Bob Forman is the Health & Fitness Director at The Peninsula Club in Cornelius, North Carolina.
Bob Forman on the importance of starting small in your performance center and expanding as needed:
When starting a new golf fitness program, you do not need a huge space; nor do you need an elaborate set up of expensive tools and equipment. Most of the people who come through your program will be focused on flexibility and range of motion. So, you can use a carpeted floor or some mats during these initial stages. As far as tools to use, you can get some exercise tubing and start to incorporate some sports-specific strength exercises. In these days of COVID-19, many clubs are even repurposing their ballrooms for group fitness classes, yoga and Pilates, for example. Once each of your potential students goes through an initial physical screen, and you ascertain their needs, determine whether one-on-one sessions are warranted or if group classes, where you can go through some specific stretches and golf-specific strength or balance exercises, would be the preferred method of engagement. There are many different ways that you can incorporate a golf fitness component in your overall efforts to help your members play better golf. The group environment can work well for your students because the sessions are less costly, and also to your staff because you’re reaching a greater number of members at once. The one caveat is that the deficiencies addressed in these sessions should be commonly shared by the participants in the group.
Bob Forman on the business impact of starting small in your performance center and expanding as needed:
As with many endeavors, it often helps to start small and grow patiently over time. As it pertains to implementing a golf fitness program at a facility that hasn’t had one before, just as your client roster will seem small at first and grow as awareness and trust are built over time, so too can your fitness and performance center. Though golf fitness is understood in many corners of the industry as being vital to golfers of all abilities, the truth is that it remains an enigma to others who simply are not educated on the matter – that’s where we come in. By working with the golf professional staff, getting the word out on the what’s, how’s and why’s of the matter and having a dedicated space at your club where you can work with members on stretching, flexibility, balance, strength and other factors, your efforts become demonstrably more effective in instilling golf fitness into the lives of your members. Once you demonstrate how it can benefit them and you further reveal its importance by having a dedicated space for such engagement, minds start to change and the real work, and program growth, can begin.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email bob@golfitcarolina.com.
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