As a personal trainer and youth golf coach, I have seen many different ways to train and coach people. Starting in golf fitness I interned with a TPI(Titleist Performance Institute) level 3 Fitness Professional who has been in the game for over a decade. I definitely learned a lot from him and got into the assessment, plan, execute, and reassess model of training. But working with some unconventional golfoaches, I realized that there is a little bit more than meets the eye. Titleist Performance Institute has done a very good job of helping the Golf Swing Coach, Fitness Professional and Medical Doctor or Physical Therapist communicate using the same lingo and also teaching a better way of assessing movement compared to tour pros, but I believe that the “golf specific” programs are not what they are set out to be. When looking at other sports, and “sport specific” programs, you see movements and conditioning drill that you would see at the practice for that particular sport. Which led me to ask, “if the athletes are doing the same thing that they are doing in practice as they are in the weight room, why don’t the coaches just have them do the drills at practice and there is no need for a strength and conditioning specialist.”
Talking with a lot of different strength and conditioning coaches they agree that there isn’t really a “sport specific” program that sets them apart from any other program out there. So diving deeper, a strength and conditioning coach told me, “your job as a trainer/strength and conditioning coach, is not to get the athlete to be better at their skills, but to get them bigger, faster, and stronger, but mostly stronger.” This makes so much more sense than to to over train these athletes by doing the same drills as practice in the weight room.
Now, golf is a little bit different, because its an individual sport and that getting really big does not translate into being a better golfer. I’ve seen guys that are as thin as a twig hitting a golf ball about 320 yards. But if you look at all the Long Drive guys, they definitely lift lots of weights. Though, different strokes for different folks. Some weekend warriors want to have the aesthetics rather than getting their movement patterns dialed in to have a better golf game. Some of the golfers want to get the movement dialed in and not worry about the aesthetics. I love working with both, because I get to see the progress in both clients that make THEM happy. Some Fitness professionals get a little cocky and say that because the golfer that worked with them won because of them. Which yeah the fitness professional could have helped a little bit, but by no way did that fitness professional put the hours of practice and dedication that the player put in, but I digress.
The way that I see the game changing is that there needs to be a guy on tour that sticks out, that has not done any TPI or NASM GFS program, and just truly did an exercise program designed to fit the player and swing coaches goal. In my eyes, the job that is put in front of me is to make the player and coach happy by helping the player increase their movement capacity and to ensure that they are not going to hurt themselves. Empowering the athlete and educating them on their own health is far more powerful than just helping them hit the ball 10 yards further.
If you want more information on how I would do this for you or someone you know, email me or book an assessment. Lets get you performing your best!
Thank you and remember to control the basics
