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True or False: PEDs Cannot Improve a Golfer’s Game

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Rory McIlroy said recently that pro golfers should be blood-tested for illegal substances, but that he didn’t see how Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) could improve one’s game, specifically eye-hand coordination, that factor so important to high level golf.

“I don’t really know of any drug that can give you an advantage all the way across the board,” McIlroy said at The Open Championship. “There are obviously drugs that can make you stronger. There are drugs that can help your concentration. But whether there’s something out there where it can make you an overall better player, I’m not sure. Physically, obviously, you can get stronger, recover faster. So, I mean, for example, HGH is only … you can’t really pick it up in a urine test. I could use HGH and get away with it. So I think blood testing is something that needs to happen in golf just to make sure that it is a clean sport going forward.

Well, I agree with him around blood testing as opposed to the present urine testing where some key substances cannot be detected. But whether such substances can make you a better overall player, I beg to differ with Rors.

It’s generally agreed that PEDs can improve performance in baseball, football, swimming, soccer, tennis, cycling, and track and field, improving strength and endurance, and recovery time from injury. Those sports, like golf, also require so much more than those advantages I just listed. For example, eye-hand coordination is an important factor in most of those sports, as are mental aspects like motivation, attitude, determination, body flexibility, inspiration, feel, touch, day-to-day physical health (like flu or cutting your finger preparing breakfast), distressing news from family or friends (Henrik Stenson, at The Open Championship, was mourning the death of a close friend), and current events, like the horrendous terrorist attack in Nice, France, during The Open. PEDs have absolutely no effect on those vital factors in golf, or any other sport. But what they do effect in all sports, including golf, are strength, endurance and time recovering from injury; factors that help pave the way to improvement in performance.

So how can a professional golfer, or any golfer for that matter, benefit from banned substances such as Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and others from the PGA’s official list such as anabolic agents, peptide hormones, diuretics and other masking agents, drugs of abuse, stimulants, and beta blockers? Faced with the likes of longer hitters like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, Gary Player was one of the first pros to emphasize exercise to increase strength, endurance, conditioning and flexibility in order to keep pace with those bigger fellows and improve his performance. He did this without the use of PEDs. And with nine majors and dozens of worldwide wins, he did quite well with this exercise regime. He achieved added strength, endurance, flexibility and recovery time via hard work, will power, and the integrity to not supplement his regime with any drug that could have today been construed as illegal.

“If you don’t test,” wrote Don H. Catlin, MD, Founder and CEO of Anti-Doping Research, in a 2004 article titled “The Steroid Detective, published in US News and World Report, “sport is gone. People will start getting really sick. All these things are toxic.”

If Player had instead used PEDs back in his day, as is suspected some are using today, he could have increased his strength, which definitely does help with club head speed, and therefore distance, for all tee-to-green clubs; his endurance, which improves the ability to maintain skills over a four-day tournament; and speed up recovery time from injury, which quite importantly allows one to return to the course sooner. For tour players, this of course translates to possible success and money in the bank to support the family.

Dr. David Geier, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Charleston, South Carolina, in commenting on human growth hormone, wrote that “many athletes claim to use it to recover from injury more quickly, allowing them to train harder.”

To resurrect or maintain skills, top players may hit 300-500 balls a day at the range, honing and grooving techniques their instructors have gone over. Golf takes that kind of practice and preparation, especially at professional levels. That’s been the case since Ben Hogan dug his game “out of the dirt” to overcome a near fatal car accident, and go on to win six more majors. We don’t know how many balls The Hawk hit per day, but you can bet it was hundreds. I get achy hitting a small bucket a few times a week, so I can imagine how driven and how well conditioned Hogan was.

Tiger Woods took practice to an even higher level, by not only hitting many, many balls each day, but working out intensely in the gym under the eye of a personal trainer. In his prime, Tiger won some tournaments, including majors, via his ability to endure hot summer temperatures because of his conditioning. Later, after surgeries, Woods would often try to come back too soon, and has become unable to sustain the rigors of intensive practice. Some have theorized that Woods may have turned to PEDs to hasten his return to practice and preparation in order to regain the form necessary to perform at before unreachable levels, but those allegations have never been proven. We can only assume, based on negative urine tests, that an impatient Tiger simply did not giving himself enough recuperation time.

And that’s true of many of us amateurs, as well. I was out for almost a year with golfer’s elbow, champing at the bit to return to the game I love. I’d try to hit some balls at times, crossing the boundary of pain, and preceded to re-injure that elbow, adding to the time I eventually was able to return to the fray. Sometimes the ego that says, “I’m ready” or “Just do it” is like a runaway stagecoach, out of control… and intelligence.

