Steroids in golf?
Gary Player once said that the day will come when a golfer stands on the first tee at Augusta National and drives the first green (even with the new tournament tees). This golfer will be “6-foot-5, weigh 260 pounds, and he will make Tiger Woods look like a shrimp” (Golf Digest, 2002).
So, what would Gary Player’s nightmare look like? Actually, we have photographic evidence, and even analysis of this golfer’s swing by none other than David Leadbetter. Who is it?
Mark McGwire. 6-foot-5, 250 pounds. Clubhead speed: more than 140 miles per hour (average tour player is in the 115 to 125 mph range), 300+ yards carry (remember, this is from 3 years ago, and does not take the most recent ball and driver technology into account). McGwire won the 2003 skills challenge over pros Greg Norman, Paul Azinger, and Colin Montgomerie, among others.
Now, McGwire is not a professional golfer by any stretch. But it is easy to imagine some college (or high school) kid who has played golf since he (or she) was walking, getting bigger, faster, stronger, and better. More likely than not, there is a substantial group of kids out there with the right mental, genetic, and physical make-up, as well as the resources to be able to play and practice at the level required to succeed at the highest level.
Or, more simply, imagine Tiger Woods the size of Mark McGwire. That is what steroids would do to a good golfer. Long drive champions routinely pound 375-plus drives during competition. Combine that power with Tiger or Phil Mickelson’s ability from 200 yards in….
Technology is quickly hitting a wall, in terms of additional length and control. Further, the fitness craze on the PGA tour arguably has had as much impact on the professional game as technology. It would not be hard to convince me that athletic prowess will be the primary driver behind success in golf at every level in the future. And, as we have seen in every other professional sport, once slim advantages in athletic ability begins to separate players on the margin of the highest levels of performance, the temptation to use performance-enhancing substances becomes undeniable.
20 Comments:
Its kinda funny you talk about this, A guy I played golf with in College, Shawn Marshall is friggin huge. I thik he is about 6 ft 4, probably 240 lbs, and knocks the ball a damn mile
On a good day, he will very well hit his driver 350 yards give or take. Its sick.
Yea, I have a friend who is an average golf player, but is similarly huge (6-3, 240 in playing shape) and was starting TE on a Div 1 NCAA team (my alma mater) who can hit it a mile. Like, 340-350 when he nails it.
I know he is not on steroids. But, you get the idea. Steroids in one of these individuals who spent their lives playing golf instead of football would be unbeatable.
While I suspect that steriods might allow for longer drives, I doubt they'd be more accurate nor repeatable. And so much of golf...and especially competion amateur and professional golf...is timing, skill and mental gifts. Steriods is not going to allow you to read the greens better, nor improve your "feel" while pitching and chipping. The drive is only 14-16 strokes out of the 72 for Par through the green, half the Par is on the green itself.
The questions about beta-blockers being "calming" might be more competitively-valid, yet I'm certainly not going to say don't use them if you need them. Let golf remain a sport where a player's honor still counts.
The balls are already on steroids. Battle of the Bulge (August 2004) last year on ABC Hank Kuene (or whatever his name is)air carried a ball 320 yards with only 119 mph clubhead speed. 119 mph clubhead speed should only get you about 260 yards of air carry. The clubhead speed was measured with FlightScope--so it is very accurate. Also, John Daly carried a ball 325 yards on a fly with only 119 mph clubhead speed. These guys are getting 60 more yards on their drives than they should. These balls are not sold to the general public. Want proof? Look at the club tester issue of Golf Magazine. There was one club tester who had 118 mph clubhead speed and had average drives of only 285 yards. This is carry and role included. Most drives usually role about 25 yards. So this amateur carried it in the 260 yard vicinity. Also, don't believe that golf commentary crap that ball spin gives you all the extra distance. Optimal ball spin only gets you about 3-5 extra yards. The reason you don't see PGA tour golfers on steroids is because the ball is on steroids. However, most guys you see on the ReMax Long Drive circuit are on steroids and use balls that are also on steroids (hot balls). This is why Long Drivers can hit the ball longer then PGA Tour players.
You are forgetting one detail that is hardly ever mentioned: they are warming up their golf balls overnight in that little gadget that heats 3 balls at a time. It really does work and yet it has quietly disappeared from the public.
I would like to see the ball that Kenny Perry is using. This guy has a 100 mph swing at best and can knock it out there with the longest players. We need Frank Thomas out there with his detailed NASA-like analysis to set things straight.
This one goes to Bryan...Come on buddy, u know i am bigger than that, lol...My name is Shawn Marshall, and my demensions are 6'6, 280 lbs....I believe that the Bryan mentioned above was my teammate in college. Long driving is my thing and I am focusing on the Re/Max this upcoming summer
Steroids are around in Golf. I know two minor league Pro's that have taken them. One gained an extra 100 yards. I had not seen the other player before he took steroids. If you could get a designer steroid for fast twitch muscle development and you had lot's of money you could buy the masking agents and not get caught. Today's equipment will let you drive 310 yards without steroids. With steroids you start at 320 yards. Tell me how a 19 year old skinny kid, with legs like twiggy, gains 50 lbs of highly developed muscle and adds 100 yards to his best drive. The PGA Tour does not want drug testing because they are scared of who they will find taking them.
Steroids and golf. OMG! I think it's seriously! dianabol online
what would happen if the media went after Tiger W. like they're going after Barry B.?
