid contact with proper momentum (mass X velocity), therefore if you’re weak like you are, you can’t get distance fnar fnar
toyzrx
Jun 13, 2017 at 6:19 pm
Golf is a game, not really a sport. You don’t have to be powerful, fast, or even fit to play the game well. Golf has become all of a sudden cool in the media world since mid 90s. Today, the game is not what it used it be – for kids and older people who cannot play other real sports. So I guess the top guys need to look like real athletes. It’s the image thing I guess. They need to be good models for the apparel their sponsors are trying to sell.
Brandon
Jun 14, 2017 at 9:46 am
sport
/spôrt/
noun
noun: sport; plural noun: sports
1. an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
Navigating undulating and changing terrain, spinning and placing the ball for positioning for the next shot, etc. Are you sure it’s not a sport? 300+ yard drives, hitting high 185 yard 5 and 6 irons from 2-5 inch rough is pretty physical, and the skill set necessary to compete at the highest level. It’s funny when people say golf isn’t a sport just because we don’t run or they believe that the physical exertion isn’t as high as other sports yet the same top tier athletes that are so great at their sports can’t beat the majority of amateurs that play this GAME.
ComeyforPresident
Jun 14, 2017 at 9:50 am
Agreed. Anyone who has seen a pro hit balls in real life will realize the difference between the individuals “game” and the pros “sport”.
Brandon
Jun 14, 2017 at 9:54 am
oh and about being fit or fast, so what exactly is Curling or Table Tennis or competitive shooting or archery, are they not sports? I guess the big 5 are the only real sports, American Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, and Baseball maybe even Cricket? Well Basketball and Baseball are debatable, if you are 6’9 – 7’2 with no coordination, you can get into the NBA nowadays as long as you can get 4 rebounds, 3 points and 1 block a game even though you can’t jump higher than a frog and everybody else outrun’s you down the floor and I guess baseball isn’t either when the most recent Triple Crown winner looks like all he did was sat around and ate donuts all the time.
NolanMBA
Jun 13, 2017 at 6:12 pm
Well say what you want but theres like 19ish majors between TW, Rory and Day so… Hard to ignore that.
ooffa
Jun 13, 2017 at 2:52 pm
Yes he is. It will be a short while before he starts breaking down just like Tiger.
The steroids will take their toll.
H
Jun 13, 2017 at 8:25 pm
You would know from shooting up every day making your johnson really tiny, eh, you need a tweezer?
ooffa
Jun 14, 2017 at 6:33 am
Your lady seemed pretty happy with it last night.
brian
Jun 13, 2017 at 2:06 pm
good grief what has the golf world come to…we consider a guy who is 5 foot 9 and weight 165 to be jacked. No wonder other athletes make fun of us! Not even in the realm of muscular, let alone jacked. Rory and Day just keep wearing shmedium size clothes, not getting jacked
chinchbugs
Jun 13, 2017 at 4:12 pm
+1
Dr Troy
Jun 13, 2017 at 9:07 pm
Brian- finally someone with a little common sense in regards to this topic. “Jacked” @ 165-170lbs is downright laughable. You wanna see jacked? Watch the NFL or open a muscle and fitness mag.
Large chris
Jun 13, 2017 at 10:03 pm
I’ve stood next to him a couple of times and I think even 5’9 is pushing it…. 5’7 is more likely. He’s tiny.
li0scc0
Jun 13, 2017 at 1:47 pm
The problem is these golfers are injuring themselves with improper lifting techniques. They are utilizing ballistic movements such as Crossfit, plyometrics, and Olympic Weightlifting which have far higher rates of injury. If you notice, the golfers who lift are those who are the most injured (Dustin Johnson, Rory, Tiger, Jason Day, etc.).
As an athletic trainer, I always had athletes implement Powerlifting techniques with a focus on strength, not size. Such techniques have low injury rates and shield the body from sports related injury.
Dave
Jun 13, 2017 at 12:39 pm
I love all of these people who think they can diagnose Rory’s golf “problems” (as the world number 2, it’s debatable that he even has any golf problems). How would anyone be able to tell for sure that his weightlifting has negatively affected his golf game? Jordan Spieth’s performance has dropped off considerably since 2015, and he hasn’t been bulking up in the gym. What do the “experts” have to say about his “struggles on the golf course”?
The simple truth is that golf is just an incredibly difficult game to play consistently at the highest level. Tiger made it look easy by dominating the game for nearly 10 years, and people who know absolutely nothing about golf expect other players to be able to do the same with ease. Well, it doesn’t work like that, and there really is no issue here to be discussed.
Judge Smells
Jun 13, 2017 at 11:29 am
Justin Thomas is on the pop tarts and xbox routine doing just fine
Shambles
Jun 13, 2017 at 11:18 am
Actually, he’s not that ripped. If you can find a recent photo of him with his shirt off while on vacation, you can see that he is not ripped like some of the long-drive guys at all. It only appears that way because of the shirts he wears and the designs that make it seem like he has massive pecks and thick arms. But he’s actually quite svelte, he’s only 5’9″ at 165, and his arms are about as normal for a fit guy at his height and weight. When he plays, he’s quite limber and knows how to stretch every muscle to get the speed he generates.