But pros are playing this game for a living, and might be tempted to give PEDs a try if they suspect they could help — not improve their skills directly, but speed up the recuperation process to allow them to hone their skills and help get back to work faster. The same could be true around minimizing fatigue over a four-day tournament grind. What a challenge that must be! To play at that level over four days in weather that can include heat, cold, rain, wind, you name it. PEDs represent a potential shortcut in dealing with the kinds of obstacles that make earning a living as a touring pro the challenge it is. Golf, though, is a game of integrity, as it has been since its inception. Still, with the kind of money involved in this modern era, the temptations are there.

Russell Meldrum, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine, wrote in a 2002 article published in Sport Journal: “Drug use is a serious concern, not only for the concepts of integrity and fair play in competitive sports, but because of the health threats to the athletes. Certainly drug testing programs should continue with increasing numbers of athletes being tested and increasing penalties for detection, since these are most likely means of deterrence.”

So can PEDs, such as HGH, improve a golfer’s game? No, as far as swing mechanics, course management, feel, touch, green reading, etc. are concerned. But they can boost the capacity for the golfer to endure more, get stronger, and recuperate faster from injury to allow him or her to gain an edge to hit more practice balls and improve one’s ability to feel more in control of their physical and mental condition.

I vote for random blood testing to definitively keep these substances out of professional golf.

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Stephen has been a freelance writer since 1969. He's written six books, including the award-winning The Mindful Hiker and The Mindful Golfer, a best seller. His book covers all aspects of the game of golf, and can be purchased at local booksellers and online here. Stephen has also written many regional and national articles, and currently blogs at www.mindfulgolfer.com.

36 Comments

36 Comments

  1. Pingback: PEDs in the MLB – Sports

  2. mannyv

    Aug 14, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    To the first poster. TW has always been an athletic freak. When he was at Stanford he was the strongest athlete pound for pound football team included.
    Remember when he won the Masters in 1997 as a skinny kid he was hitting pitching wedge into to 500+ yard par four while other players were using 4 irons.

    • Justin

      Aug 16, 2016 at 11:34 am

      “He was the strongest athlete pound for pound football team included”

      There’s not a chance in hell that’s true!! Have you seen pictures of him when he was at Stanford? Everyone on the Stanford Football team is laughing at you right now. What a ridiculous comment!

    • CW

      Aug 19, 2016 at 10:10 pm

      Really,i heard he used his putter.
      Also,i heard he used to flap his arms really really fast and was able to fly over the course before playing it..

  3. AllBOdoesisgolf

    Aug 11, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    look what happened when Tiger was on them and then look what happened when he stopped because they started testing…..

    • Tom

      Aug 11, 2016 at 2:56 pm

      You could walk onto a highschool football field and find five kids who are in just as good of shape as Tiger ever was. He was in great shape, but he wasn’t anything spectacular in terms of the fitness world. Compared to other golfers, yes, he looked like a powerhouse, but you wouldn’t have to look far in the closest Golds Gym to find someone warming up with Tigers max weights, all while doing it drug free. On top of that, PED’s would have nothing to do with Tiger’s injuries. If he were doing them, I would assume he would have proper council, and would have gotten certain ones that would’ve helped him feel much better through the latter few years of his career.

      • CCshop

        Aug 12, 2016 at 5:16 pm

        So your saying I could go into any high school and find 5 kids that could go through the rigorous Navy Seal training that Tiger was doing. Doubt it. He ruined his body during that training and with how much he lifted outside of golf. Not sure 5 kids I went to high school with could have done the same.

  4. Tom

    Aug 11, 2016 at 9:20 am

    Depends what PED’s people are talking about…

    General PED’s in the sense of steriods and muscle growth… Very debate-able. You could argue that they enhance athletic performance and that’s better for just about anyone and anything you do that’s sports related, but let’s remember: Furyk shot the lowest round in golf history this weekend, and if that man takes PED’s, someone will have to scoop my jaw off the floor for me.

    I propose looking at it from a completely different angle: Are steroids necessary to perform at a high level in golf? No.

    If you took them, would they help you perform to that high level? NO.

    Golf is a game of accuracy, not just distance. If you look at the guys with the most strokes gained putting, you’ll generally find them around the top of the leader board.

    Now, if you bring in things like amphetamines, beta blockers, etc.. that could be, and IMO is an entirely different story. It’s been said at minimum a million times: “Golf is a mental game.”

