Golf Fitness Academy Presented By Titleist

Golf Fitness Academy Presented by Titleist

Featuring Roger Fredericks

Wednesday, June 25^th at 7:30 p.m. EST, 4:30 p.m. PST

Golfers can learn to train like a Tour pro this season as Golf Fitness Academy presented by Titleist returns to The Golf Channel for its fifth season with a 10-show series helping golfers maximize performance through fitness. 

Hosts Dr. Greg Rose and Dave Phillips, cofounders of the Titleist Performance Institute, offer useful tips that directly relate to producing a better all-around golf game. 

Episode 10: Stretching expert Roger Fredericks joins us to share with you his secrets to increasing your

overall flexibility.  A regular on The Golf Channel, Roger is one of the few PGA members who is also recognized as one of the pioneers and leaders in the Golf Fitness movement for over 20 years.  His smash hit Infomercial “Roger Fredericks Reveals the Secrets to Golf Swing Flexibility” has been the #1 Best Selling DVD’s in the golf industry for nearly 3 years now and is currently running in different countries all over the world.

In addition to being the founder of The Del Mar Golf College instruction schools, Roger has taught over 20,000 students and 50 Touring Professionals, which include 6 Hall of Famers and all of the Big Three: Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus.

The Hosts
Dr. Greg Rose is a board certified Doctor of Chiropractic who also holds a degree in Engineering, helped pioneer the field of analyzing computerized 3-D motion and how the body works during the golf swing.  He specializes in strength and conditioning, manual therapy, rehabilitation, nutritional supplementation and therapeutic exercises as they relate to golf, and has worked with more than 500 professional and 3,000 amateur golfers to help them reach their peak performance.

Dave Phillips is a PGA Professional and consistently listed among GOLF Magazine's Top 100 Teachers.  Considered to be one of the world's premier instructors, Dave applies his expertise in computerized swing analysis and biomechanics to create a clear picture of what happens during the golf swing.  Born in England and raised in Africa and Australia, Dave has had the unique experience of playing with and instructing some of the game's greatest golfers worldwide.

Weekly Drawings
On this season of the Golf Fitness Academy presented by Titleist, viewers will also have the opportunity to enter weekly drawings for the chance to win many of the exercise machines and tools used on each show. 

Sweepstakes begins April 16. Check each show's details page for more information.

Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra comprise the major golf brands of Acushnet Company, an operating company of Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE - FO). Titleist, Titleist Performance Institute and MyTPI are trademarks owned by Acushnet Company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Balance, Rythym And Timing

  Over the course of my golf career as an instructor, there is a very common occurrence which has happened virtually thousands of times.  What I’m referring to, is when I’m recording a student’s swing on video, they’ll often times hit a bad shot, and say something like, “Boy, I hope you didn’t get that one on film”, Or, they’ll say, “let me hit another one and get a good one on there”. 

The truth of the matter is however that when I play both swings (the good shot and the bad shot) back to them on a split screen, very seldom can the students identify which was the good shot and which was the bad shot.  The reality is that it usually takes a long time (sometimes years) to really make a permanent change in a persons swing!    So what is it then that creates the difference between a good and bad shot, especially when their swing mechanics look identical?  The answer is timing.

In his outstanding book “Tour Tempo”, John Novosel reveals research where it is explained that Tour Players have nearly identical timing – despite the fact that the players have different speeds of swings. The timing ratio of tour players backswings and downswings is remarkably similar, whereby high handicappers aren’t usually close!   The research done in kinematic sequencing of golf swings also bear this out from a different perspective.  In other words, the sequencing of a Tour Players pelvis, upper torso, arms, and club are remarkably similar from the top of their downswings to impact, whereby once again, the high handicapper usually isn’t close. In the tour players, the pelvis starts moving first, then the upper trunk, arms, and finally the club.  The higher handicappers seldom follow this sequence and “usually” have the upper body and arms starting down first.   The question is, “Why do tour players all have the proper sequence?  Obviously, they’ve hit thousands (and millions) of balls and created superb timing, but another key factor is that they have much stronger and flexible muscles, specifically in their legs and upper trunk. For example, when you pick up a suitcase, a little muscle in the shoulder region called the Supra spinatus begins to contract and lift the suitcase upward.  As the suitcase gets higher, the supra spinatus can’t handle the load anymore and the deltoid muscle of the shoulder begins to help.  As the case gets raised even higher, the rhomboid and trapezius joins in to help the process.  In other words, there is a definite pattern of movement between these muscles. This same “kinematic sequencing” occurs during the golf swing as the muscles transfer their load bearing responsibilities to one another.

IF A PERSON HAS TIGHT OR WEAK MUSCLES, THE KINEMATIC SEQUENCING WILL NOT OCCUR SMOOTHLY, OR IN A TIMELY FASHION.

The answer of course is: keep your muscles strong and especially flexible.  Everybody can improve the range of motion in their bodies IF they stretch the right muscles, the right way, and if they do: Better timing, rhythm, and balance.