Determinants of Club Head Speed in PGA Professional Golfers

Abstract

Turner, AN. Determinants of club head speed in PGA professional golfers. J Strength Cond Res 30(8): 2266-2270, 2016-Club head speed (CHS) has been significantly correlated with golf performance, but only in amateurs. The purpose of this study therefore, was to investigate the relationship between field-based measures of strength and power with CHS in Professional Golfers Association (PGA) professional golfers, and further determine differences between age groups. A correlation design was used to test relationships between squat jump (SJ), seated medicine ball throw (SMBT), rotational medicine ball throw (RMBT), and CHS. Twenty participants volunteered to take part in the study (age, 31.95 ± 8.7 years; height, 182.75 ± 6.88 cm; mass, 90.47 ± 15.6 kg). Intraclass correlation coefficients reported high reliability for performance variables (r = 0.85-0.95). Significant correlations (p < 0.01) were found between CHS and SJ (r = 0.817) and SMBT (r = 0.706), but not RMBT (r = 0.572). A stepwise linear regression analysis identified that SJ and SMBT explained 74% of the variance in CHS. When dividing the sample based on age, professionals <30 years (n = 10; 25.6 ± 2.9 years) displayed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher CHS and SJ height compared with professionals >30 (n = 10; 39.7 ± 5.5 years). Correlations to CHS for <30 were significant for SJ (r = 0.801) and SMBT (r = 0.643), but nonsignificant for RMBT. Those >30 had significant correlations to CHS not only in SMBT (r = 0.881) and SJ (r = 0.729), but also in RMBT (r = 0.642). The results of this study suggest that SJ and SMBT have the largest contribution to CHS in PGA professional golfers. When comparing age groups, it appears that younger golfers (<30 years) utilize more leg strength whereas older golfers (>30 years) utilize more upper body strength. Results suggest that strength-based leg exercises and power-based chest exercises may improve CHS in professional golfers.

An assessment of the relationships between ball flight results, impact factors, and golf performance

“…the amateur golfers achieved almost identical club head speed with the driver (45.42 m/s) in comparison with a study by Sweeney et al [4], who analysed players of a similar performance level (handicap: 5.7), but lower club head speed than professional golfers (46.85 m/s) described in a study by Lewis et al [24]. Judging by handicap, the participants of this study would be in betzler and Monk's 2 nd performance level category (handicap: 6-12); however, our players also displayed the club head speed that would put them in the 1 st performance category (handicap: 0-5) [1].…”

“…the ball flight results and the impact factors influence amateur players' handicap level, where a lower handicap indicates better performance [1,[19][20][21][22]. Professional players are evaluated by the amount of earnings [6,[23][24][25]. However, performance in both categories can be assessed by the average number of strokes or number of strokes for a single round [26].…”

Physical Determinants of Golf Swing Performance: Considerations for Youth Golfers

“…Studies have shown that CMJ height and predicted peak power have shown correlations ranging from moderate to very large with CHS, ball speed, and carry distance (44,56,86,100,109,110). Other jump performance tests used have included the squat jump (SJ) and drop jump with strong to moderate relationships (44,58,86,110). Studies that have used both jump height and/or peak power have indicated that peak power displays stronger correlations than jump height (44,86).…”

A Brief Review of Handgrip Strength and Sport Performance

“…3) climbing and gymnastics, 4) combat sports, and 5) strength disciplines. INSERT TABLE 3 ABOUT HERE INSERT TABLE ABOUT (3,16,50,62,73,74,86,96,101,103,117,134,137,172,173,176,192,193,197). A comparison of professional baseball players revealed trivial and moderate non-significant HGS differences between the Major League Baseball (MLB©) and minor league baseball ("AAA" and "AA") players, respectively; whereas, moderate and large significant differences were observed between MLB players in comparison to "A" and rookie league players, respectively (76).…”