* After winning in 2008, Len Siter, Director of Instruction at Golfer’s Edge (and Head Professional at Mountain Ridge Country Club), was nominated again for NJ Golf Teacher of the Year by the NJPGA, in addition to winning the Horton Smith Award for continuing education opportunities in the NJ section of the PGA. He continues to be on the forefront of technological advances and diagnostics for golf instruction in the state and in the country.

* Brett Jones, Golf Instructor at Golfer’s Edge (and Director of Instruction at Trump National Golf Club), was also nominated for NJ Golf Teacher of the Year by the NJPGA. Jones is one of the State’s rising top instructors, with the highest certifications from the Titleist Performance Institute.

*An accomplished player as well, Brett Jones also won the NJPGA Section Player of the Year and NJ State Open Championship.

* Frank Esposito, also teaching at Golfer’s Edge (and Head Professional at Brooklake Country Club), won the Section Championship and finished second to Brett Jones for Player of the Year, after winning the award in 2007.

* Siter, Jones and Esposito all qualified for the National Club Pro Championship, played in June.

* Ben Shear, Director of Performance at Golfer’s Edge, has been named the Kinesiology Editor for the Journal of Applied Golf Research, a new journal committed to studying the history, current status and future of 3-D Biomechanics in golf and how 3-D can be used to impact golf improvement. Shear will be collaborating with the most renowned biomechanists and sports scientists in the world in this journal.

* Shear has also been working on the PGA Tour with Jeff Banaszak of Back 9 Tour Services. A top-notch Physical Therapist, Banaszak is on the Medical Advisory Board of Titleist Performance Institute, has numerous golf-fitness facilities in the Dallas/Fort Worth area–including one at the Jim McLean Golf School–and works with many PGA Tour Players, including Rory Sabatini, JJ Henry and Chad Campbell, to name a few.

* Shear and Banaszak will be golf fitness experts on Jim McLean’s instructional website, www.TheGolfersNation.com. Jim McLean is known as one of the Top 50 Golf Instructors in the Country. His new website is geared to providing top-notch instruction to golf enthusiasts all over the world. Monthly fitness shows will be available for viewing on TheGolfersNation.com. The first show on Mobility began airing on January 26th. Free workouts that go along with the shows, complete with specific reps and sets, will be available at www.PlayGolfStrong.com.

* Shear and Banaszak created the golf-fitness website, www.PlayGolfStrong.com, to give Tour-level instruction to all golfers. In addition to the articles and free workouts that accompany TheGolfersNation.com fitness shows, a variety of golf fitness products and a series of DVDs will be for sale, designed to elevate anyone’s game.

Since everyone is feeling the pinch these days, now more than ever, it is imperative that people put their money to good use when approaching golf instruction. That means 1) understanding the physical limitations that are holding back any real technical improvement AND 2) being able to see for one’s self the technical problems that are ocurring and recurring.

It is too late in the game for golfers not to take advantage of the sophisticated physical screens and the high-tech diagnostics which have been developed specifically for golf, and specifically for sustained, consistent improvement in one’s game.

Start with the body. A sophisticated physical screen addresses potential limits in range-of-motion and muscular imbalances. The former can make it impossible to actually get into the positions that the game (and the Teaching Pros) require, and the latter can be hampering accuracy and power production (i.e. distance), all while leading a devoted and unsuspecting golfer to eventual injury. Perhaps this strikes a chord with the golfers who have tried like hell to do exactly what their Golf Instructors have been asking. Try as they may, if the body is unable, the golfer will never be able to swing correctly, strike effectively, putt efficiently, score consistently.

Titleist Performance Institute–one of the most revered sources for golf instruction and cutting-edge golf information–has gone so far as to correlate the most common swing faults to underlying physical causes. If a golfer is really serious about getting their game to a better place, they should go through a thorough evaluation by a Titleist-certified trainer, preferably one who is also is certified in the crucially-related field of Biomelchanics. That trainer will not only understand the intricacies of the body undergoing the complex rotary motion of the golf swing, he or she will also be able to interpret some of the technological golf screens and really be in a position to make effective changes to physical training and give intelligent insight to a golfer’s instructor for improvements to their technical game. Which leads to the second aspect of value-added golf lessons: technology.

