To help PGA Magazine readers learn more about the ways they can bring golf together with health and wellness, we’ve added this recurring department that will include best practices information from the Golf Fitness Association of America (GFAA).
The GFAA was started by the publishers of PGA Magazine in 2020 and is led by an advisory board of PGA of America Golf Coaches and highly regarded golf fitness experts, including GFAA President Dr. Steven Lorick. We hope you find this department beneficial and encourage you to learn more about the GFAA at golf.fitness.com.
Bob Usher, PGA,Director of Instruction,Grey Oaks Country Club,Naples, Florida
I recently collaborated with our Grey Oaks Country Club fitness team to host a Golf Fitness Open House where we introduced eight golf-specific fitness/golf schools. We call these schools “Golf Fitness Boot Camps.” In them, we spend time recording golfers’ swings and analyzing their movements. After this analysis, we conduct a physical assessment using TPI and Gray Institute physical screenings. I am joined on the team by a physical therapist and our personal trainers. We cover everything in the golfers’ swings, including mechanics, strengths, weaknesses and past injuries. We bring the golfers inside to share the results of their recorded golf swings and physical screening data. We explain how their swing looks and how their physical limitations affect their movement. We can then create a golfer-specific plan for each student.
This collaborative effort between golf instructors and trainers helps maximize golfer progress and addresses the diverse needs of our members. It is a culture of health and wellness that we are building here at Grey Oaks. Our Director of Fitness, Scott Bender, and I have coordinated this movement to bring everyone together to help our golfers improve their golf games. Our goal is to help people play more golf and enjoy doing it, resulting in increased revenue across our facility. Research shows that golfers at our facility who participate in teaching programs spend 2.4 times more money than the members who don’t participate.
Andrea Doddato,Founder, Shape & Sport,Brentwood Country Club,Los Angeles, California
I combined my love of golf and fitness to start my golf fitness business, Shape & Sport, in Orlando in 2000. With extensive knowledge of general fitness, I attended a biomechanics program to increase my knowledge of how the body affects the golf swing. I learned the reason why many golfers don’t get enough turn in their backswing and how one’s physical capabilities hinder the golf swing that every golfer desires. With some hesitation, the golf instructors of the time started seeing the benefits that I brought to their clients and how we could collaborate for the betterment of their students. Golf fitness is now prominent in most player development programs.
I believe in the biomechanics of the golf swing/ body connection and focus on correcting swing flaws through various restorative methods, and I have built my business around my continued education and the success of my students and clients. Today, Shape & Sport is based out of Brentwood Country Club (BCC) in Los Angeles, with my own home studio available for non-Brentwood members to better their health and wellness. I work with our BBC golf instructors to provide the highest level of service to our members, attending their golf lessons and watching swing videos to help golfers improve their mobility, flexibility and power.
I start each new client with a personal assessment to gauge their mobility and see where they have strength and stability issues. I also look at their swing and focus on their sequence of movements. This is our starting point. Mobility issues are often interrelated with movement patterns. We seek to get them more mobile and stronger to improve those vital movement patterns. At the end of the day, what we work on comes down to what the golfer brings to the table at the outset. I use Sportsbox AI for 3D motion analysis and know enough about movement patterns and the sequencing of the golf swing to understand what my golfers are doing wrong and prescribe specific exercises that improve their strength and mobility.
