Does Weight, Height or Age Give You the Advantage in Golf?

I have always used these mental excuses for not hitting my drives as far as others in my foursome. Of course we are all looking for excuses. Now that we are starting a new PGA golf season, I noticed that there are some surprising results. By recent performance of some of the top players in the world, it looks like skill, strength and flexibility are more important than weight, height and age.

Are Weight and Height Key Factors for Your Golf Swing?
Brian Harman and Patton Kizzire teamed up to capture golf’s QBE Shootout at the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Florida last week. It’s a 3 day event with a Scramble, Alternate Shot and Best Ball formats. This is a great example of tall and short as well as heavy and light weight where these factors had limited effect.

Congratulations to the Harman/Kizzire team winning QBE Shootout where it clearly showed that size does not matter in golf.

Patton Kizzire: 32, 6 foot 5inches, 215 pounds. In RSM Classic his driving average was 286 yards, longest 312, accuracy was 72% and GIR 76.4%
Brian Harman:5 foot 7 inches, 31 years old and 150 pounds. RSM Classic his average drive was 275 yards and his longest was 308 with an accuracy of 87.5% and GIR 72.2 %

Another recent example of an aging, short and light weight golfer Louis Oosthuizen at 36, 5 foot 10 inches and 180 pounds recently won the South African Open. On the par 4, 9th hole, he hit a 341 yard drive to pin high (but missed the eagle putt). 4 years ago he won the 2014 PGA Long Drive Competition with a drive of 340 yards beating Jason Day by 2 yards.

Is Age a Limiting Factor?
Charles Howell III at 39 and Matt Kucher at 40 both recently won tournaments on the same day and exactly 4 years after they had their last PGA Tournament wins.  Tiger Woods is 42 and now that he has recovered from many physical and emotional problems he will most likely win more tournaments. Of course we can’t forget the near miss for Tom Watson at age 60 when he lost his lead and tied on the 18th hole of The Open in 2009. Unfortunately he lost the playoff.

Why is an Average Sized Guy Outperforming the Big Hitters?
Cameron Champ is only 23, 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds. At the US Open 2017 he led the field in driving distance at 337 yards. When he won the Safeway Open, his average club-head speed and ball speed, were the fastest at 129.66 mph and 192.67 mph. He swings wide in the takeaway and loops down at the top and then swings from the inside slot and up his target line.  [Try it, you’ll like it.]

Cameron’s swing coach from the age of 14, Sean Foley, pointed out, “Look how much his club lies down across the top.” It looping about 10 inches down at the top. “He’s really loaded without swaying off the ball.” He has a perfect straight arm swing and wrist lag with a delayed release for major whipping action and power. He also pointed out that Cameron’s drives are about 30 yards longer than Dustin Johnson.

Weight, height and age are not the controlling factors in the golf swing. In our next blog we will summarize why skill, strength and flexibility along with an efficient swing are so critical for your golf swing. Practice for the perfect swing with GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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3 Comments

  • Turning your hips fast and having a delayed release are the keys to long drives :RORY Mc ILROY of average height and weight is also a long driver .But tall guys with long arms have a big initial advantage over short stocky fellows

  • Will Curry says:

    Rory is a long ball hitter but he is only 5 foot 9 inches tall. Champ hits a lot further and he is only 6 feet tall. Height and length of arms must help but a person with an efficient swing releasing lag at the bottom of their swing arc has the advantage over taller players. Scientifically this does not make sense as a longer swing arc should be able to generate more speed.

    In world championships, the longest drivers are not always the tallest participants. Efficiency of the swing release and strength must be the controlling factor. We all have a chance to hit longer drives with the right release.