A s the lead fitness specialist at Berkeley Hall Club, I specialize in golf fitness through my masters degree in Exercise Physiology from Mississippi State University and subsequent TPI certification.
My experience has earned me PGA Tour credentials since 2010. However, in addition to working with many Tour players and top collegiate athletes, I also have many everyday golfers on my client list. Their primary goals are to improve skills and play pain free.
I was fortunate to be able to film a golf fitness episode on the Golf Channel with TPI after one of my players won the Waste Management Phoenix Open, helping build my reputation as a knowledgeable, effective fitness professional.
As the lead fitness specialist, I’m running the TPI program at Berkeley Hall and have more than 130 members actively participating. I start every client with a full comprehensive motion screen to identify dysfunction in their bodies, then apply corrective and conditioning routines. After their assessment, I design their programs, hold a weekly group session to help with any questions and check their progress. I typically use my TPI application, where I have downloaded many videos for clients to follow.
I typically train 30-40 clients per week in one-hour sessions. These members purposely seek this individual attention. During those sessions, we start with a corrective warm-up routine, followed by strength and conditioning and finish up on the table for tissue work and manual stretching.
Here at Berkeley Hall, we are in golf season year-round. With our members not competing in high-level events, I do not structure a time to do off-season work. However, when it comes to my college and professional players, we do a lot more conditioning, strength and power in the off season and work to maintain during their seasons of competition.
I track their progress by using the TPI assessment that focuses on mobility and stability. I measure joint angles and can track the progress on them. The program also assigns a Golf Fitness Handicap that we track and re-measure.
As far as the golf swing measurements are concerned, we use Trackman data to test on day one of the program and measure periodically as we start seeing changes with their physical numbers.
With shared members who are working with our PGA Professional team, as well as with me in the fitness center, the teaching professionals will refer students to me to analyze their physical capabilities and deficiencies through the golf swing. I’ll subsequently attend their golf lessons to actively show them why they are swinging as they are and will prescribe a plan to rectify the issue. I did the same on Tour with players and their swing coaches.
With many Berkeley Hall golfers and competitive players on my roster, I’m seeing several trends in our industry. We are definitely leaning towards attention to the body and the mind. In addition, my wife, who is a chiropractor, agrees that we are seeing a shift to all athletes — from the average person to the competitive golfer — now focusing on health and wellness to improve their activity.
Derek Lemire is the Lead Fitness Specialist at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, South Carolina.