Fitness Pros Who Can Help Your Golf Game
Illustration by Justin Renninger
Playing 18 holes isn’t a walk in the park, and if you’re not physically prepared for the demands, post-green aches and pains can become all too common. “The golf swing is one of the most dynamic and traumatic movements in all of sports,” says Michael Smaltz of Bryn Mawr’s Platoon Golf. When playing a full round or more with that kind of pressure on each swing, golf creates quite a wear-and-tear on the body. To feel better and to better your game, see one of these local golf-geared fitness pros or check out one of the classes below. — Brian Ward
Body Balance for Performance
701 East Elm Street, Suite 100, Conshohocken, 610-940-3835
Offering everything from individualized sessions and small-groups workouts to body-balance training and yoga for golf, this golfer’s paradise will customize a program tailored to your specific golfing needs. Even cooler? They’ll analyze your swing in 3-D to figure out exactly where your body needs help the most.
Platoon Fitness – Platoon Golf
899 Penn Street, Bryn Mawr, 610-581-6161
Known for their bootcamp-like, outdoor training, Platoon Fitness takes the same hardcore approach to perfecting your body for the green. With certified trainers and a 10,000-square-foot facility, they’ll identify and overcome physical restrictions that are limiting your potential by using everything from golf-swing biometrics to physical screening techniques to exercise prescriptions.
Bill Tokmajian’s Fitness Training for Optimum Golf Performance
Talamore Country Club, 723 Talamore Drive, Ambler, 215-512-9321
Bill Tokmajian has spent the past 10 years at the Talamore County Golf Club in Ambler helping clients develop a very personalized fitness plan that improves their golf swing without touching the club. After an initial golf fitness assessment, Bill will diagnose weaknesses, physical limitations, and areas that have been holding you back on the green before building a customized workout that’ll increase flexibility, stability, and strength.
On the Greens Pilates
Aquatic and Fitness Center, 601 Righters Ferry Road, Bala Cynwyd, 856-278-8217
Bernadette Giorgi, owner of On the Green Pilates, holds an advanced certification for teaching Pilates for golf and tennis. She offers weekly classes, various workshops, and one-on-one sessions that correct the muscle imbalances created by the tension of the golf swing and end those weekday morning pains that come after weekend golf outings.
Savage Core Pilates
Sherman Mills, 3502 Scotts Lane, Building 19, Suite 1912, East Falls, 602-538-4216
Principle trainer Debra Savage is a licensed instructor for Pilates for Golf. One of her main focuses is your swing, because she claims many golfers put too much strain on back and spine muscles. To avoid serious injuries, Debra’s helps you strengthen the oblique muscles so you aren’t using the back to swing.
Training Inc Golf Fitness
22 North Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr, 610-525- 0225
Owner Rene Cammarata will discover and correct the fitness limitations that are cramping your golf-game and correct areas in need of rehab through sports performance training. Using jump rope, treadmill work, medicine balls, body-weight training and Olympic lifting, he and his team of trainers will increase your power and injury-proof your body, and will hook you up with a physical therapist or nutritionist as needed.