    If hitting the ball further was all that the game required, then yes, the PED’s which enhance athletic ability may give you an edge, but even then, it’s doubtful. Jamie Sadlowski is a prime example: Trains hard, athletic, sound mechanics, but does not possess a skillset that can be obtained by PED’s, nor would he be helped by them. If anything, MOST PED’s would hinder what gives him the ability to hit the ball like he does.

    However, on the course, the drugs that give an advantage to the mind.. Something to help you focus on the 18th tee when you’re T1. Something that kills the nerves for the 10′ down hill putt for a +$1M purse and a major title. Those are what will help golfers.

    I’ve played my best golf when I’m focused and relaxed, not when I’ve been in the best shape of my life.

    Side note: People look at Tiger and Rory like they’re freaks. Compared to the golfing world, they are freaks. But put them in a gym with a group of guys who truly know how to train, and they’re mediocre in size, at best.

    • KK

      Aug 14, 2016 at 12:41 pm

      It’s farther, not further. And Furyk with the power of DJ would’ve shot 54.

  5. Amp

    Aug 11, 2016 at 3:23 am

    Adderall helps me a lot. I get a lot of focus and concentration from that stuff. If I didn’t get it, I’d go lazy and my mind will wander. I don’t play serious competitions, just play recreationally, so don’t put the evil label on me, I am responsible, I wouldn’t ever try to cheat this way.
    It’s crazy to think how old this drug really is. Makes you wonder who was using it back in the day without the kind of detection methods we now have in the modern world. But then again, you can ask that about so many drugs, including drugs of abuse, some of which weren’t even considered as such until somewhat recently.
    The world is changing rapidly now, and nobody will be able to cheat this way. And it’s good that everybody will have to submit to testing.

  6. KK

    Aug 10, 2016 at 11:07 pm

    No question it’s true. Golf is easier with more athletic ability and PEDs increase athletic ability. Faster recovery is also an underrated benefit. This is an exaggeration but imagine Tiger with the healing power of Wolverine. He’d have 30 majors by now. HGH is much less than being Wolverine but it’s measurably better than no HGH.

  7. BSGolf

    Aug 10, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    I vote do whatever you want to do to your own body…God made it for humans to use…Drugs are good and professional golf is entertainment…let the syringes fly and lets see someone on Beta Blockers shoot 54

    • Justin

      Aug 10, 2016 at 2:24 pm

      One man’s demise is often at the detriment of many

  8. Justin

    Aug 10, 2016 at 12:12 pm

    If you don’t think PEDs (specifically anabolic steroids, peptides, and hgh) can help improve a golfers game, then you probably don’t know much about PEDs. Unlike most other sports, there is such a thing as being too “big” for golf. You can be fat and golf just fine, but it becomes increasingly difficult to repeat a swing when muscles that are huge get in the way. Tiger, at his physical peak, never had muscle size that approached the size of many other athletes in many other sports. Yet, some still argued his size was holding him back and decreased his flexibility (which may have lead to some injury issues he has and is now dealing with).

    What most people don’t realize is steroids alone will not grow huge muscles. Steroids are simply a “booster” for the incoming nutrients. If you continue to eat a normal diet, you likely won’t get much bigger. The guys and gals that gain tons of weight through the use of steroids are eating far more calories than normal. The steroids allow your body to use more of these incoming nutrients and convert them into muscle whereas they would normally be wasted or converted into fat. Think of steroid use as a time travel device…they’re simply speeding up the process (and in some cases pushing you past your physical limitations). What you could accomplish in 2 years of hard work can likely be accomplished in 6 months or less.

    As for practical use in golf, you can still eat a “light and healthy” diet while on steroids and increase strength. Your muscles will certainly grow a bit, especially if you jump right in without a ton of prior history of intense weight training. But the main benefit here for golfers is recovery time, and because they are not worried about gaining muscle all that fast, they can use some of the lighter drugs that the body builders don’t even bother with. Instead of “bigger, stronger, faster” you get “stronger, leaner, fresher.”

    ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HGH….

