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Golf Fitness Training

alt At South West Health & Fitness we have a staff of sports medicine professionals specifically trained to address the physical rigors of playing golf. The golf fitness evaluation determines how your body and golf swing will best work together in order to achieve optimum performance on the golf course and prevent injuries.

“One of the most sacred fundamentals for a good golf swing is your posture” ~ Tiger Woods

“I believe great physical conditioning gives me an extra advantage, an extra gear.” “Just as form is an important element of the golf swing, it is also important factor in fitness training.” “Sam Sneed is living proof that you can minimize the effects of time by remaining flexible…” ~ Tiger Woods, How I Play Golf

Annika Sorenstam continues rewriting the LPGA record books, launching herself into legendary golfer status. Annika is very smart about how she exercises and trains. She performs several hundred repetitions of strengthening for her “core” muscles every day. Her exercises are not the typical abdominal crunches. She performs golf specific strengthening exercises.

Packages include:

Golf fitness evaluation
Customized golf fitness training regiment

Cause of Pain

Is your lower back tight or inflexible for the first few holes?

Do you experience shoulder soreness or pain after your round?

Is your elbow or wrist sore for several days after your round?

Your golf swing may actually be contributing to your golf induced injuries. Many musculoskeletal injuries start innocently as mild tenderness of stiffness during or after your round. If left untreated, these mild symptoms can then progress to more pronounced stiffness, dysfunction, and even injury.

Most golfers today will not hesitate to spend several hundred dollars on a new club. What most people don't realize is that the most important piece of equipment used in the game is their body. Even with the advent of all the latest technology in golf, if your body is not adequately conditioned, then you are not going to play to the best of your ability and you will be subject to injuries. In most cases significant limitations in balance, flexibility or strength will lead to some sort of compensation in mechanics in order to get back to the golf ball and make solid contact. These compensations in proper mechanics will most likely lead to erratic performance and golf related pain or injury.

At South West Health & Fitness, we have a staff of sports medicine professionals specifically trained to address the physical rigors of playing golf. The golf fitness evaluation determines how your body and golf swing will best work together in order to achieve optimum performance on the golf course and prevent injuries.

Staff

Director: Joseph M Zappala D.C.
Dr. Zappala specializes in the treatment and prevention of golf related injuries. He is a single digit handicap and brings 17 years of experience as a chiropractor and 25 years of participating in athletics.

Golf Fitness Trainer: Leciana M. Zappala, CPT
Leciana is a personal trainer and specializes in women's fitness. She is also a certified golf fitness trainer and a member of te professional golf Fitness Association (PGFA). A fitness buff herself, Leciana offers her clients personal training , golf fitness training, dietary management and lifestyle modification. She is very involved with each and every client to ensure that they achieve their fitness goals.

Balance

In order to compete at a high level, golfers need to possess proper balance to execute a powerful and efficient golf swing. Balance becomes even more important when you experience a line that is above or below your feet. By implementing a golf specific balance-training program, golfers of all abilities can dramatically improve their performance on the golf course.

Flexibility

In order to make complete shoulder turn, the average golfer manipulates the club with his or her hands and arms to simulate a full shoulder turn. Implementation of a golf specific flexibility program, combined with good balance, can lead to better control and lower scores.

Strength

Strength is often-overlooked element in golf swing performance. There are certain fundamentals of golf swing mechanics that require a great amount of strength. One of the biggest keys in generating club head speed is the creation of a wide/big swing arc. In order to create te widest possible swing arc you must have the strength to control the club head and the "core" strength to support the tremendous speed that is generated. The shoulders are another area that must be well conditioned in order to create adequate power in the golf swing and prevent rotator cuff injuries.

Golf Swing Coordination

Activity Specific Coordination as it applies to golf

The body moves in very specific patterns during the golf swing. These patterns can be referred to as activity specific coordination. The more efficient and effective the patterns of movement or coordination the better the golf swing performance.

Some keys to golf swing coordination:

1.The body uses the back swing as a counter movement in an effort to more effectively load the muscles during the down swing. As a result, the body must effectively and efficiently change direction from back swing to down swing to take advantage and properly load and sequence muscular activity. Stability – lower body and torso/core are crucial to this process. A key aspect to stability and golf coordination is the ability to rotate body segments, in particular the pelvis, upper torso and arms around a stable core. Maintaining a stable core depends heavily on lower body stability and mechanics.

2.The lower body creates a force couple or torque to initiate the down swing and start the speed generation process. In order to do this, the feet must first be connected solidly to the ground and weight/force must be applied into the ground through the balls of the feet. The feet grip the ground with a downward force while at the same time pushing along the surface of the ground to accelerate the pelvis. There is a very specific blend of linear component or forward weight shift and rotational component.

