For the second year in a row team PFS golf performance has 2 golf fitness coaches in the top 50 golf fitness trainers in America
PREPARE YOUR BODY TO PERFORM AT ITS PEAK
Golf Fitness Training
Tour-Pros and recreational players alike work with our team of golf performance specialist to optimize their bodies for golf and life! Join us today and let’s get to work! Sign up for your golf fitness evaluation
One-on-One Coaching
Offering private training in our Scottsdale, Arizona studio and virtually via Facetime, Skype and Zoom.
We offer custom golf fitness program that are tailored around your goals and evaluation.
Our online evaluations are a great way to access your body mechanics and build a custom plan to correct these deficiencies.
Golf Fitness Training for ANY LEVEL – ANY AGE!
Train Like A PGA PRO!
Golf Performance Training
Currently we are not offering group training due to COVID-19. We look forward to bringing group golf fitness classes back to our facility.
Offering group golf fitness training in our scottsdale performance training center. Our group golf fitness classes focus on the qualities a golfer needs to play and perform at their best. Build better strength, balance, stability, separation and power! Learn more about our golf performance classes
Our training programs are based on Tour-proven methods developed over decades. You’ll work with the same precision and efficiency as the Pros do. We emphasize quality movement and positions that lay the foundation for the rest of the adaptations.
Why Golf Performance And Golf Training Has Changed
The modern game of golf requires a strong, mobile and powerful physique to compete at the highest level! Players like Tiger Woods led the charge and today players like Adam Scott, Scott Stallings, Kevin Streelman, Chez Reavie and Brooks Koepka to name a few, demonstrate how being physically fit enhances their golf performance!
Golf Performance training isn’t just about strength and power!
They are pieces but we must not ignore the importance of building
- Balance
- Mobility
- Stability
- Endurance
- Confidence
With high levels of strength and power come advantages in the ability to drive the golf ball. Not to mention when we are in good physical shape and our conditioning is solid our ability to last longer and maintain this power is also enhanced. Today it is more uncommon that an elite PGA player isn’t taking part in some kind of strength and conditioning program that is geared towards golf performance.
Building a strong core, having a aerobic base along with a high movement IQ are also qualities we want to cultivate in our golf athletes.
Golf Technology Is Helping Us Understand How And What To Train
In addition to the improvements in golf fitness and performance, research and technology has increased and helped us understand what are the most efficient ways to train a golfer along with what qualities matter the most. Much of this comes from the data we can collect and observe with 3-D motion capture systems. These systems help to construct a understanding of what the body is doing during the golf swing and what breakdowns are happening during swing sequencing.
When we start with a new golf athlete we first evaluate their movement patterns and efficiency of movement. This helps us understand where we need to build strength, increase mobility and stability. We also evaluate breathing pattens and joint range of motion. These variables also help us understand the individual in front of us and map out a plan of how we are going to increase their performance. If we don’t first address these qualities we will never be able to maximize the other physical qualities like strength, power and club head speed!
Movement Qualities
- Breathing Patterns
- Pelvis Stability
- Thorax Stability
- Core Activation (IAP)
- Balance
- Ability To Segment
- Sensorimotor Awareness
Once these primary fundamentals are addressed we can move on to building strength, power, swing speed and endurance. If these principles are not addressed then additional strength and power can contribute to compensatory patterns and have a negative effect on golf performance.
Building Strength, Power and Increasing Club Head Speed In Our Golf Athletes
Two tests linked in the research to elite golf performance are: the isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) and countermovement jump (CMJ) (Wells et al, 2018). Having a understanding of these tests helps us evaluate gaps in performance and fill buckets to build a better golf athlete.
We use a non-counter movement jump and throw and compare it to a counter movement jump and throw to determine if the athlete is more of a power athlete or an elastic athlete. This is another tool when evaluating our golf athletes.
Better performance in these 2 tests have been correlated to an increase in club head speed, which is likely to improve driving distances. These 2 tests require lower body and upper body strength and power. Training these qualities is important but again only when we have established a foundation of high level movement efficiency.
Check out some great golf performance mobility exercises and start building a more efficient golf body!
Understanding Strength and Power in Golf Performance Training
Every coach, trainer and golf performance specialist understands the benefits of developing strength and power! But we must also honor the importance of quality of movement, flexibility, stability, breathing function and balance. When we under value these qualities we create problems down the line and potentially contribute to injury.
We like simplicity! Check out a simple guide to better golf performance.
We are constantly researching and fine tuning our understanding of programing and planning to maximize building the right physical qualities to benefit our clients and Golfers.
Our golf fitness programs are designed to maximize the physical performance of our golf athletes and clients. As such, it is essential to understand and identify the main strength and performance qualities linked to the individual before starting their training.
All evaluations are biased and we understand this! But we have done our best to look at the sport of golf and its demands through a objective lens and see the true path towards better golf performance.
Fist we must get to know the golf athlete and understand their history, goals, limitations, own biases, constraints and anything else that will help us construct a holistic plan towards increasing their health, performance and longevity in the sport of golf! This is our PASSION!