    Most people know it can help accelerate injury recovery. Some scientists will debate that it has any effect on injury recovery, but I’ve seen it first hand and can tell you the results are unbelievable. In just the first week on HGH, your body will “force” you to catch up on the sleep you’ve been missing out on. You’ll be very tired during the day for most of the first week and may be forced to nap occasionally. After that, you’ll notice you are sleeping much better at night and wake up feeling looser and more refreshed. I would think that right there would help to heighten focus indirectly if nothing else. Like most of these drugs, at a certain point you get diminishing returns because the body builds up a tolerance. Users are forced to cycle them to give their receptors a chance to refresh (again, this is debated, but it works time and time again in real life). But now, with the introduction of peptides, you don’t even have to cycle off. HGH is an exogenous hormone that both suppresses and replaces your natural GH production. Most people believe that steroids and HGH “add” to your natural levels, when in fact they completely flat line your natural production. This is the main reason why they are viewed as dangerous or risky, and rightfully so. Now athletes are using HGH in conjunction with peptides such as GHRH and GHRP to benefit from both natural and exogenous production. This is achievable because of the short half life of these items. GHRH and GHRP work together to increase both the number of receptors producing natural GH in the hypotahlamus and increase the output of those receptors. So, you can cycle peptides and HGH at intervals throughout the day to achieve maximum results without ever having to come off (theoretically).

    Now you know that it sounds like a pain in the ass (literally and metaphorically) to use steroids and HGH… would you do it if you know you wouldn’t be caught and it would increase the chance of financial success in your life? This is what these guys are faced with and I really hope that golf is enough of a gentleman’s game to simply weed out the users who shouldn’t be there. Physical fitness is more important in the game now than ever. Even Andrew “Beef” Johnston works out hard so he can have a consistent swing (even though his body may not show it!). I think long term we’ll be seeing more and more instructors teaching a swing that stresses preservation of the body. I can’t help but think guys like Rory McIlroy and Jason Day will have injury issues in the future because of the torque they create in their swings. I really hope they play forever and never get injured, but it seems like a high probability that they will. Remember, chicks dig the long ball… but you can only hit the long ball if you are able to walk out onto the course!

    • LT

      Aug 10, 2016 at 1:00 pm

      You know nothing. Got all that from Google, didja?

      • Justin

        Aug 10, 2016 at 2:22 pm

        Because I’d love to spend my time regurgitating info from Google…

        There is so much misinformation out there and most people refuse to listen to the things I have to say, but that’s not my problem. Take from this what you will but it should be very informative for the 7 people that will actually read the entire comment

        • LT

          Aug 10, 2016 at 10:12 pm

          Everybody already knows everything you said. It makes you sound like an idiot for repeating it over and over

          • Justin

            Aug 11, 2016 at 11:31 am

            Since when do you refer to yourself as Everybody

            • snowexcuse

              Aug 15, 2016 at 2:02 pm

              I thought your post was great, thank for the write-up. I did not know the specifics of PED use.

              • Justin

                Aug 16, 2016 at 11:36 am

                Thank you! Finally someone that shows LT is the real idiot!

    • Jim

      Aug 11, 2016 at 3:06 am

      I have a ‘broken back’ and have been teaching a biomechanically more correct swing for 20 years. It works, it’s powerful, the derotational shear forces are dispersed over a greater ROM. Increased emphasis on hand speed, maintaining spine angle during winding up & shifting well before unwinding front hip and speeding up the hands. I turned pro in 95 after breaking my back in 1990…from 97-2001 I was averaging 298 off the tee and 150 was a 9 iron.

      The only time I ever hurt my back moving this way was when I slipped on a tee shot with those shitty 1st gen soft spikes! I’ve taught over 100 students with back injuries who saught me out and have had success with everyone. (No one’s back ‘fixed itself’ and some with degenerative or arthritic conditions continued to deteriorate, but no one ‘hurt their back’ swinging this way. Most played more often, hit bigger buckets at the range with less or no pain than ever before.

      ps…tell Tiger to see me 😉

      • Jim

        Aug 11, 2016 at 9:03 am

        I had a few broken bones and from the usual foorball, rugby stuff, my service, but it was a fall at the WTC pile during the ‘rescue phase’ after
        9/11 when everything held together with spit n duct tape finally broke. I had 3 lower back surgeries in 01-02 and 2 C Spine surgeries in 03. 2004 was mostly all rehab, strengthening and relearning another ‘bad back’ swing…2005 was
        my first year back fully employed on green
        grass teaching and playing with members daily.

        I have pain everyday – some days worse than
        others, and in 2014 I finally had my shoulder rebuilt
        This was by far the most painful surgery I ever had and the 16 week recovery was brutal.

        If taking some kind of steroid or HGH or whatever MEDICINE my doctor could have given
        would’ve helped speed the recovery time – I
        would’ve taken it. I’m still working to strengthen it and may end up with a 20-30% loss. Balls definitely aren’t goin as far anymore.

