Chris Wilke is the Co-Owner of Stretch Affect in San Diego, California.
Chris Wilke on the importance of creating golf fitness awareness:
Here in San Diego, we have beautiful weather and a lifestyle desired by people across the country. In my opinion, however, golf fitness hasn’t taken a stronghold on many of the golfers we have in our corner of the world. Based less than 40 miles north of San Diego, the Titleist Performance Institute has helped bring awareness and education to the industry, and now it’s up to us to continue the trend. In concept, Stretch Affect has been around for four years, working primarily in corporate wellness centers. At the same time, I was working with a lot of different athletes independently, an increasing number of whom were golfers. Before long, my business partner, Kyle Valery, and I decided that we needed our own location to build awareness of golf fitness. Through the years, we’ve been a part of at least a dozen facilities between us, and that wide range of experience helped shape our own outlook on golf fitness. The biggest concept I’ve learned is having a holistic perspective, even if you don’t have the capacity to provide every component of the program in your own facility. We may not be golf instructors at Stretch Affect, but we’re able to speak the language, and with that knowledge, it’s easier to communicate with swing coaches and connect the dots for our mutual clients and students. After all, everyone deserves to have a team that can manage all of their issues, from their nutrition to their mobility to their golf swing.
Chris Wilke on the business impact of creating golf fitness awareness:
To initiate the golf fitness process, we put every new client through a full lifestyle and movement assessment, and conduct a TPI golf screen, a Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) and various other functional range system evaluations. We refer anything that is outside our scope to one of several trusted experts with whom we have networked and developed relationships. Over the years, we’ve found that people simply cannot physically move the way they’re trying to with a golf club in their hands. Our programming, and the input of colleagues, help rectify those deficiencies in a planned and organized manner. Through the years, many of these individuals have tried to develop a better golf swing by beating balls on the range and taking lessons that just didn’t touch on the key issue – the body. We teach them about what their body needs, and how to start implementing self-care. This is often the first step to a healthier lifestyle, on and off the golf course.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email chriswilkefitness@gmail.com.
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