Golf lessons must provide proof of technical ability, or else instructors are merely philosophizing and students are blindly trying to participate in an exercise of near futility. Golfers need to see what they’re doing, and today’s diagnostics allow for vantage points from every aspect of the game. Ask for the total package:

* See what you’re doing with a video analysis (preferably mult-camera…). Often times, golfers are surprised–what they think they’re doing doesn’t match what they’re actually doing. Looking at Body Positions, Club Face and Plane can all be helpful when used with good instruction, especially since most people are visual learners.
* Address balance and weight shift issues on Force Plates like the Dynamic Balance System. Without knowing for certain what one is actually doing during the phases of the swing, it will be excruciating to try and come close to the proper sequencing that’s required for maximum power output.
* Undergo a 3-D biomechanics analysis to also shed light on precisely when the swing mechanics are breaking down. See your Kinematic Sequence, Body Rotations, Postures and Body Segment Speeds, plus much more. These pieces of the puzzle will also be important in informing one’s golf performance trainer about specific types of corrective exercises that will need to be added to a golf-specific program.
* Use a Lauch Monitor to pinpoint what’s occurring at impact. Things such as Club Head Speed, Ball Speed, Launch Angle and Spin Rates all should be considered.
* Rely on multiple diagnosed parameters of the putt, like the SAMM Putt Lab offers, to understand your Path, Impact Spot, Loft, and Putter Face Rotation, just to name a few.

Yes, these services are above and beyond what many golfers have allowed themselves. After dues, fees, equipment, and instruction, there isn’t a lot left over. But reconsider for a minute. Without going the extra distance to (finally) understand what one’s doing and WHY, all the money devoted to the beloved sport might actually be considered a waste. Spend the time and money this winter to shed new light on your game. The insight and wisdom will bring more targeted progess than ever before. As we like to say at Golfer’s Edge, “Knowledge is Power.”

Tough times can breed smart strategies. Be smart about improving your game. The times demand it.

On November 24th, Ben Shear, Director of Program Design, and Len Siter, PGA Director of Golf Instruction at Golfer’s Edge, held a three-hour workshop for the NJ PGA on the Body-Swing Connection in Golf. With 25 Teaching Professionals from around the state in attendance, they taught the Pros how a golfer’s physical abilites and limitations will affect technical efficiency. They discussed the basic biomechanics of the golf swing and the many, many muscles involved in the swing, referring to EMG studies done on PGA Tour Players.

Following this basic overview, there was a more in-depth discussion of stability and mobility (range-of-motion) of specific body segments, demonstrating how they directly affect a player’s swing. After discussing how these specific limitations will negatively impact performance–like a how a limitation in internal hip rotation can cause slide or sway, or how a limitation in shoulder external rotation can cause a loss of posture and an over-the-top move–Shear and Siter had the Pros in attendance go through parts of the Titleist Performance Institue’s physical golf screen. Then, after screening, they discussed if, indeed, the issues revealed were manifesting themselves in swing faults. The correlation from physical to technical was extrememly high.

The workshop was a huge success, with many of the Teaching Professions following up and making appointments to have themselves evaluated and put on a golf-specific exercise program. The issue of how the body affects the swing is becoming a more popular topic, and the state PGA and the PGA of America’s involvement in educating Teaching Professionals on this paramount subject is both welcomed and critical to advancing the game. Teaching Professionals came away understanding how they might teach around revealed limitations and how important it was to work with fitness professionals in their area to actually help correct the underlying physical limitations hampering technical performance.

Later this winter, Shear and Siter will be presenting again to the NJ PGA on advanced biomechanics and how to teach around clients’ physical limitations.

With golf participation growing so greatly in the past few years, the need for intelligent golf fitness training has exploded as well. Unfortunately, many sports trainers have not recognized how adding golf training to their repertoire could help them become better sports trainers all together.

