I started working with Dr. Gary Gray and Gray Institute in 2011 to learn about the human body and how it moves within the golf swing. This understanding would help me improve my students’ performance faster than before.
I researched TPI, Gray Institute and other golf fitness coaching resources at the time and landed with Gray Institute. After all, the golf instructor’s understanding of how the body moves in three planes of motion throughout the golf swing is an introduction and only the first step; we must also effectively communicate these ideas so our students can comprehend and apply the concepts within their golf game. I became entrenched in a journey to learn more about 3D functional movement, and as a result, became a certified 3D Functional Movement Coach and a 3D Functional Movement Golf Coach. I use this knowledge every day with my students and have seen remarkable results.
I also took a deep dive into cutting-edge biomechanics through several sources, one of which was my friend Michael Jacobs and Jacobs 3D. It was the study of how the body and the golf club move and how they work together as a system. This technology and these 3D studies help a coach articulate motion. The instructor should understand the movements and effects of the body and club as a system and where and when forces and torques are applied. This study will help you learn and give you the ability to articulate these concepts to the students in a simple way so they understand how their body and club move most efficiently during their golf swing. Once communicated, these concepts often produce results on the very next swing a student takes on your lesson tee.
Most recently, I completed the GFAA-Gray Institute 3D Functional Movement Coach and 3D Functional Golf Coach program shortly after the PGA Show earlier this year to reinforce what I learned more than a decade ago and consume the most recent findings of experts like Dr. Gary Gray and Dr. David Tiberio. I serve as an advisor to Gray Institute on these new learning modules and don’t believe a golf professional could truly understand how the body moves without learning the concepts taught in the GFAA-Gray program.
Much of what we do today is based on isolating golfers’ limitations to most effectively correct or strengthen them. I find that many students have a lot of mobility but often lack the stability needed. This is due to a lack of understanding of how their bodies move.
It’s been inspiring to see the advancements in golf fitness over the past two decades, especially in the past few years. Golfers now know what ground reaction forces, mass, momentum, mobility and so many other concepts mean to their performance. This is a credit to the PGA of America Golf Professionals who have an insatiable desire to learn more, and the fitness pros, like those at Gray Institute, who are sharing their expertise with us. I see things differently than I did 20 years ago. For instance, I’ve developed my own way of communicating the multiple layers of a proper warmup with my students. It’s been effective, and I get results!
In addition to working with my academy students, I started a program three years ago to help clubs that don’t have fitness professionals, as well as other clubs where a disconnect exists between the golf and fitness professionals. I collaborate with Lori Gordon, a sports physiologist and Gray Institute for Functional Transformation (GIFT) alumnus, to work with the professionals to better serve their clients.
We are invited to visit clubs for a two- or three-day workshop, where Lori and I take their club members, golf professional staff/teaching staff and fitness professionals through our special programming. It is transformational for the participants and inspirational for the golf and fitness staff. We help them make the connection between fitness and golf. Hence, driving better communication and revenue to their income and ultimately the club’s bottom line as a result. It’s been a home run for the clubs!
Briefly, we work with the teaching and fitness teams on the first day to help them understand the 3D functional movements in a golf-authentic way and welcome students on day two to share the information with them while the professionals apply what they learned the day before. We translate this into the full swing on day three on the practice range or course.
Whether in-house or on the road, this sharing of information stems from the research and teaching of organizations like Gray Institute. PGA of America and LPGA golf coaches are more educated about the human body than ever before, thanks to resources like those I’ve relied on for years.
Rick Murphy, a multi-year special awards winner in the Carolinas PGA Section and a 2020 Section Hall of Fame Inductee, is a Golf Fitness Association of America (GFAA) Advisory Board Member and the owner of Rick Murphy Golf at Greensboro (NC) National Golf Club.