While the media and most fans have quickly forgotten Michelle Wie and have moved on to adoring Tadd Fujikawa, let's not do that just yet. There's something we can learn from her situation and maybe there's something for Tadd to learn as well.

In some ways, I feel sorry for her. She views herself as what she can be. What she KNOWS she can be. And that's a great thing for someone who is 17 years old and has her whole life and career ahead of her. After all, she was #2 in the world last year playing in just seven tournaments against the women. But playing against the men on the PGA tour, European tour or even the Japan tour in the past few months is another story. Her recent performances against the men have been less than stellar.

The Statistics

Using Sony Open statistics from PGAtour.com, there is a pattern emerging.

2004
Score: 72-68-140
Driving Distance: 273 yards
Greens in Regulation: 55.6%
Driving Accuracy: 67.9%

2005
Score: 75-74-149
Driving Distance: 267 yards
Greens in Regulation: 58.3%
Driving Accuracy: 64.3%

2006
Score: 79-68-147
Driving Distance: 281 yards
Greens in Regulation: 52.22%
Driving Accuracy: 60.00%

2007
Score: 78-76-154
Driving Distance: 241 yards
Greens in Regulation: 33.33%
Driving Accuracy: 17.86%

There's an obvious trend and it isn't looking good. Her scores are up and her ball striking statistics are down. Of course it could be that it was just a couple of bad days at the 2007 Sony Open. But what if it isn't? What could cause such a change in performance?

Law of Unintended Consequences

Obviously, everyone wants to get better and is looking for ways to improve. I'm sure that back in 2004, Michelle could sense how close she was to being able to compete with the men. Shooting 72-68 on a tough par 70 golf course was impressive and it certainly opened doors for her to play in other professional men's events.

But she didn't sit still and rest on her laurels. She took the advice of swing coach David Leadbetter and sought to improve all phases of her game. Certainly improvement in all areas would allow her to compete on the men's tour. But something happened along the way.

She worked hard on her full swing. She improved her short game and putting to the point where that is the best part of her game. She has Jim Loehr to help her with her mental game. She has undergone a physical training program and now has more stamina, muscle and strength. So what might be the problem?

Could it be that her strength training is affecting her swing?

Before

At 14 years old and ready to take on the world, Michelle was just a raw physical talent with a gift of superb coordination, speed and grace. Tom Lehman's comparison of Michelle's swing to Ernie Els' swing made him come up with the nickname "the Big Wiesy." She had a natural flow and rhythm to her swing that belied her speed and power.

One can clearly see how thin and lanky she was.

After

2006 Evian Masters

She's getting a little more muscle in the arms and legs.

2007 Sony Open

She's a got a lot more muscle and she doesn't look quite so "lean and mean" like she did before.

Defending Champion David Toms played a practice round with Michelle at the 2007 Sony Open and had these thoughts, "I felt like at times maybe she was overswinging, trying to hit a draw for extra distance,'' Everyone knows what Toms means by his appraisal of her "overswinging." We've all seen our friends on the golf course trying to swing too hard. The reality is that it isn't the same swing that Tom Lehman saw a few years back.

Flashback
Remember it was in late 2005 that Paul Gagne, noted hockey training guru, began training Michelle. At that time, the 16 year old could not even do one pull-up and would be out of breath after hitting her driver four or five times consecutively on the range.

So she underwent a physical training program to develop more muscle. By January 2006 she had already gained 8 pounds of muscle. By 2007, it looks like she's added another 5 to 10 pounds. She did weight training, cardio work, posture work and more to develop more strength.

Here's a quote from Michelle prior to the last year's (2006) Sony Open.

"The fitness has been pretty tough. I had (fitness trainer) Paul (Gagne) come over for a week. The workout was very intense. I could not wash my hair in the shower. It was way too painful. I could not lift my arms. I think it is getting really good. My New Year's resolution is to cut down sugar and not be as lazy. That means going to the gym a lot more. My goal is to get fit, get stronger and prevent injury. Paul has been very helpful in that sense."

Reaching fitness goals

More Fit?
Regarding her fitness goals, is she more fit? Maybe. It depends on what one's definition of fitness is. If not being out of breath after hitting a few balls is a definition of fitness, then she's more fit. If walking 18 holes without being tired is a measure of fitness, then yes, she is more fit.

But if she's more "fit", why isn't her ball going farther? Worse yet, what does it say about her fitness if her drives are 40 yards shorter this year? Could it be that her increase in "fitness" and added muscle does not equate to higher swing speeds and may even DECREASE swing speed?

Stronger?
She has met her second goal as she's definitely stronger and has more muscle. Just look at the pictures above and you can see the difference in her physique evolve over the past two years.

Injury prevention?
It appears that her training hasn't helped to prevent injury as she had hoped it would. According to Michelle, a shot she hit off a cart path had caused an injury to her right wrist that has been lingering for months. One would hope that this wasn't simple injury that hadn't had a chance to heal because it was aggravated every time she went to the gym. Or, worse yet, what if it were actually caused by weightlifting?

