Sorry to interrupt my series of tennis articles for a golf update. I will resume that series in the March article.
Congratulations to Michelle Wie on her comeback with a two under par 68 after a tough, heartbreaking 79 on the first day. She has game. She just needs to continue to play against the best in the world to stay sharp and be competitive with them.
But I digress. What's important to my article this month? Michelle Wie is working on gaining another 20 yards in order to compete with the male pros. According to an Associated Press story, she's been working with Paul Gagne, a fitness guru who works mainly with hockey players.
Here's the gist of the story. She couldn't do a pull-up. Not strong enough. Remember she also got winded after hitting a few drives out on the range. So of course it meant she was out of shape.
That meant go to a the gym, lift weights, run on the treadmill, do those balancing exercises on the wobble disks, lunges, etc. etc. etc. From Michelle herself, "My goal is to get fit, get stronger and prevent injury." Great! And she's gained eight pounds of muscle so she can hold the club better at the top according to the world's #1 golf teacher, David Leadbetter.
But wait a minute; I thought the goal was to gain 20 yards so she can compete with the men on the PGA tour? Lifting weights, doing cardio work and all those exercises are for strength and endurance. Where's the speed coming from? Ancient Floridian secret.
The secret is in how David Leadbetter, the swing genius, is orchestrating the exercise program so that he gets what he ultimately wants... a physically stronger, faster Michelle Wie. Ah, now there's a mystery that needs to be unraveled.
The Real Secret
You must read between the lines and pay attention if you are to uncover the mystery. There are some very important changes going on with Michelle and if you wish to gain those 20 extra yards like she hopes to, pay attention to what David Leadbetter says (and doesn't say) and measure the correct things.
Flexibility: Can one be too flexible?
In a Golf Channel interview on Tuesday, January 10th, Leadbetter talked of restricting or limiting Michelle's flexibility. That's right, restricting. He said that she was too flexible.
Teenagers and even people in their 20's should not be worried about their lack of flexibility. They should be worried about having too much. Leadbetter understands this and knows that too much flexibility can cause one's golf swing to be overly long and loose. Worse yet, it can produce slower swing speeds.
Her Tempo Is Too Slow
Mr. Leadbetter, now you're really "seem" to be off on a tangent. You're saying that Michelle's tempo (elapsed time from takeaway to impact) is too slow? But I thought she was swinging just like Ernie Els with that smooth, flowing rhythm. Sort of like a waltz.
Not anymore.
The Tale of the Tape
Here's Michelle hitting her driver on Monday before the Sony Dream Cup Pro-Am. Leadbetter is in the far left with the yellow shirt. Mom, Dad and her caddy are all watching attentively.
How does she quicken her tempo?
Her backswing is faster. Her backswing took .65 seconds to complete.
Above are pictures from 2005. This backswing took .84 seconds to complete. So you can see she's much slower on the backswing. Notice it is not nearly as compact.
Transition
She's also faster in transition. In other words, she's more compact and quicker in changing directions and returning the club to the ball.
These frames are slightly "off" but the point is that her start down took only .10 seconds to reach this position in 2006.
Contrast that to 2005 (picture on right), when she took .13 seconds to get to that same position.
Faster to Impact
This year, she's at .90 seconds from takeaway to impact (tempo) with her driver. Last year it took her 1.13 seconds. For anyone who has tried to speed up your tempo, you know that's a huge change.
Her iron swings were timed between .71 seconds and .85 as compared to 1.01 last year. She was noticeably quicker this year even to the naked eye.
The Icing on the Cake
Leadbetter says that she's increased her ball speed by 5 miles per hour. And that's just the beginning.
She averaged a little over 286 yards at the Sony Open this year, which is pretty good for anyone much less a 16 year old girl. Her average drive last year was just 267.5 yards so she's already showing the fruits of her labor.
But her Thursday and Friday playing partners Chris Couch and Camilo Villegas averaged 315 and 328 yards respectively. Her 286-yard average ranked 110th place in driving distance for the week. So she's long but not quite up to par with the longer PGA tour guys.
Lessons learned
Young people can be TOO FLEXIBLE! I don't know how many times I've seen kids stretching or being taught to stretch. They don't need to. Maybe old people like myself could use some stretching, but no one under age 25 should be doing stretches to get more flexible.
Quickening the tempo allows Michelle to make better use of the stretch shorten cycle, which is responsible for all explosive, athletic motions. By speeding up the load or stretch on her muscles, she is able to uncoil those muscles faster. This results in her ability to create more clubhead and ball speed, which ultimately leads to longer drives as evidenced by the statistics.
When starting a golf fitness program, be sure your trainer measures the most important variable, clubhead speed (ball speed is even better but devices to measure are much more expensive). If you measure how much more weight you can lift or how much longer you can stay on the treadmill, it doesn't mean you can increase your swing speed. So hold your trainer's feet to the fire and be sure you're getting what you want... faster clubhead speeds and longer drives so you can hit it like Bubba Watson, who hit a driver and a wedge to the 551-yard 18th hole at Waialae Country Club on Sunday.