Dj
Jun 13, 2017 at 11:13 am
Do people honestly think he’s jacked??? He’s posted pics with his shirt off.. certainly not jacked. He put on a little muscle and tone, that’s all.
Notbuyingit
Jun 13, 2017 at 10:45 am
I think someone forgot to tell Olympic gymnasts that you can’t be muscular and flexible…
TR1PTIK
Jun 13, 2017 at 11:11 am
My point exactly (if it will ever post). Rory is no bigger than any male gymnast I’ve ever seen. It’s all about HOW you train in the gym. The idea that adding mass = less flexibility is a generalization that needs to be stopped. Sitting on your @$$ in a desk chair behind a computer keyboard all day = less flexibility!
Dr Troy
Jun 13, 2017 at 1:27 pm
Well said….
Brian
Jun 13, 2017 at 7:57 pm
Gymnasts don’t do much weight lifting. Their bodies are built almost entirely from body weight exercises.
Steve
Jun 14, 2017 at 12:32 am
Not really the point…
Teaj
Jun 13, 2017 at 10:35 am
This is just my uneducated opinion here so be gentle. Is it the swing before and at impact that is where damage is inflicted on the body or is it the follow through and the body having to stop the rotation of the swing? If the latter and Player A does not work out and swings at 110mph and player B does work out and has the same 110mph swing I would assume player B’s muscular frame will be better equipped to handle the forces generated by the golf swing, that is true unless Player B has worked out to the point that the muscles are fatigued then this could have the adverse effect and more impact and force would now be put on the skeletal structure in turn causing more injuries to joints.
Now take into consideration if player A and B have the same weight club player B would most likely be able to swing the club at a faster speed (I know there are other aspects to the swing that can effect speed) but for the sake of argument player B should be able to swing faster in turn the forces to stop the swing need to be larger which run the risk of (possibly) being transferred to the skeletal structure.
I am not sure I understand the effect of a golfer having more mass being able to hit the ball farther, I am sure some of this added weight is transferred into the swing but at a very small percentage would be transferred to the head of the club. Now if the club head has more mass I can see how this would compress a ball more given the same swing speed which could effect ball speed as long as this has not increased backspin.
Benny Frank the 3rd
Jun 13, 2017 at 9:41 am
Citing “social media persona Fit Golfer Girl” as an expert – wow!
This is not an article this is a quick google search of what some people have said on this subject. No own research on the subject, no direct statements from the people involved and no laid out arguments for any thesis, antithesis – not speaking of synthesis. This is a clickbaiting waste of time. Shame on you!
Mat
Jun 17, 2017 at 6:02 pm
Precise.
Daym
Jun 13, 2017 at 9:34 am
The lack of understanding of exercise physiology and how it relates directly to the golf swing, from your expert, is laughable. There are undoubtedly workouts and exercises that will increase a golfers ability to work his/her swing.
That said however, immobility from mass is a common issue among professional athletes. Take Dwight Howard for instance…the guy is massive and naturally so, but, his mass has limited him on the court for years. Every team he’s played on has had that concern, and still do. Now, if he were in the NFL, the story would be different. The point remains though, that mass doesn’t necessarily create power. Speed creates power, at least as it relates to golf. Adding large amounts of mass restricts mobility – look at your nearest beefcake in the gym tomorrow – and it actually can limit speed.
Rory working out is NOT the issue. It’s how he’s working out that is the issue. Factually speaking, the muscles of the lower back are small muscle groups, and even combined together, they’re still a small group. When those muscles are stressed from having to carry the added mass (muscle weighs more than fat) from the upper back muscles, that’s when problems start to develop. And we’ve seen that time and again…
Think back to the last world number 1 before Tiger’s reign, David Duvall. Somewhat chubby, but loose and limber. Now, think back to when he went on the fitness/working out train. It destroyed his back and body, and he’s admitted that himself. His career essentially ended because of injuries.
We’ve seen it with El Tigre, as well. Make no mistake, Tiger’s back issues are almost directly a result of the violence of his swing and the added mass he has to carry. That creates uneven “push & pull” duties to all the muscles and that’s when tears and rips start happening.
The real question is, did Jack look like that? What about Gary Player? Tom Watson? Arnold Palmer? Seve? Trevino? Any of the historical greats of the game? There’s a reason they didn’t, and it’s not because there wasn’t weights to do it. Arnold Schwartzenegger and Reg Park were in their primes in those guys’ hay days. The methodology was there, however, those guys understood that being limber is better, especially in golf.
I have been saying for years that what golfers should be doing is stuff like Yoga, Pilates, Tabata, or other techniques that work around keeping the weight down, the tone in the middle (not too ripped) and flexibility high. Guys that are doing deadlifts and working with heavy weights, are eventually going to limit themselves. This is obvious to most exercise physiologists…..myself included.
Greg V
Jun 13, 2017 at 10:13 am
This is an excellently written reply.
Johnny Miller was another guy who bulked up and ruined his golf game. Chopping wood, or something like that if I remember.