3.The pelvis is connected to the upper body via the core musculature and a stretch-shorten process. Core muscles are rapidly stretched during the downswing and respond by contracting strongly. This action produces muscular force as well as a transference and amplification of speed between the pelvis and upper torso. The pelvis acts as an “anchor” to “whip” the upper body. This sequence and core muscular engagement are crucial to an effective and efficient development of club head speed. This same process occurs between the upper torso and the arms. Speed developed at the pelvis is amplified as it is passed to the upper torso and then again to the arms.

4.As the club head nears the impact zone, the body braces to release the club and accelerate the club head. The ability to brace is directly related to lower body connection to the ground through the feet and core strength. At the same time, the arms must stay relaxed to allow speed to be fully transferred to the club head through impact.

Zenolink comes to Costa Mesa

3D Golf Fitness Analysis Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa's own Southwest Health Professional Center has teamed up with Zenolink and
to bring you the most cutting edge motion analysis and performance
enhancement tool on the market. Zenolink will video your swing
mechanics and use the data to generate a custom performance
enhancement program to help you become a more efficient athlete
which is the foundation for developing more clubhead speed, power,
and consistency.

“Unlike your more traditional sports analysis. . .

PGA WGC Highlights 2010

Every one of these players throwing darts at the hole or in the hole in Kenny Perry's case is F.I.T.

THE POWER OF 3-D TO IMPROVE ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE

EASY, AFFORDABLE AND EFFECTIVE SOLUTION

ZenoLink is a cutting-edge biomechanics analysis and training tool used by athletes of all levels to improve athletic performance – through the power of 3-D! By zeroing in on what’s really happening during an individual’s sports activity, ZenoLink provides athletes, coaches and trainers – primarily in golf, baseball, cycling, lacrosse, hockey, softball, volleyball, tennis and running– an easy and affordable solution that dramatically improves performance and reduces the risk of injury.

Using specialized 3-D Motion Analysis, ZenoLink captures data related to functional movement, and turns it into a digital model of the athlete’s motion, taking the guesswork out of identifying flaws or restrictions in coordination.·

SIMPLE, ACCESSIBLE AND TECHNICALLY POWERFUL: HOW ZENOLINK WORKS

Step 1: Collect Data. The athlete is filmed in their natural athletic environment, hitting a golf ball or baseball, serving a tennis ball, firing a lacrosse shot. The process is easy – without the use of sensors, wires or a vest.
Step 2: Data Analysis. The video is made into a 3-D model of the athlete at the ZenoLink performance lab in Endicott, NY. Their biomechanical engineers interpret the movement of the model using specialized software to gather measurements including kinetic linking, joint range of motion, body segment coordination and outcome parameters.
Step 3: Get Results! ZenoLink provides the athlete with a specialized Progressive Skills Training (PST) program that targets specific areas to help them get dramatic results toward improving their athletic potential and reduce their chances of injury. Athletes, coaches and trainers can access their results on zenolink.com to incorporate the PST program into their current strength and conditioning routines.·

WHY USE ZENOLINK?

Every athlete is different. More than just height, weight, body type, attitude or strength, no two athletes engage the functional movements of their sport the same way. Therefore, ZenoLink knows there is no one-size-fits-all solution to maximizing performance. This sets them apart from other training “experts” who apply generic training solutions or try to solve performance problems through simple observation.

Before the introduction of ZenoLink, advanced functional movement analysis was available only to sports performance researchers and professional athletes in an expensive lab setting. ZenoLink provides athletes of every level with easy and affordable access to PhD-level performance analysis through the power of 3-D.

THE TEAM

Chris Welch has studied and worked with hundreds of athletes, coaches, trainers, sports instructors, and sports medicine practitioners to develop the technological power behind ZenoLink. He started his journey after graduating from Boston University doing research at the American Sports Medicine Institute in 1991 and continued his work at the BioMotion Foundation until he started his own practice in 1995. For the past 15 years, his life’s work as a biomedical engineer has been dedicated to new discoveries in biomechanics, developing the analysis software behind ZenoLink, and advancing the state of the art of clinical biomechanics.

George Bock, longtime friend since their Little League baseball and high school football days, runs the business side of ZenoLink. Together, Chris and George are carrying on a tradition of technological innovation spawned in their hometown of Endicott, NY, birthplace of IBM. George is a graduate and three-year football letterman of Albany State University, and has since specialized in operations, accounting/finance, and information technology during his professional career.

Golf Fitness Training Costa Mesa