Weighted Club

[arny660]

What are the benefits of practising with a weighted club, e.g. Momentus Power Hitter which you can actually hit balls with. Is this form of practice recommended? Thanks.

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Weighted Club

I use both the Power Hitter, and the weighted 5 iron to warm up with, strength exercise, and to stay limber. They help, and I have had no problems swinging them. I always start off with the 5 iron, and I use the lighter power hitter. I can't tell if these weighted clubs help with my actual swing, since my golf swing is about 55 years old as it is. They do help me to be able to keep swinging, that's for sure.

The only problem I know of first hand is a friend of mine developed a severe shoulder ache, that radiated from the top of his right shoulder into that area's musculoskeletal system. After going to his doctor it was determined that the weighted iron club had damaged his shoulder muscles, nerves and ligaments. What was happening was during his swing motion, at the point of his release on his down swing, there was a jerking motion on his upper right elbow, arm, and shoulder area. This continued jerking sensation, with the added weight at release is what did the damage. He was not able to swing a club for about 12 weeks during his recouperation, which also included quite a few physical therapy sessions.

And, no he did not sue anyone over his injury. He figured it was his own fault anyway since he probably should have been better physical shape to start with. GJS

[Martin Levac]

Re: Weighted Club

It says on the website to practice 20 minutes with it at the range. It implies that you only practice and not play with the club. The principle of swinging a heavy object to improve performance in swinging a lighter object afterward is already known. Perhaps you've watched a baseball game where the batter will first take a few practice swings with two or three bats or donut weights slipped on the bat to increase the weight.

This works in two ways. Immediately afterwards or over multiple practice sessions. Immediately afterwards is the phenomenon called "post-activation potentiation". I just recently read about that yesterday but the phenomenon is already known. In short, we swing a heavy object in preparation to swing a light object. The effort from swinging the heavy object will have an after effect that will momentarily increase available strength that can be used to great effect once we swing the light object. This effect is real and not merely a sensation that the lighter object is lighter than it really is after having swung the heavier object. Anyway, perhaps this sensation comes from the phenomenon to begin with.

Over multiple practice sessions is more simple. The effect of lifting a heavy weight is known. The muscles involved in the lifting will respond by growing. So we become stronger the more we swing the heavy club. Then when we swing the regular club, we can swing it harder to strike the ball harder and send it farther. In theory. Whether merely swinging the practice club can teach you to swing your regular club properly is another matter entirely. The website speaks of tempo and whatnot so perhaps there is something there.

As an alternative, you could learn to swing the club properly. Then train for whole body strength. The effect will be the same on distance but with all the advantage of whole body strength. Not just golf specific strength.

[arny660]

Re: Weighted Club

Thanks guys for these comments.

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Weighted Club

I like everything Mr. Levac posted. This brings up a question I have. Say a golfer were to use a weighted club, and they did increase their swing speed. Now let's say before they started using this training device, they were using an "R" flex shaft in their clubs. After using this training aid over a period of time, they did infact increase their swing speed into the "stiff" flex range. What kind of ball flight problems might this extra swing speed cause? GJS

[Martin Levac]

Re: Weighted Club

I like everything Mr. Levac posted. This brings up a question I have. Say a golfer were to use a weighted club, and they did increase their swing speed. Now let's say before they started using this training device, they were using an "R" flex shaft in their clubs. After using this training aid over a period of time, they did infact increase their swing speed into the "stiff" flex range. What kind of ball flight problems might this extra swing speed cause? GJS

A shaft will bend due to the forces acting upon it. The more force, the more bend. Also, the more flexible, the more bend. So, to swing faster with the same club will bend the club more. The club will bend to align the head's center of gravity with the centripetal force acting on it. The clubhead's CoG is back and away from the shaft's axis. The centripetal force is us holding the club with our hands. The tendency is to open the clubface, tilt the clubhead backward, and drop the toe lower. The ball goes outside.