Fitness?
Michelle reached only one of her fitness goals. The other two aren't what she hoped it would be. Is that a successful fitness program?

When you assume...
The strength training ASSUMPTION is always, "If one gets stronger, one automatically gets faster." I don't know many people, except for Dr. Calvin Nii and myself, ever wonder about the opposite effect or the loss of speed as a direct result of strength and endurance training. But isn't it a possibility?

Given that the human neuromuscular system is a wonderful mechanism that adapts to our every demand, we need to be very careful with how we train it. If we want to get stronger and lift more weights, we indeed get stronger. BUT, we only get stronger at the speed those weight training exercises are performed!

Also, our muscles will become accustomed to moving at that slower rate and begin to move, guess what? SLOWER! This is especially true and is more evident for fast, powerful elite level athletes, such as Michelle.

Also, training muscle groups individually, as is the norm, is very different from training the whole motion in the complex way that the golf swing is performed. Small muscles and connective tissue are not trained together and in sequence. This means that movements won't be trained in the synchronous fashion necessary for the golf swing. Could this have an adverse effect on the swing of an elite level player?

For the answer to that, let's take a look at the differences in Michelle's swing technique from 2005 to 2007.

The Swing

Left: 2007 Right: 2004

The top of the backswing looks similar aside from minor technical changes.

Left: 2007 Right: 2004

At the transition, there are some interesting things happening. This year (left), she doesn't have nearly the lower body dynamics as before.

More importantly, she is not using her body as efficiently to transfer her power from the ground up. She's rotating her shoulders and hips together and not creating as much torque in her torso. This is less efficient and may be the reason why her distance has dropped.

In 2004 (right), her hips are more open while her upper body or chest remains turned away from the target. In this regard, her body was moving very similar to Tiger's. It WAS very dynamic and powerful. This is what Tom Lehman saw and was impressed with. Her record with this swing speaks for itself.

Not the Only One

Learning from history and not repeating the mistakes of the past is the key to success in any endeavor. Other professional golfers have met similar fate after building muscle, changing their body from fat to thin and seeing their swings change or game deteriorate.

After dominating the PGA tour in mid 1970's, Johnny Miller decided to build his own house. He poured concrete, carried lumber and hammered nails. Doing so he developed a lot of muscle and blamed the added muscle for his downhill slide thereafter.

Keith Clearwater, who owns a few gyms in his home state of Utah, did a similar thing. From Jaime Diaz of CNN/SI, "As Clearwater's strength increased, his earnings and effectiveness as a golfer decreased. He developed a short, quick swing, and many observers believed he was constricted by his musculature. By 1995 Clearwater had lost his exemption. Most people thought he had lifted his way out of golf."

David Duval was a little pudgy when he became the #1 player in the world. He too undertook an intense, heavy weight-training program. He lost a lot of weight, built more muscle and got into great shape, but his game was never the same again.

Craig Stadler, my hero, worked out, dieted and lost a 60 pounds in 1999. But he began to play worse. Luckily, the Walrus listened to his body and began to eat more and have a few beers again. As a result, he began to play much better. He managed to escape the potential career-ending program. Now, the only time he goes into the fitness trailer is with a beer in hand to watch others.

Keep an eye on Christina Kim, who has lost a lot of weight and is hitting the gym more than golf balls. She used to be a long-hitting woman on the LPGA tour but we'll see how she fares this year.

The Future for Phil?

From thegolfchannel.com, "During a leviathan break Lefty has been sweating through almost daily workouts with personal trainer Sean Cochran and reportedly is chomping at the bit to get back inside the ropes (just not enough to fly to Hawaii). He has even given up soda! What's more, Phil plans to continue pumping up once he resumes playing to maintain his stamina and focus, an indication that he's in for the long FedEx haul."

Do you understand the code words? Pumping means pumping iron, and stamina, meaning lots of endurance exercise. Mickelson won one major and almost another last year with his non-Greek God-like body. Why change?

Dreams lost

Hundreds of junior golf stars enter college with hopes and dreams of eventually playing on the PGA or LPGA tour only to see their dreams vanish in the weight rooms across the country. Their bodies and swings have been ruined because of the questionable golf (football-type) training programs that go on in the colleges. This goes on largely because of the poor understanding of how finely tuned an elite golfer's body is. It doesn't take much to disturb the synchronous movements and create chaos in the swing. If just one segment is moving a little slower, a correct kinetic chain will not be as effective or efficient.

Let's hope that Michelle figures it out. It's not her fault that her game has gone down. She's just following the training regime the experts believe she should be doing and it's harming her. The problem is that no one is measuring her vital speed statistics (segment speeds) and synchronicity. She needs to train at event (golf) speeds and concern herself with anaerobic power, speed and synchronization instead of worrying about muscle, raw strength and aerobic endurance. She can regain her 2004 swing quite easily by stopping her "fitness" program and do some serious speed training. It's not too late to change course.

And best wishes to Tadd. Tadd - I hope you're listening. Don't let any "expert" tell you that you need to be in better shape. You've got a great body for golf. Anyone who can hit it 285 on average and is 5' 1" tall is doing great.

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