It’s happening right in front of our eyes. Our athletes are stronger and more powerful than ever. As humans, our curiosities with potential and toying with the limits of performance have pushed us to new heights, distances, and records. What lies on the horizon? Will we eventually cap out human potential? It’s anybody’s guess.
Today we are discussing golf. It is the sport where we are seeing a rapidly growing field in regard to performance improvements. Tour players are hitting golf balls further than ever before and the game is evolving. Here is some info to help show what we are currently seeing in the game of golf.
- Furthest hitter on average: Bryson DeChambeau with an average drive distance of 321 yards this season. He also gains an average of 2.099 strokes per round over the rest of the field from tee-to-green (total strokes – putts), but that’s for a different convo.
- The average drive distance of winners on tour this year at the time of this blog – 300.4 yds.
- The percent of players on tour with an average driving distance of 300 or higher – 31.3%
- >75% of the previous 60 tour event winners averaged higher driving distances than the current tour average of 295.6 yards.
So, what does this mean for the game?
Well, it’s pretty simple…Longer hitters are going to have more success.
Professional golfers are realizing that the longer drive yields a much easier approach shot, even if it comes at the expense of accuracy.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: technology has changed drastically in the last decade. While this is true, an argument can be made that all players have access to the same equipment. On the other hand, the USGA has a set of equipment guidelines that ever manufacturer must adhere to in order to deem their equipment playable for competition (Hey Siri, Google ‘COR 83%’).
Here is where performance coaches are scratching their heads. Golf? Athletes?
Yep! And they’re starting to train more like them too. But there is a problem. Golfers can’t just hop on any fitness program and expect to see tour-like changes in their swing speeds. It goes a little further than that.
Training golfers is something that we specialize adhere at Chadwick’s. There is an intricate screening process that evaluates each individual golfer and indicates where he or she can improve.
We look at things like rotation, stability, balance, power, strength, and the list goes on. Simply put, if you are serious about your golf game, or just want to be able to get through a round without your back flaring up, come in and see us. We’d love to help take your game further down the fairway.
