Golfers

Golfers are always looking for new ways improve their game, reading articles on swing mechanics, watching tips from the pros on TV, and/or researching and testing out the latest set of golf clubs. But in order to take advantage of all the technology, information, and new equipment out there, you need to start with the basics, your body. The distance, accuracy, and consistency of your golf shots are a direct result of how well you are able to move, stabilize, and control your body.

It was in this spirit of relentless study Roger became one of the first to go through the highly-respected Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) certification program and become a TPI Level 3 Medical Professionals as well as a TPI Level 3 Fitness Professional (www.mytpi.com).

Your golf fitness evaluation will take you through a series of specifically designed tests to assess flexibility, stability, balance, and coordination as they relate to your golf game.

Performance Enhancement

Following the evaluation, an appropriate exercise prescription will be provided to improve different aspects of the swing. Exercises will address such limitations as reduced shoulder range of motion, hip restrictions, poor thoracic spine rotation, and core instability. Once mobility, stability, and fundamental movement patterns are established, higher level functional exercises including improving power generation will be incorporated into the golfer’s program.

Physical Screening

The body is made up of alternating mobile (joint range of motion and muscular flexibility) and stable segments that allow the golfer to produce optimal, efficient, and powerful movements for consistent ball striking. If there is a compromise in the stability or mobility of one or more of these segments, compensatory movement patterns will take place and result in decreased efficiency and an increased chance of injury or re-injury.

The Titleist Performance Institute screening for the golfer was created to assess mobility, stability, and motor control. Motor control refers to the nervous systems ability to coordinate movements.

Injury Prevention and Treatment

Golfers with current or past injuries, whether related to the golf game or otherwise, require an evaluation beyond that of a physical screen. Where physical screening is used to assess gross deficits in the body, the Selective Functional Movement Assessment determines more specifically which areas need to be addressed to restore normal patterns of movement. Optimizing how the body moves improves efficiency which is essential for building consistency in the golf game and decreasing biomechanical stress in order to allow the body to heal properly.

Treatments include education for self-care; therapeutic exercises and a home exercise program for mobility, stability, and restoration of normal movement patterns; and manual therapy including soft tissue mobilization and joint mobilization. Cutting edge approaches such as Active Release Techniques and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization may be used in the rehabilitation process.