Course Reviews
Golf in Puerto Rico
Explore 33,000+ golf courses in 180 countries.
Follow the latest news and trends in golf.
Connect with like-minded golfers.
Find everything you need for your golf equipment and gear needs.
Travel, golf resorts, lifestyle, gear, tour highlights and technology.
All Square
Suggestions
Course Reviews
Golf in Puerto Rico
Community
Top Golf Books Every Player Should Read
Course Reviews
Why Northern Ireland is a Must for Golfers
Clubs
Robert MacIntyre WITB: Scottish Triumph at the Alfred Dunhill Links
Clubs
Top Putters on the Market in 2025
Course Reviews
Rovos Rail Experience
Course Reviews
Your Golf Trip to Finland
Course Reviews
Golfing in the Hawaiian Islands
European Tour
The Big Picture: Ryder Cup 2025 Recap
Course Reviews
Golf & Gastronomy at Ombria: Where Fairways Meet Flavour
Course Reviews
Golf in Panama: Where Championship Golf Meets the Tropics
Community
The Top Golf Movies of All Time
Clubs
Michael Kim’s Winning WITB: 2025 FedEx Open de France
Clubs
The Evolution of Golf Clubs: Then vs. Now
Course Reviews
Why Estonia as a Golf Destination
Course Reviews
The Els Club Vilamoura: Golfing Grandeur in the Algarve
Clubs
Hybrid vs. Long Irons: Which is Better for Your Game?
Clubs
Kurt Kitayama’s WITB: 2025 3M Open Champion
Course Reviews
Golf Vacations in New Zealand’s North Island
PGA Tour
Who Is the Best Putter on Tour So Far This Season?
Course Reviews
A Tour of Texas’s Finest Golf Courses
Golf chiropractor Shane Lawlor – who has worked with Padraig Harrington, Henrik Stenson and Shane Lowry – discusses the ‘X-factor’ swing and the importance of strength and conditioning.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are renowned for their picture-perfect X-factor swings and incredible distance off the tee.
The X-factor swing generates the extra distance by rotating the shoulders further in relation to the hips, creating more wound-up potential energy, resulting in a more explosive downswing.
But Woods and McIlroy have both struggled with back injuries in recent years.
I’m not against the X-factor, but it needs to be worked on between the strength and conditioning coach and a medical practitioner. If the player physically can’t get there then you have a problem.
The discs are going to get overloaded, it’s hard to stabilise the spine through rotation, and if you do it to one side it will cause disc bulges and pain
The trend now is that if you’re 18 or 19 years of age and you can’t hit it over 300 yards you’re at a severe disadvantage. I would be interested in seeing what will happen in the next five to 10 years.
If they’re not physically ready, if they’re swinging much harder with such high club head speed, I don’t know if their careers will be as long. The analogy I would use for a young kid is if you put a Ferrari engine in a Micra, it’s not going to work very well.
The right strength and conditioning training is an absolute necessity. You need to make sure you are mobile and stable, and your body is able to withstand those forces.
You don’t need golfers to be massive powerlifters, but they need the ability to move their joints at speed.
The good players see that it’s a process. It’s not going to take six months. It’s the small incremental stuff that won’t help if you do it for one season. It’s about doing it over a career.
Padraig (47) is fitter now than when he was at 20. He’s a totally different animal. I think he’s going to do really well on the Champions Tour. That’s the change we’ll see. With these guys that are now fitter at 49 or 50, it’s going to be really competitive.
All Square is your place to explore 33,000 golf courses around the world, connect with thousands of like-minded golfers, share your golf experiences and book your next golf trip.