"Tour Players May Be Working Out Too Much, Leading to Injuries"

Thanks reader Jim A for John Paul Newport’s WSJ column where he considers the recent run of high-profile injuries in golf and wonders if the modern workout ethos of top players is catching up to them. But he also considers the impact of wraparound golf and the modern swing which I respectfully nominate over the number of bulked up athletes in golf.

This from Greg Rose of the Titleist Performance Institute stood out:

The new wraparound schedules that top international pros follow don't help, either. Even if they don't play in many more tournaments than they used to, many pros now have essentially no off-season and continue to train year-round.

Rose at TPI has worked extensively with professional long drivers like Jason Zuback. Their swings, designed for maximum distance, more closely resemble old-fashioned swings. They lift their left heels off the ground, rotate their hips more, and "jump" at the ball, relying far less on the lower back for power.

"The modern swing, with fewer moving parts, is designed primarily for accuracy," Rose said. "When you take that technique, and add power to it, as the modern pros have to do, you put extremely high stress on the body."