Nicklaus was pretty darn smart. He played (and continues to play) tennis to stay in shape.
dapadre
Jun 13, 2017 at 10:23 am
I cannot refute anything you are saying but would like to add that I think the main issue is how theier swing needs to ADJUST to their new body which is the issue. When you put on muscle, you usually loose flexibility and that is the trade-off.
mike
Jun 13, 2017 at 10:33 am
In the golf swing speed will always be king, and some obtain that through strength, if we look at the longest hitters in the world on the long drive circuit they are massive guys, but if you are not 6’6 and have the body able to support that mass I have always loved jamie sadlowski’s swing/physique for its ability to produce incredible amounts of speed in a body that doesnt need to be 300 lbs. He is great shape but in ways that help his golf swing like flexibility and balance to control that fast motion vs mass that would slow his body down. Could be incredibly wrong but that’s my 2 cents.
TR1PTIK
Jun 13, 2017 at 11:06 am
I’m not an expert, but I’ve done extensive reading on the subject of bodybuilding and athletic training to know that your generalization of what added mass does to an athlete is absolutely false. Added mass can restrict a golfer’s ability to swing freely, but only if he/she does not incorporate mobility, flexibility, and myofascial release exercises into the program. From what I can tell, Rory is no bigger than a high school or budding collegiate gymnast. He’s no bodybuilder. What everyone always seem to ignore is the fact that Rory is working with a personal trainer and his programming focuses primarily on making him a more complete and balanced athlete. The issues Rory had with his back are well noted and if you did a quick search you would also learn that he originally had stability issues in his legs (primarily his non-dominant side). The goal of his training (as it should be for any athlete) has always been to improve the areas in which he has the most issues. There may be some things he has done solely for the purpose of physical appearance, but none I can see which are cause for any concern. His training (and that of almost any other pro-golfer) is a world away from what Tiger was doing.
Tal
Jun 13, 2017 at 11:19 am
Perfect response!
Jonathan
Jun 15, 2017 at 11:29 am
Agreed on the Pilates, Yoga.
There’s an element of machismo in how golfer’s work out. Dead lifts, Squats, Bench presses are macho. Stretching, flexibility regimes like Yoga are not macho.
It’s the same as Driving versus Short game. Bombing the driver 300+ yards is macho. 3 foot putts and chipping are not. But they all count the same on the scorecard.
Ask any Pro if they would rather a mediocre long game with a tour best short game or a tour best driving distance with a mediocre short game, they would always stump for the superior short game.
Any intelligent golfer recognizes that. As they also recognize that routines that focus primarily on increasing flexibility, limberness etc are far more important are more appropriate for their longevity than heavy compound lifting and their risk of getting career stifling injuries.
stevie
Jun 13, 2017 at 9:20 am
key Q: does it effect his putting touch?, which needs improvement apparently.
Patricknorm
Jun 13, 2017 at 9:19 am
I’m okay with Rory getting stronger to a point. Everyone has a particular build (meso, ecto, endo) based on their genetics. There is a point of diminishing return and it happened to Tiger where his joints could handle the torque from his swing. Something has to give whether it’s your knees, back or ankles.
Golfers do strength training to prevent injuries and if they get a little stronger then it’s a bonus. I always believe the focus on strength training should always be core related. It’s not important to squat or bench or dead lift massive amounts unless your a power lifter. Golf is a pretty violent rotational movement and when core muscles are stressed, something has to give.
Finally it’s easy to get addicted to the gym. Especially when those muscles get bigger. Like I mentioned earlier, there is a point of diminishing return.
mr b
Jun 13, 2017 at 9:08 am
People that criticize professional golfer’s weight lifting routines are simply misinformed. end of story.
gvogelsang
Jun 13, 2017 at 7:12 pm
Weight lifting is the “easy” way to try to get in better shape, but not the best. Playing a different sport, like tennis, or squash, would improve fitness and not put on unnecessary muscle bulk. And then we have Camilo Villegas who takes long bike rides for fitness. I would endorse that.
Rory, statistically, was a little longer before the gym routine. I can see some moderate weight work to protect his back, but the bulk in the shoulders and biceps is totally unnecessary for a golfer. For a golfer, all you need is the strength in the upper body to maintain width. The force comes from the core and legs. One can keep that in shape through cross training – tennis, squash, bicycling, stand up paddling. Heavy weights are unproductive. But, they are addictive.
Rory was a better, more natural golfer before the weight room.
Steve
Jun 14, 2017 at 12:22 am
Maybe, just maybe, he has realized there’s more to life than just golfing… Maybe he likes lifting weights and likes the way it makes him look/feel…
Steve
Jun 14, 2017 at 12:24 am
Also, he used to do the “other sport” route as well… and then he seriously messed up his ankle playing soccer… Seems like lifting is the safer option for him.
gvogelsang
Jun 15, 2017 at 9:00 pm
He was a better golfer when he was pudgy.
So was Bobby Jones, and Jack Nicklaus. When you are a golfer who can hit the crap out of the ball, and score better than everyone else, you shouldn’t mess with what Mother Nature gave you.