Things we measure and evaluate:
- Joint ROM at the shoulders, hips, spine, wrists and ankles.
- Breathing patterns
- Ability to squat, hinge, rotate, bend, segment, balance
- General Aerobic capacity
- Baseline strength
Lack of Rotation and Strength to Feeling as Good if Not Better Than Ever!
Case Study: David
Meet David. He is a modern day renaissance man! He enjoys exercise and is very discipline with his aerobic work and training at home. He rows weekly and participates in concept 2 challenges! He competes against and beats individuals much younger!
He wants to be strong, healthy and powerful with a big engine and great movement. He knows he needs to build strength but understands that strength is a skill and requires quality coaching.
He wants to challenge himself and push the boundaries of what he is capable of while avoiding the medical system. This is a top priority for him!
When he first came to us, however, he found himself doing the same old training and not being able to maximize his strength and training efforts. He was missing out on many of the benefits of training and a comprehensive golf performance program.
While he was making some progress in his training, he wanted more and understood the value of hiring a coach that could direct his progress. He wanted to be able to train hard, heavy and fast without the knee pain and back pain. Both of which acted as a hand brake on his performance prohibiting him from unleashing his true potential.
Setting a PR in his deadlift! Pretty COOL!
Strength is a skill and requires a understanding of proper positions, managing training volume and intensity and dedication and consistency! With proper coaching anything is possible! The human body is extremely adaptable and with correct stress management we can achieve amazing results while keeping the risk of injury down!
So, how did me make this happen?
Let’s break it down!
Step 1: Detailed Evaluation and Needs analysis.
This first step is critical to gain a deeper understanding of individual goals, needs, limiting factors and buy in. Once we understand the why we can start to move towards the actions and processes needed to achieve the goals.
David had high buy in and really no major issues that needed to be dealt with. His joint ranges where good and healthy. So really we needed to establish principles and build a detailed plan to start to fill the appropriate buckets. He needed a base level of sensorimotor competency.
Step 2: Pick “smarter” exercises that work for him.
Everyone is different and needs different things. We based our exercise selection off of David’s needs analysis and evaluation. Understanding this allows us to be more effective and efficient in our progress and training while decreasing the risk of injury. For example David was going to be better at hinging than squatting. And while we still incorporated squats in his training plan it was not his main strength component. Not everyone is the same! An intelligent coach understands this.
No more being married to this or that just because it’s how we’ve done things in the past. For example, many trainers still use 1980’s bodybuilding exercises and while there is still a place for hypertrophy training we needed to select exercise that would also enhance his functionality and ability to rotate while building strength and power. If we use mostly Barbell exercises, bilateral stances and sagittal plane movements we are not increasing the athletes (David) ability to rotate and will probably make them feel worse! A golfer needs to be able to rotate!
Another focus is on teaching our clients to maintain stability throughout their center! Most people will lean on passive structures for stability and lack the awareness and control of their thorax and pelvis. With David again we selected exercises that worked for him and built a base of core stability and strength. Building from the core out.
Check out the link below to learn some great exercises that will help you in the gym and in your golf game.
Step 3: Cut all the garbage, junk volume and focused on working at the minimum effective dose.
This is a huge part of “smart training”! Many people in the gym and in their training think more is better! This is not true and couldn’t be further from the truth. We want to live in the range of just enough work to drive the desired adaptation while allowing for optimal recovery! This means doing just enough work to drive the adaptation. To do this we would have a plan B based on his readiness and how he felt that day. If he felt great we would get after it and if it was a off day we would emphasis quality patterns and form. This allowed us to maximize growth while minimizing risk. We want a plan but also honor the dynamic nature of our body! The body does not grow in a linear fashion!
Step 3: Some Days need to be Hard and some Days need to be lighter!
High output can be great but not everyday! Some days need to focus on recovery and quality range of motion. For David this was key! He is the type of guy that is always willing to work and would probably over work which could have a negative effect on his results and performance.
Breaking things up this way allowed us to make steady progress while minimizing risk and keeping him out on the course.
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For Brandon, fitness has been his passion for as long as he can remember. In high school he was a three-sport athlete and received a scholar athlete award in football. Later, he attended Arizona State University on an academic scholarship and received his degree in Kinesiology in 2004. When he was a junior in college, he started Personal Training and has since turned this into his career. Brandon is a natural teacher who is passionate about health, fitness, wellness, and life. Each and every day he feels blessed to be able to do what he loves most…help people achieve a healthier life! Working with his best friend and having clients who he considers to be his family is one of the best jobs he could ever wish for. What he loves most about being a personal trainer is helping his clients achieve what they thought was the “impossible”!
Brandon’s philosophy is that exercise and fitness should be viewed as preventive medicine. If one takes care of his/her body today, he/she will stay healthy for the remainder of his/her life. His main focus is on functional training that incorporates normal daily movements which strengthen core muscle groups and help deliver a functionally fit body. This body will then be efficient with all activities, from athletics to everyday movements.