        So, if say I’m playing in a section event or a Monday 4 spot and by some miracle get in, am I cheating taking my pain pills (without which I can’t play 18 holes or work a full active day) or some Medicine helping my torn up miscles heal?

        There was a thread about what Jimmy Walker was thinking on that last putt…If he was taking Ritalin – I’M NOT EVEN suggesting he was, the hole would’ve looked 3 times bigger and all he woulda been thinkin is ‘back of cup’…
        THAT’S a PED drug for golf

    • Tom

      Aug 11, 2016 at 2:52 pm

      HGH is a little different than you’re making it out to be in your post.. It heals and actually creates more cells, but isn’t one of the drugs that has direct strength or endurance properties. It enhances size, burns fat, and helps your tendons and ligaments heal significantly faster by creating more cells. That being said, your head, hands, heart, and other internal organs will grow. If you look at a body builder who seems to have a big gut, even though he’s sitting there with 3% body fat, that’s because HGH caused his intestines to grow. Pretty nasty.

      Before you reply, I do happen to know quite a bit about PED’s.

      Golfers don’t need PED’s. It’s not a game of strength. Endurance is necessary, but as long as you can swing as fast on the 18th tee as you did on the 1st tee, you’re pretty much set.

      As said in a post before, Furyk just shot the lowest round in professional golf history, and although I can’t be certain, I’d be pretty dang surprised to hear he did any kind of drugs to get there.

      • Justin

        Aug 16, 2016 at 11:56 am

        You say HGH doesn’t have direct strength properties and then immediately after you say it enhances size. Don’t you think it’s highly probable (if not absolute) that when your muscle size increases that your strength would also increase? It goes along with the common misconception that Steroids alone increase muscle size, without caloric intake increase or resistance training… which is simply not true.

        It’s actually debatable whether HGH actually enhances muscle size at all. The only direct way it could enhance muscle size would be through Hyperplasia, which hasn’t been proven to take place within the human body yet. To effectively “gain” muscle size on HGH, you have to use so much of it that you start to run into problems like acromegaly (unnatural growth), which is normally caused by a pituitary tumor but in this case is caused by an “overload” of sorts.

        The distended guts of bodybuilders are likely not the result of overuse of HGH. The reason they look that way is a visceral layer of fat has formed underneath their abs and to me and many others, the only logical explanation for this is the rampant use of insulin. It’s likely that not many people know about the use of insulin to increase muscle mass, but the effects can be more dramatic than steroids. I won’t go into it in detail because the topic here is golf, but just look at a pic of Ronnie Coleman at any Olympia he won vs a pic of Arnold at any Olympia he won. One will look much bigger and the other will look much better.

        I don’t doubt that there could already be PGA Tour players using HGH. The routine to use it effectively is very “needle intensive” because of the very short half life of the drug and I would think this would be inconvenient for the schedule of a golfer when compared to other sports. Golfers do not need PED’s, but I’m certain that they help give an unfair advantage when used properly. Recovery time is something that is rarely discussed because you can’t see it compared to the bulging muscles, but it’s more important than the actual strength gains.

        If Jim Furyk is on Steroids then we should suspend the entire sport, haha.

    • Ken

      Aug 11, 2016 at 7:10 pm

      Can agree with you as in early 70″s had two fiends both win some middle level body building contests (both were good enough to get some face time with Joe Weider, and in his magazines several times) We talked about steroid use a lot and it was very clear it gave them the ability to work out longer and add weight faster, and the eating was key…. 2 year gains in 6 months sounds very fair for top body builders like them.

  9. SV

    Aug 10, 2016 at 12:10 pm

    I have found beer helps tremendously, or at least it takes the sting out of playing badly.

  10. Robert

    Aug 10, 2016 at 12:04 pm

    Some PED’s can improve eye sight as well, which can improve hand eye coordination. If you don’t believe PED’s can help you in golf, you are just sticking your head in the sand. It helps in everything. And I don’t blame any player that is just trying to survive out there for doing them if they end up being a steady member on the tour. It’s their livelyhood. I do whatever I can to be better at my job. Why wouldn’t they?

  11. Christosterone

    Aug 10, 2016 at 11:51 am

    The same discussions took place back in the 80s regarding baseball…we all know how that turned out…
    NEWSFLASH: steroids are super helpful in every single sport….with absolutely no exceptions.

