We Are Looking for Qualified Golf Coaches in Jupiter, Florida

We are really excited about the the success we have had at the GolfGym Academy we opened in Jupiter, Florida along with Coach Joey D. His expertise and 12 years experience on the PGA Tour is invaluable to the golfers he works with on a regular basis.

Just this morning, PGA Tour Players Fredrick Jacobson and Richard Johnson were in the Academy working on their conditioning. Freddy will be traveling to TPC Boston in Norton, MA for the Deutsche Bank Championship in the FedEx Playoffs. He is currently in 50th place.

Because there are nearly 400 golf courses in South Florida, there are great opportunities to help many golfers here at our facility. Therefore, we are looking to expand our staff for the upcoming season starting in late September.

If you are a qualified Golf Fitness, Conditioning or Biomechanics Coach in the West Palm Beach area, and would like to work with elite Golf Biomechanics Coach Joey D, we are looking for you.

Please email me with your name, address and bio. ken@golfgym.com

Good Luck & Good Golfing
Ken Pierce
President, GolfGym

Lower Body Rotation....or Discovering Your Hips - Part 2

In an earlier post, PGA Tour Player Jason Gore demonstrated an exercise dealing with lower-body rotation. Jason was performing the rotation exercise with our 8 pound double handled ball held between his knees.

Pictured below is LPGA Tour player, Liz Janangelo working with Coach Joey D at the GolfGym Academy performing the same exercise with a slightly different twist (no pun intended....well maybe).

While on her back and her legs bent at 90 degrees, and the 8 pound ball held in her hands, Liz is rotating her lower body and upper body in opposition against resistance.

Start with your arms fully extended with the ball in front of your sternum and your knees facing straight up. Rotate to one side, (legs/knees in one direction and arms in the opposite direction) hold for a beat and repeat on the other side. Consider that movement to both sides as one repetition.
If 8 pounds feels too heavy to complete the movements properly, try a 4 pound ball or a small dumbbell. As we always say...it is better to perform 3 or 4 good repetitions than push 8 or 10 poor ones. Oh, one more thing, remember to breath during the exercise. We tend to hold our breath while performing exercises with resistance. Proper breathing is very important to optimum performance.

This is a great exercise to help you feel the upper/lower separation, and as you perform 8 - 10 repetitions, you will also strengthen your core muscles, glutes and legs which are firing to hold the positions and retain good balance.

Good luck with this one.
The GolfGym Team

Lower Body Rotation....or Discovering Your Hips

Hip Turn with Medicine Ball

This exercise is dealing with lower-body rotation. In Coach Joey D's new book, Fix Your Body Fix Your Swing, one of the assessments involves the following exercise. The difference is that you will perform this exercise while holding a medicine ball be­tween your knees. This means your hips will go through a slightly reduced range of motion. Without the ball, for example, you may find that you are able to turn and drop your right leg to the side without your left shoulder coming up off the floor. When you try to get your left leg to stack on top of your right leg, perhaps your shoulder will pull off the floor.

Here, because the ball is preventing your left leg from being able to stack directly on top of the right leg, you may find your body able to perform the move properly. The medicine ball will also strengthen your hips, spinal rotators, and core.

Now, you’re dealing with eight pounds of resistance while you’re doing it. You also have to keep a firm squeeze on the medicine ball to hold it in place. Just about every known law of physics will back me up when I say that you definitely don’t want to loosen your grip on the ball when you’re in the knees-straight-up position.

PGA Tour Player Jason Gore

How to do it:
Lie back on the floor or on a mat with your legs bent and a medicine ball squeezed between your knees. Place your arms out to your sides, palms down, to help stabilize you. Raise your legs by flexing at the hips. Your thighs should be perpendicular to the floor and your lower legs should be parallel to the floor. Both your hips and knees should be flexed at ninety degrees.

Slowly drop your hips to the right side until the outer part of your right leg touches the floor. Try to keep your left shoulder from coming up off the floor. Hold for a beat, then slowly return to the starting position. Don’t drop the ball—it will negatively impact more than just your golf game!

Hold the knees-straight- up position for a beat, then slowly drop your knees to the left side. Try to get the outer part of your left leg to touch the floor with­out your right shoulder lifting off the floor. Hold for a beat, then return to the starting position to complete the rep.

Do as many reps as you are capable of doing well. Doing three of them well is better than doing six poorly. You will definitely feel the separation and the rotation. Good Luck.

GolfGym Academy