Omg...

...watching the Golf Channel coverage of the Nationwide Tour just now...a 17 year old kid named Tony Finau carrying his tee ball over a bunker that is 350 off the tee (on the fly). Still a lot to learn, but what potential! Also, there's a young man playing with him (didn't catch his name) that hits it right beside him. It's a different game today (sigh)...

That other guy was Gary Woodland. I think he just finished his college career at Kansas. I was watching too. I laughed so hard when he flew that bunker that I scared my two year old. According to the guys on TGC, the father of the Finau boys wants them to "earn their way" on tour. Tony won a PGA tour Monday qualifier with a 64, so he has game. So does Gipper. They're just so raw. I just hope that they don't entrust their games to an instructor that teaches them off the face of the earth.

There have always been freaky long hitters but i guess the comparatively small sweetspots ( and penalty of missing it) meant that they never thrived and survived in the days of persimmon...

In the era of 460 cc and high MOI where the penalty for missing the COG of clubface by 1/2 inch is still a ball in play.... then the uber-long hitters can thrive!! In fact not only thrive but take over the game!

Are the Finau boys any stronger than the bullishly strong Palmer or Nicklaus in their youth??

Probably not - but they are allowed to use their strength to swing in such a way that small mishits are of no functional consequence.

IMO...

Let the guys keep the grooves, the balls.... just roll back the MOI and clubhead size of the woods.... and make them wooden again. Pay the penalty of a 125 mph swing with 1/2 inch mishit!!!

Originally Posted by golfbulldog
Are the Finau boys any stronger than the bullishly strong Palmer or Nicklaus in their youth??

I like a lot of the points you made in your post.

As far as the above quote goes it may very well be so that Palmer and Nicklaus were stronger at that age. That is not relevant to the conversation though. Swing speed depends on one's ability to move quickly, not how strong they are. When my brother was 6', 115 pounds, 14 years old he could regularly hit the ball 300 yards. Sports Power by David Sandler features a nice piece of the various physical requirements of sports. Interestingly, golf is listed as 95% speed. The other categories are speed-strength, strength, power, and one more I think.

Matt

Remember Tom Weiskopf, Seve, and even Mac. When they mis-hit a drive, they would often be way off in the boonies. They were mostly using wood-woods, with steel shafts. Mr. Nicklaus was probably the best LONG and STRAIGHT HITTER.

You still see some long hitters in funny places, but they hit it so far now, that often they can still get to the green.

Long... in the 70's was 270 to 275. Now that is very average. The new LONG seems to be around 300 or more.

I saw Gipper Funai a month ago. Parnevik organized for both brothers to get a sponsors invitation to play the Scandinavian Masters, part of the European Tour.

Click the video link on this page. There is some Swedish, but also slow motion swings and interviews in English.

http://svt.se/svt/play/video.jsp?a=884418

Originally Posted by mrodock I like a lot of the points you made in your post.

As far as the above quote goes it may very well be so that Palmer and Nicklaus were stronger at that age. That is not relevant to the conversation though. Swing speed depends on one's ability to move quickly, not how strong they are. When my brother was 6', 115 pounds, 14 years old he could regularly hit the ball 300 yards. Sports Power by David Sandler features a nice piece of the various physical requirements of sports. Interestingly, golf is listed as 95% speed. The other categories are speed-strength, strength, power, and one more I think.

Matt

Dead right - speed is what gives you distance - but control of such high speed clunhead release is only possible if you have forearm muscles to maintain adequate clamps etc...

And that strength of muscle does not have to be big bulky muscle - i reckon preferably not bulky muscle. I have heard ( on TV at least) martial arts experts talking about fast punching and they positively dislike to see bulky biceps - even critisied Bruce Lee for aving too much "showy muscle" to look good on film... he did not want bruce to have bulky muscle ... said it would slow him down too much!

Originally Posted by golfbulldog Dead right - speed is what gives you distance - but control of such high speed clunhead release is only possible if you have forearm muscles to maintain adequate clamps etc...

And that strength of muscle does not have to be big bulky muscle - i reckon preferably not bulky muscle. I have heard ( on TV at least) martial arts experts talking about fast punching and they positively dislike to see bulky biceps - even critisied Bruce Lee for aving too much "showy muscle" to look good on film... he did not want bruce to have bulky muscle ... said it would slow him down too much!

cool, all makes sense

That--is what is described as swinging from the feet-you could not get a Hitter to do that!

Originally Posted by neil That--is what is described as swinging from the feet-you could not get a Hitter to do that!

I can't let that challenge go by Neil. Hitters get as much clubhead speed as swingers if not more. In some cases its surprising how much faster the clubhead can zip through the ball when hitting.

Stand behind a chair with a small person sitting in it. Now reach down to the side of the chair and scoot it "targetward" with your right arm only. Then tell me you aren't using your feet.

I think you have a better chance of being "freakishly long" as a hitter than a swinger. Study the ESPN Remax Long Drive footage when you can. A lot of those 400 yard pops sure look like hits to me.