To help PGA Magazine readers learn more about the ways they can bring golf together with health and wellness, we’ve added this new 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.
Educate Golfers on the Merits of All-Around Fitness
The Club at Ravenna is a “golf-centric club,” but has recently built diverse amenities, including a fitness and wellness center that provides an effective bridge between golf and lifestyle. With a background in rotational movement as a former college football player, quarterback coach and baseball hitting coach, I bring a unique perspective to the golf swing and feel it’s important to break down that swing to make it better and more efficient.
Golf is huge at our facility, so we offer two free clinics per month and educate members to see the “why” in fitness. Once we get them in the gym and show them how our services can benefit their golf game, they sign up and are eager to do the work to see the results. One example of our topics is “losing distance with age” and how to combat this in evitability. We educate members on how the reduction in their distance is an effect of dwindling mobility, stability and strength. As a result, we help them retain these traits and their golf skills through a focused plan of action that is specifically geared toward the individual.
The collaboration between our medical team, fitness staff and PGA of America Golf Professionals offers an effective holistic approach to game improvement and health and wellness. We communicate our services, which also include yoga, Pilates, barre, longevity trainers and strength classes, to members through a monthly fitness newsletter and weekly email updates. We provide winter services that address issues not often considered during the peak playing season and strive to prepare our members for their best golf come spring. Golfers who play better enjoy it more and play more frequently. This is beneficial to the members who will not only experience a higher level of golf but grow in their fitness and wellness journey, as well.
Apply Wellness Concepts to Build Energy
I’ve been at Chicago Highlands Club for a year and a half, managing our fitness center, staff and the fitness programming offered to members. My focus with members is much about maximizing en ergy and establishing overall wellness, more so than just physical fitness. The state of fitness preparedness goes far beyond finding time for movement and the act of exercise itself. Understanding and performing proper movement is just the beginning. Wellness is about maximizing one’s energy through movement, balanced nutrition, proper recovery and integration of habit change principles to make these things sustainable.
I found golf a couple of years ago and now play virtually every day. And I’ve come to understand the importance of maintaining energy during a round of golf and can correlate the many health, wellness and fitness concepts I’ve taught for many years to life on the course.
At Chicago Highlands, much of my engagement with members is one-on-one, whether golf-related or not. I ask questions about their lifestyle, their eating and sleeping habits and overall level of activity. I work with many non-golfing spouses and strive to get them moving better, eating better and sleeping better. I want to elevate their energy levels to pursue the game of golf and try something new. I’ll teach the concept of dissociation and help them realize they can swing a golf club and will then get our PGA of America Golf Professionals involved to take it from there from a golf perspective.
I basically help to build the car, and our golf professionals teach them how to drive it. It all goes back to energy and movement, and includes better cardiovascular health, increased cognitive function, better range of motion, stability, strength, power and stress recovery. It’s all about wellness and it all correlates to golf.
Editor’s note: Next month’s PGA Magazine cover story is about health and wellness.