Here's the deal. We allow growth hormones and steroids to be put into the food we consume and we don't go after the dudes doing that we just buy more and eat more and think we're better off for it. Now you have the discovery that professional athletes, whose liveliehood and fame depends upon their bodies wanting to enhance themselves to stay on top and keep excelling and "we" call them cheaters. In my opinion, steroids are a problem. However, the "witch hunt" that is currently on is ridiculous. Wanting to take away records etc for cheating when their were no clear guidelines for this. It's after the fact. It would be like taking away Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak record b/c we discovered a clubhouse kid overhead that Joe used to take non-prescription amphetamines(Speed, Uppers) to get him up, awake and active for the games. Clearly, in todays world that would have given him a chemical ehnancement and would "justify" the stripping of his credentials and Hall of Fame status.
My take on "performance ehnancers" is that until we stop the hypocrisy within our culture we won't stop it on the athletic field. We've built an economic and social system that calls for "bigger is better" and we have an insatiable appetite for this. It's a consuming machine that will not stop until we all look at ourselves in the mirror and see it in our own eyes and heart.
We, as a country and world, are on a slippery slope and the "innocence" of games and life are gone with the introduction of the "information highway". I have empathy for athletes who are caught in the position of needing to do things to their bodies to remain, sustain & gain competitive advantages to stay on the level of playing and paying they are accustomed to.
Golf, is a skill sport that involves much more than booming a 400 yard drive. Sure it would be an advantage but you still got to putt and chip to do anything other than be a freak show (see Happy Gilmore). If we're going to keep being p.o.'d at players who improve themselves physically to be longer than again, we also need to be equally p.o.'d at the makers of equipment who are also "cheating" the game by improving technology of clubs, balls, tees & shoes. We should be equally as dismissive of a record achieved with "Titanium" versus "Persimmon".
Bottom line. America is chasing a "paper tiger" and we need people, sports lovers, media writers, athletes and the like to really address and scrutinize the "deeper" issues at hand. Come together America. Come together golfers. Realize that it is"together" that we can make a difference.
All you have to do is look at the power of John Daly's drives to see what happens when bigger dudes hit the golf ball. Just imagine how far he would hit the ball if he were to replace every pound of fat he is currently carrying with a pound of muscle.
I'm watching Tiger Woods on TV, all bulked up (I recall he used to be kind of skinny, right?) at the US Open and can anyone look at him and believe he's NOT on steroids? I know he's been weight training but he looks every bit as artifically pumped as any steroidal baseball player.
Regarding Tiger, I too have wondered how he got so "in shape". I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the PGA in the last couple of years, so I haven't steadily seen increases. What I've seen instead, is a Phil Mickelson go from "pleasantly plump" to plain out fat, and Tiger woods go from a fairly skinny normal build, to something that would look at home on a BowFle(cks) commercial. I'm not saying it's sterioids per-se, but as a long-time weightlifter, I know for a fact that those kinds of gains in such a short amount of time, aren't done just by consuming more protein and working out.
tiger woods is very likely on steroids: irritable, hair loss, bulked up, pressure to perform. a person doesn't have to look like mcguire or bonds to effectively use steriods in a sport like golf.
who do people think gary player is talking about?
Tiger Woods is on steroids or HGH or something. If you have a repeatable action then steroids give a huge edge.
Not only long drives but also shots from rough, tough bunker shot. Steroids enables him to take less club so he can have a higher ball flight and get more control on the greens - not to mention he takes a more accurtate club from the tee and still have good distance.
Tigers method is not better than Ernie Els but Ernie does seem to take steroids. Look at Tigers bicep bulk
I know for a fact that PGA players use secret government technology created at Area 51 in their golf balls. In fact, someone once took one of the balls that Tiger threw into the crowd after making a long birdie and hit a 400+ yard drive with a 95mph swing speed. This is why they started planting agents in the crowd and instructed the players to throw the ball to the agent. Now, doesn't this kind of reasoning seem ridiculous to you? If not, I don't think your golf problems are really related to golf at all...
I don't believe Tiger is on steroids. When Tiger was a first year pro he was skinny. When I that age I was 185. Now I'm in my 30s and and I'm at 210.
Get real, did you expect him to stay the same throughout his life.
when a person has a COMBINATION of aggressive actions, irritable personality (Woods on the golf course), going bald AND bulked up, it's likely they are on steroids. There are no real tests for additives in golf; and it's a good bet Woods in on steroids of some kind. Ernie Els is just big, but that's all - not likely on steroids like Woods.
Anyone who says tiger couldnt get those results without steriods is an idiot. Hes been playing now for about 12 years and was 165 pounds when he was 21 years old. If you are 21 and spend roughly 3 hours a day in the gym for 12 years I think you could gain the 25 pounds of muscle he gained. thats only 2 pounds a year. If I worked out half as much as he does and didnt see those results id give up and never try again because there would be something medically wrong with me. Also, for the people who think pro balls are differant than your golf balls, somebody needs to slap you. ive been on launch monitors several times and have a swing speed of 105 to 110 mph and carry the ball about 290-295. Launch angle and spin rate make tons of difference. I gained 25 yards of carry from just changing shafts to change my angle and spin. if you are swiging 100 plus and only getting about 260 yards of carry, go get a new shaft idiot. i agree with the guy who said they have secret agents in the gallary to gather the balls they throw in stands. Basically, you are all dumb as sh** and need to learn something about golf and the physics behind it before you write something that makes us all a little dumber from reading it. Learn more or dont talk at all you sound like an idiot.
Post a Comment
<< Home