    -Christosterone

  12. alexdub

    Aug 10, 2016 at 11:42 am

    Obviously, no one believes that taking PEDs are going to fix your swing flaws. However, PEDs can have a substantial effect on endurance and recovery. Every one of us—including pro golfers— has been at that 4 hour mark of a round when your body starts to give in a little. Mental lapses in concentration often follow physical lapses in strength. I don’t think PEDs are a cure-all, but I do think that they could help. The PGA should have an open and regular testing process.

  13. ta

    Aug 10, 2016 at 11:33 am

    PEDs includes so many drugs. The list is huge. Some simple drugs, other than Steroids or HGH, can have instantaneous benefits, and that is why it is on the list. Just because people see the label as PED doesn’t mean it’s some kind of mega drug that only wealthy athletes can buy from a specialized source. You are neglecting to mention basic drugs that you can buy over the counter, such as some ingredients found in cold and allergy medications.

  14. ooffa

    Aug 10, 2016 at 10:17 am

    They may not improve ones game, but they sure can hasten the end of ones career. It happened to Tiger. Now it’s happening to Rory.

    • Tom

      Aug 11, 2016 at 9:24 am

      Tiger and Rory have very aesthetic, and athletic physiques. They’re in great shape, but they don’t have anything that isn’t attainable naturally.

      They have the build of dang near everybody I ever played sports with and lifted with. It’s impressive to the golf world because we are used to looking at John Daily-esque guys walking around the course. However, comparing them to others in the fitness world, they’re just in great shape. It’s very impressive, but it’s honestly nothing crazy..

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

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My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply.  Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean.  Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open betting preview

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As the Florida swing comes to an end, the PGA Tour makes its way to Houston to play the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course.

This will be the fourth year that Memorial Park Golf Course will serve as the tournament host. The event did not take place in 2023, but the course hosted the event in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Memorial Park is a par-70 layout measuring 7,432 yards and features Bermudagrass greens. Historically, the main defense for the course has been thick rough along the fairways and tightly mown runoff areas around the greens. Memorial Park has a unique setup that features three Par 5’s and five Par 3’s.

The field will consist of 132 players, with the top 65 and ties making the cut. There are some big names making the trip to Houston, including Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala.

Past Winners at Memorial Park

  • 2022: Tony Finau (-16)
  • 2021: Jason Kokrak (-10)
  • 2020: Carlos Ortiz (-13)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the Rabbit Hole by Betsperts Golf data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

Key Stats For Memorial Park

Let’s take a look at several metrics for Memorial Park to determine which golfers boast top marks in each category over their last 24 rounds:

Strokes Gained: Approach

Memorial Park is a pretty tough golf course. Golfers are penalized for missing greens and face some difficult up and downs to save par. Approach will be key.

Total Strokes Gained: Approach per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Tom Hoge (+1.30)
  2. Scottie Scheffler (+1.26)
  3. Keith Mitchell (+0.97) 
  4. Tony Finau (+0.92)
  5. Jake Knapp (+0.84)

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee

Memorial Park is a long golf course with rough that can be penal. Therefore, a combination of distance and accuracy is the best metric.

Total Strokes Gained: Off the Tee per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+0.94)
  2. Kevin Dougherty (+0.93)
  3. Cameron Champ (+0.86)
  4. Rafael Campos (+0.84)
  5. Si Woo Kim (+0.70)

Strokes Gained Putting: Bermudagrass + Fast

The Bermudagrass greens played fairly fast the past few years in Houston. Jason Kokrak gained 8.7 strokes putting on his way to victory in 2021 and Tony Finau gained in 7.8 in 2022.

Total Strokes Gained Putting (Bermudagrass) per round past 24 rounds (min. 8 rounds):

  1. Adam Svensson (+1.27)
  2. Harry Hall (+1.01)
  3. Martin Trainer (+0.94)
  4. Taylor Montgomery (+0.88)
  5. S.H. Kim (+0.86)

Strokes Gained: Around the Green

With firm and undulating putting surfaces, holding the green on approach shots may prove to be a challenge. Memorial Park has many tightly mowed runoff areas, so golfers will have challenging up-and-down’s around the greens. Carlos Ortiz gained 5.7 strokes around the green on the way to victory in 2020.

Total Strokes Gained: Around the Green per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Mackenzie Hughes (+0.76)
  2. S.H. Kim (+0.68)
  3. Scottie Scheffler (+0.64)
  4. Jorge Campillo (+0.62)
  5. Jason Day (+0.60)

Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult

Memorial Park is a long and difficult golf course. This statistic will incorporate players who’ve had success on these types of tracks in the past. 

