Get Golfers MovingEva RogersPGA of America Teaching Professional,Medinah (Illinois) Country Club
Movement is the key element in the health and wellness plans for golfers at Chicago’s Medinah Country Club, where PGA of America Teaching Professional Eva Rogers works with golfers as young as 4 on their mobility – and where the golf staff is also encouraged to keep moving.
“We’re built on having healthy lifestyles for our members, and we also challenge our employees to be healthy,” Rogers says. “We even make it a little competitive. For example, we had a 5K run for our members on St. Patrick’s Day this year, which was really fun. And our team members have challenges to earn points, things like tracking steps and doing wellness checks, to earn things like gift cards and other incentives.”
Rogers is certified in golf fitness through TPI and just finished her certification through the Gray Institute. Medinah has also brought representatives from GolfForever to the club, and Rogers uses the company’s app and training aids to help her members build strength and properly warm up and cool down.
“The members have really taken to GolfForever, and I think the app is fantastic for them and for me as a golf instructor,” she says. “It’s laid out so golf coaches can do evaluations and send exercises to your students that you want them to work on. Between GolfForever, TPI and Gray Institute, we have a lot of things we can use to help our golfers with vitality and mobility.”
Rogers has infused golf related functional movement into her lessons with golfers at all levels, including juniors. She says many young golfers struggle with basic coordination and movement, so exercises that improve balance and speed training have a real impact on course and in everyday life.
For older golfers, the same approach is even more important.
“Ultimately, as we get older our bodies stop moving the way they used to, and the golf swing works against your natural body movement to begin with,” Rogers says. “I know when I find myself struggling with my game, I start by working on my balance to get back on track. That’s why as a coach I find dynamic and functional movement so much more important than lifting weights.”
Medinah members have plenty of off-season activities to keep them fit for summer golf, like cross country ski trails around its courses and cardio tennis classes. Rogers encourages her players to take part in these cross-training activities, and works with other experts to make sure they have the expertise they need.
“We’re all busy as PGA of America Golf Professionals, and I don’t consider myself an expert on health and wellness, but it’s important to build teams and collaborate with experts to provide that knowledge to your members,” Rogers says. “I don’t want to be your nutritionist or trainer, but I want to help you find them. As a golf professional, you at least need to understand health and wellness enough to optimize what you’re teaching and make sure you’re helping them improve without trying to make them move in a way that could cause more damage. When we can understand our students’ strengths and weaknesses, then help the pieces fall into place with the right instruction.”
Keep Learning and AdaptingRick MurphyOwner, PGA of America Director of Instruction,Rick Murphy Golf,Summerfield, North Carolina
As a PGA of America Member since 1981 and a two-time Carolinas PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year, Rick Murphy has decades of experience coaching the game. What excites him about the future is the way golf professionals are making health and wellness a bigger part of the game.
“Our primary motivator as PGA of America Golf Professionals is always to help people play more golf, and now we’re also recognizing that we can help them live better, live longer and feel better doing activities whether they’re playing golf or just picking up their grandkids at home,” says Murphy, owner and PGA of America Director of Instruction at his namesake golf academy. “The big takeaway on the business side, which I talk with my fellow professionals about all the time, is that once you show your students how much you’re interested in helping them move better, you connect and build a relationship in a way that’s unmatched.”
For Murphy, bringing that knowledge to his students is part of his own lifelong learning about the golf swing – and, increasingly, how wellness plays into it. His own curiosity into fitness has led to certification from the Gray Institute, attendance at numerous coaching seminars and the hiring of fitness professional Lori Gordon to help mold programming and work with students at Rick Murphy Golf.
“What we knew about the golf swing 20 years ago is like kindergarten now, and fitness is similar,” Murphy says. “Knowledge evolves and is always changing. It screams to me that golf professionals need to educate themselves about the body and how people move. I have two skeletons in my studio so I can explain how the body works to my students, and I’m going to an event to see cadavers dissected so I can learn more about how our joints work. In speaking with other golf professionals, they see our profession moving in this direction, too.”
Murphy and Gordon also travel to golf clubs to give presentations to members and coaches about golf and wellness. He says a common point of failure in the golf/wellness world is communication between golf and fitness professionals at a facility.
“The missing link is communication, there’s a breakdown there sometimes,” Murphy says. “We can help them get on the same page, talking the same talk so they can share information. This becomes a revenue booster for the clubs, as well, because once the staffs are working together and golfers start feeling the results and feeling the stability and vitality they were missing, business goes up in every area of the facility.”
Murphy also makes it a point to keep his own health and wellness at the forefront, both for his own well-being and so his students see he’s practicing what he preaches.
“It’s hard to sell something you’re not doing yourself,” he says. “It’s imperative that golf professionals take care of their bodies. We put a lot of miles on our bodies, and staying fit is important personally, and also so you can demonstrate what a healthy lifestyle looks like to your players. Being a good example gives your students the vision of what they can do with your help.”