It doesn’t take a PhD in physiology to know that the swing dynamics for a player like 6-foot-3 World Long Drive Champion Kyle Berkshire and his 150-mile per hour clubhead speed are substantially different than, say, a 60-year-old, desk-bound amateur who carries his driver 185 yards. Still, the volume of one-size-fits-all technical and fitness advice offered to golfers is immense – especially given the explosion of tip-driven golf social media. For 2026 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year Bernie Najar, the impact of building personalized instruction programs for his wide spectrum of students goes far beyond lowering their handicaps.
It helps them enjoy life more thoroughly.
Every one of Najar’s student assessments is a comprehensive mix of swing evaluation, movement analysis and goal exploration. Whether the student has trophy-case ambitions like Berkshire (a three-time World Long Drive champion under Najar’s direction) or Bryan Kim (the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur champion and current Duke University player), or simply wants to break 90 for the first time, Najar builds programs that let players’ bodies support the moves he’s asking them to make.
“The line we walk as PGA of America Golf Professionals can be a tricky one,” says Najar, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland. “We need to give someone something in the short run that shows improvement, but also create a plan that gets them where they want to go.
“Players can often shut down because they think they can’t train a certain way anymore, or because they have a certain weakness. The key is to give encouragement and a plan to make some headway. Improving the body in lockstep with the swing is what makes people play better and live better.”
For example, one of Najar’s amateur students had a significant ski accident that essentially forced her to re-learn how to play golf in a way that wouldn’t cause pain.
“We had to start over with the idea that the swing needs to be supported from the ground up,” says Najar, who counts 2007 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year Jim Hardy as one of his mentors.” “Terms like ‘bigger turn’ and ‘flexibility’ get used a lot in golf as almost universally good things, but mobility isn’t the only thing a swing needs. This player didn’t need more mobility. She had too much motion. The question always is, for the person in front of you, how do you make them more efficient?”
Najar uses TPI movement screens and improvement tools like ROTEXMotion rotating resistance discs every day to merge golf instruction with physical function. Standing on the platform and rotating the discs inward and outward activates the entire lower body, strengthening the hip rotator muscles and improving balance and coordination. Najar changes the position of the platforms to promote player-specific movements that improve energy transfer from the ground up during the swing.
“Yes, there’s a swing benefit to targeted training like that, but a player leaves the lesson moving better and walking better. You can see it in the next session, when they get out of the car more easily and come in walking taller,” Najar says. “You’re helping somebody feel good, and that’s something they remember.”
For Kim, Najar helped the Duke star merge 20 new pounds of muscle with more explosive training sessions to increase his “cruising speed” with the driver north of 170 miles per hour.
“Bryan’s superpower is that he has incredible rhythm and timing. He’s never out of balance, and he never flails at it,” says Najar. “We had to make sure that he kept the pedal down during practice and push speed in between events. With the added muscle, he’s taken a strong base and made it stronger, and his new regiment helps him recover more quickly and have more consistent physical performance. There are fewer variables that impact his score.”
Kim was ACC All-Conference in 2024-25 and tied Duke’s scoring record in 2025-26.
“When Bryan won the U.S. Junior and qualified for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, it gave him the opportunity to see the physicality of the elite PGA TOUR players up close,” says Najar. “He’s always been a worker, and he was even more bought in to doing what it takes to get his body and swing to work together at that level.”
Having access to an elite college strength and conditioning infrastructure certainly helps make maintenance easier, but Najar tailors his work to each player’s particular situation. Nationally- ranked junior player Landon Rottman started with Najar as an 11-year-old who carried his driver 160 yards. Now, he’s 15 and hits it more than 300 yards thanks both to a growth spurt and targeted instruction that incorporates technology like Swing Catalyst video and force plate capture and strength-building.
“Juniors don’t tend to have much core strength, and the legs are the easiest area to get stronger – then you develop stronger use of the arms and hands,” says Najar. “Landon became a real athlete, and he enjoyed the idea of lifting weights. We worked on a nice arm progression that didn’t require a lot of equipment, and a series of bodyweight exercises he can do anywhere. He was willing to do the work, and we made a plan he could follow on a regular basis.”
In March of 2025, Rottman won the Under Armour Winter Nationals 15-to-18 Division as one of the youngest participants, closing out a junior tour season where he won a half-dozen other regional events. He was also a finalist in the men’s club championship at Woodholme Country Club – a heady achievement for somebody who needed to bum a ride to the course to compete.