Total Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+2.45)
  2. Ben Griffin (+1.75)
  3. Will Zalatoris (+1.73)
  4. Ben Taylor (+1.53)
  5. Tony Finau (+1.42)

Course History

Here are the players who have performed the most consistently at Memorial Park. 

Strokes Gained Total at Memorial Park past 12 rounds:

  1. Tyson Alexander (+3.65)
  2. Ben Taylor (+3.40)
  3. Tony Finau (+2.37)
  4. Joel Dahmen (+2.25)
  5. Patton Kizzire (+2.16)

Statistical Model

Below, I’ve reported overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed.

These rankings are comprised of SG: App (24%) SG: OTT (24%); SG: Putting Bermudagrass/Fast (13%); SG: Long and Difficult (13%); SG: ARG (13%) and Course History (13%)

  1. Scottie Scheffler
  2. Wyndham Clark
  3. Tony Finau
  4. Joel Dahmen
  5. Stephan Jaeger 
  6. Aaron Rai
  7. Sahith Theegala
  8. Keith Mitchell 
  9. Jhonnatan Vegas
  10. Jason Day
  11. Kurt Kitayama
  12. Alex Noren
  13. Will Zalatoris
  14. Si Woo Kim
  15. Adam Long

2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open Picks

Will Zalatoris +2000 (Caesars)

Scottie Scheffler will undoubtedly be difficult to beat this week, so I’m starting my card with someone who I believe has the talent to beat him if he doesn’t have his best stuff.

Will Zalatoris missed the cut at the PLAYERS, but still managed to gain strokes on approach while doing so. In an unpredictable event with extreme variance, I don’t believe it would be wise to discount Zalatoris based on that performance. Prior to The PLAYERS, the 27-year-old finished T13, T2 and T4 in his previous three starts.

Zalatoris plays his best golf on long and difficult golf courses. In his past 24 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the category, but the eye test also tells a similar story. He’s contended at major championships and elevated events in the best of fields with tough scoring conditions.  The Texas resident should be a perfect fit at Memorial Park Golf Club.

Alex Noren +4500 (FanDuel)

Alex Noren has been quietly playing some of his best golf of the last half decade this season. The 41-year-old is coming off back-to-back top-20 finishes in Florida including a T9 at The PLAYERS in his most recent start.

In his past 24 rounds, Noren ranks 21st in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 30th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, 25th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses and 21st in Strokes Gained: Putting on fast Bermudagrass greens.

In addition to his strong recent play, the Swede also has played well at Memorial Park. In 2022, Noren finished T4 at the event, gaining 2.2 strokes off the tee and 7.0 strokes on approach for the week. In his two starts at the course, he’s gained an average of .6 strokes per round on the field, indicating he is comfortable on these greens.

Noren has been due for a win for what feels like an eternity, but Memorial Park may be the course that suits him well enough for him to finally get his elusive first PGA Tour victory.

Mackenzie Hughes +8000 (FanDuel)

Mackenzie Hughes found himself deep into contention at last week’s Valspar Championship before faltering late and finishing in a tie for 3rd place. While he would have loved to win the event, it’s hard to see the performance as anything other than an overwhelming positive sign for the Canadian.

Hughes has played great golf at Memorial Park in the past. He finished T7 in 2020, T29 in 2021 and T16 in 2022. The course fit seems to be quite strong for Hughes. He’s added distance off the tee in the past year or and ranks 8th in the field for apex height, which will be a key factor when hitting into Memorial Park’s elevated greens with steep run-off areas.

In his past 24 rounds, Hughes is the best player in the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Greens. The ability to scramble at this course will be extremely important. I believe Hughes can build off of his strong finish last week and contend once again to cement himself as a President’s Cup consideration.

Akshay Bhatia +8000 (FanDuel)

Akshay Bhatia played well last week at the Valspar and seemed to be in total control of his golf ball. He finished in a tie for 17th and shot an impressive -3 on a difficult Sunday. After struggling Thursday, Akshay shot 68-70-68 in his next three rounds.

Thus far, Bhatia has played better at easier courses, but his success at Copperhead may be due to his game maturing. The 22-year-old has enormous potential and the raw talent to be one of the best players in the world when he figures it all out.

Bhatia is a high upside play with superstar qualities and may just take the leap forward to the next stage of his career in the coming months.

Cameron Champ +12000 (FanDuel)

Cameron Champ is a player I often target in the outright betting market due to his “boom-or-bust” nature. It’s hard to think of a player in recent history with three PGA Tour wins who’s been as inconsistent as Champ has over the course of his career.

