Venturing into a new teachable sport: Golf!

Posted In: ChiRunning | Golf January 25th, 2013 divider No Comments »

So I’m in Orlando for a few days for some R&R but also to tackle a new challenge: teaching the fitness aspect of golf. I won’t lie, the warm weather also helps with the #31in31 challenge…

I got introduced to a program called TPI (short for Titleist Performance Institute) a few years back when I was getting into the sport. I did a bit more research recently and I was really impressed with their approach and the certification program.

I even got a hold of an old seminar manual from local chiro Dr. Carrie Johnston. Some pretty cool stuff and I haven’t experienced it yet!

TPI is a multi-level certification program designed to improve the overall knowledge base of professionals who work with golfers. They have different categories including golf professionals, medical professionals, fitness professionals and biomechanics professionals.

A bit of a disclaimer, I’m not the world’s best golfer. But I’ve been working with some teaching pros over the last two years and I’ve seen a big improvement in my game. Just learning more about biomechanics and bringing some awareness to the game has made a world of difference. For the most part now I know why I slice or hook the ball.

I used to think you had to be Tiger Woods to help people with golf. I then realized I’m not going to the Olympics for running either and I got to help with over 350 people over the past few while teaching ChiRunning.

Teaching golf fitness is something that I’ve been thinking about for some time. I’m learning I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to finer details. Applying science to sport is one of my favourite past times. I also really like to see how I can help people.

A lot of my teacher training from ChiRunning and triathlon will apply to this new endeavour. How to teach the matter doesn’t really change from sport to sport and same goes with some of the secondary services including anatomy and video analysis for example.

This should be fun!

***

Our good friend Blaise is at it again on his blog at therunningclinic.ca. This time he’s basically comparing the shoe industry to big tobacco.

Interesting read!