Ben Shear, Director of Performance Training at Athletic Edge and Director of Program Design at Golfer’s Edge, put together a basic guide to navigating the golf world for otherwise-engaged sport-specific trainers. The manual incorporates all the critical information needed to approach the new niche with intelligence and confidence and illustrates how proper golf fitness training can help elevate both a golfer’s and a trainer’s game.

The manual, entitled “Top-Flight Performance Training for a Successful Golf Fitness Business” sold out at the 2008 Midwest Strength and Conditioning Symposium in Chicago, where Shear was presenting information on Rotary Power Training for Golf, one of the areas covered in greater detail in the manual.

To secure your copy, contact info@athleticedge.net for ordering information.

Ben Shear, Director of Program Design at Golfer’s Edge, presented scientific Golf Training information at the 2008 Midwest Strength and Conditioning Symposium in Chicago on September 20th and 21st. His topic was Rotary Power Training for Golf, and he illustrated how a rotary sport, such as golf, requires that athletes have mobility and stability in order to sequence better and create powerful shots.

The presentation focused on fundamentals like: three axes of rotation in the golf swing; kinetic linking; the initiation of torque at the pelvis; power production coming from the ground; muscular loading and the whip effect, etc. In conclusion, it emphasized the need to correct limitations in hip and T-spine mobility and rotary stability as the starting points of a rotary training performance program for golf. More ballistic type exercise can follow effectively only after these corrections have been made.

Tiger Woods has proven over and over that he is in a league all his own. His short game continues to amaze even those who have come to expect godlike performances, making him the game’s greatest clutch Putter EVER, and putting to rest the idea that he might have an Achilles knee.

Yes, Tiger does create excessive torque on his knee. With club head speeds exceeding 125 miles per hour, a left foot perpendicular to the target line, and considerable straightening of the lead leg, that front side knee experiences more torque than is advisable for, let’s say, mere mortals.

When striving for effective lead leg mechanics in the downswing, one’s lead foot must stay firmly planted in the ground into impact while simultaneously going into internal hip rotation on the left side (for right-handed golfers). Any restriction in ankle or hip mobility would place extra torque at the knee. While this situation is probably not the case with Tiger Woods, PERHAPS a slight turning out of his left foot at set-up could help to minimize that torque that he creates. This slightly flared-out position is consistent with the set-up position of many of the greatest players in the history of golf. And while this is not intended to be swing advice for the current god of golf, it is offered to the millions of viewers/disciples who noticed his obvious pain through impact time and time again.

For those golfers who are also experiencing any lead leg knee pain in their golf swing, it is strongy recommended that they flare out the front foot and make sure that adequate hip rotation on both sides is present. There is no reason to live with the pain if, mechanically, it can be fixed. There is no million dollar pay day for the rest of us. I have worked with PGA Tour players, professional swing coaches and therapists out on Tour, and the general consensus is that Tiger has the ultimate understanding of his body, his swing, and how the two interact. Many of us believe that he could continue to win without further injury to his knee, however. The US Open showed that, although his body is super-strong, it’s what’s in his mind (and his heart) that elevates him to another stratosphere.

Tiger’s mechanics have helped Tiger win. For the rest of us mere mortals, stick to a more pain-free set-up approach and stay riveted to the best golf in the world.

Ben Shear, Director of Golf Performance at Golfer’s Edge, will be presenting data at the third annual “Better Golf through Technology” Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (M.I.T.) Center for Sports Innovation on February 24th and 25th. He will be presenting 3-D biomechanical data and demonstrating in case studies: the effect of lower-body mechanics on the overall golf swing; and how improving faulty lower-body mechanics with exercise and proper movement training can create a positive change in overall golf swing dynamics.

Shear will be joining the golf world’s top teaching professionals, technology innovators, researchers, and equipment manufacturers who are all there to discuss what’s currently state-of-the-art and where the future of golf technology, teaching and training are headed. These conference participants, along with researchers from elite academic institutions, will present research on various technologies and learning methods, and panel discussions will highlight technology’s effectiveness in golf learning. This combination of technology, research, and top professionals will make for an unforgettable event that will reveal new insights about the future of golf. For more information, go to www.bgtt.org.