Despite the erratic play, Cam Champ simply knows how to win. He’s won in 2018, 2019 and 2021, so I feel he’s due for a win at some point this season. The former Texas A&M product should be comfortable in Texas and last week he showed us that his game is in a pretty decent spot.

Over his past 24 rounds, Champ ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 30th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses. Given his ability to spike at any given time, Memorial Park is a good golf course to target Champ on at triple digit odds.

Robert MacIntyre +12000 (FanDuel)

The challenge this week is finding players who can possibly beat Scottie Scheffler while also not dumping an enormous amount of money into an event that has a player at the top that looks extremely dangerous. Enter McIntyre, who’s another boom-or-bust type player who has the ceiling to compete with anyone when his game is clicking on all cylinders.

In his past 24 rounds, MacIntyre ranks 16th in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 17th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green and 10th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses.

MacIntyre’s PGA Tour season has gotten off to a slow start, but he finished T6 in Mexico, which is a course where players will hit driver on the majority of their tee shots, which is what we will see at Memorial Park. Texas can also get quite windy, which should suit MacIntyre. Last July, the Scot went toe to toe with Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open before a narrow defeat. It would take a similar heroic effort to compete with Scheffler this year in Houston.

Ryan Moore +15000 (FanDuel)

Ryan Moore’s iron play has been absolutely unconscious over his past few starts. At The PLAYERS Championship in a loaded field, he gained 6.1 strokes on approach and last week at Copperhead, he gained 9.0 strokes on approach.

It’s been a rough handful of years on Tour for the 41-year-old, but he is still a five-time winner on the PGA Tour who’s young enough for a career resurgence. Moore has chronic deterioration in a costovertebral joint that connects the rib to the spine, but has been getting more consistent of late, which is hopefully a sign that he is getting healthy.

Veterans have been contending in 2024 and I believe taking a flier on a proven Tour play who’s shown signs of life is a wise move at Memorial Park.

 

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Why the race to get better at golf might be doing more harm than good

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B.F. Skinner was one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, developing the foundation of the development of reinforcement, and in doing so, creating the concept of behaviorism. In simple terms, this means that we are conditioned by our habits. In practical terms, it explains the divide between the few and far between elite instructors and college coaches.

To understand the application, let’s quickly review one of B.F. Skinner’s most important experiments; superstitions in the formation of behavior by pigeons. In this experiment, food was dispensed to pigeons at random intervals. Soon, according to Skinner, the pigeons began to associate whatever action they were doing at the time of the food being dispensed. According to Skinner, this conditioned that response and soon, they simply haphazardly repeated the action, failing to distinguish between cause and correlation (and in the meantime, looking really funny!).

Now, this is simply the best way to describe the actions of most every women’s college golf coach and too many instructors in America. They see something work, get positive feedback and then become conditioned to give the feedback, more and more, regardless of if it works (this is also why tips from your buddies never work!).

Go to a college event, particularly a women’s one, and you will see coaches running all over the place. Like the pigeons in the experiment, they have been conditioned into a codependent relationship with their players in which they believe their words and actions, can transform a round of golf. It is simply hilarious while being equally perturbing

In junior golf, it’s everywhere. Junior golf academies make a living selling parents that a hysterical coach and over-coaching are essential ingredients in your child’s success.

Let’s be clear, no one of any intellect has any real interest in golf — because it’s not that interesting. The people left, including most coaches and instructors, carve out a small fiefdom, usually on the corner of the range, where they use the illusion of competency to pray on people. In simple terms, they baffle people with the bullshit of pseudo-science that they can make you better, after just one more lesson.

The reality is that life is an impromptu game. The world of golf, business, and school have a message that the goal is being right. This, of course, is bad advice, being right in your own mind is easy, trying to push your ideas on others is hard. As a result, it is not surprising that the divorce rate among golf professionals and their instructors is 100 percent. The transfer rate among college players continues to soar, and too many courses have a guy peddling nefarious science to good people. In fact, we do at my course!

The question is, what impact does all this have on college-age and younger kids? At this point, we honestly don’t know. However, I am going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t good.

Soren Kierkegaard once quipped “I saw it for what it is, and I laughed.” The actions of most coaches and instructors in America are laughable. The problem is that I am not laughing because they are doing damage to kids, as well as driving good people away from this game.

The fact is that golfers don’t need more tips, secrets, or lessons. They need to be presented with a better understanding of the key elements of golf. With this understanding, they can then start to frame which information makes sense and what doesn’t. This will emancipate them and allow them to take charge of their own development.

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