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Originally Posted by O.city
Some are but not most.
The biggest breaking point on it is always cash. It costs a **** load to go out and try to make it. Most of those guys who are that good aren’t paying tuition anyway and the amount of experience they get in college without having to be paying for it is worth it.
It’s a lot different that the other sports. Very few if any guys come out and are ready to do it halfway thru college.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower
I equate golf with baseball. The guys who can get paid start getting it as earlier as they can.. though even Tiger played college ball.
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There's a reason why there are very few middle class kids on tour--their parents had the money to get them lessons, memberships, and tournaments that cost 10's of thousands of dollars. My in-laws used to run a junior golf tour and almost all of those kids came from a lot of money, and it only gets more concentrated from there. There aren't a lot of stories like Tiger and Phil. The guys who do claw their way up often have wealthy locals buy stakes in them wherein they take a certain percentage of prize money for X number of years. In turn, this allows them to cover travel, room, and board.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pointer19
Very amateur here... I hit some balls at the range last night and couldn't drive more than 200 yards. I'm going to blame it on my $50 garage sale clubs. I was shooting most balls straight. What's the key to getting more distance?
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Everything matters. Flexibility, strength, swing arc--they all contribute to speed. The most important thing is a proper sequence so that you aren't wasting speed. Take me, for example: I'm 6'1 with long arms and I'm extremely flexible. I can turn my shoulders 135 degrees even now, and could put my legs behind my head into my 30s. For years I had a very wide swing arc and fairly strong legs, but I rarely hit the ball more than 260 yards. Now, that's farther than the vast majority of weekend golfers, but it's not very far for good amateurs at all. My brother-in-law is 3 inches shorter than me, has never touched a weight in his life, and couldn't touch his toes, but hit the ball 30 yards past me.
Why? First, he played golf day after day for years and built up a very specific strength, but most importantly, his swing sequencing was much bette than mine.
My shoulder turn was far too flat and I didn't rotate my forearms properly. As a result, I would spin out on the downswing, wipe across the ball, and couldn't release the club with my arms (because a lack of forearm rotation would cause a hook off the Earth if I did).
As I've worked on fixing that, my 7-iron distance has gone from 155 to 175, despite the fact that I haven't lifted seriously in a decade.
Watch this video for more explanation: Ground forces also make a big difference, but that's too difficult for a new golfer to attempt