Workout specialized for golf

Sonya English • sonya.english@thedesertsun.com • December 30, 2010

Thirty years ago, a workout for a body builder, professional athlete or even an average golfer meant lifting dumbbells.

Not anymore, according to a former club champion at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Steve Jacobson owns Golf Fitness Studio in La Quinta, a gym that focuses strictly on just what the name says: golf fitness.

The exercises that comprise the Tour Golf Fitness program resemble workouts now common among professional golfers, Jacobson said.

"There isn't television coverage of any kind when the commentators and the athletes don't mention physical fitness," Jacobson said. "This is as close to doing what those guys are doing as you'll find."

Inside the studio is a 10-exercise circuit designed to improve a golfer's game by building strength, increasing flexibility and core conditioning.

Some exercises resemble parts of a golf swing and isolate one muscle group. A short rod connected to adjustable weights by a band replaces a golf club.

Jacobson likens simulating a golf swing with the extra weight to studying for a test in school: Don't study, and the first question incites panic; study, and the test is easy.

"You do your hard work in here so when you leave, everything becomes easier," Jacobson said.

After doing the program for more than a year, Kathy Murch of La Quinta said it has helped her strengthen the areas around her elbows, where she's had tendonitis for 10 years.

"You're strengthening. You're building your golf swing in the gym, and that translates into your play on the course," she said.

And she said she's no longer afraid she'll injure herself further.

"That mental aspect just makes your whole golf game and your swing so much better," Murch said.

The program came out of a period of rapid development in the fitness world, with specialized exercise equipment and apparel becoming mainstream.

"You're now able to adapt a training program to the specific sport that person wants to play," Jacobson said.

An average one-on-one session of the Tour Golf Fitness program lasts about an hour and 15 minutes. Each is $99 if purchased 10 at a time. Discounts are available for youth and PGA West members.

Jacobson described the gym as a place where golfers can enjoy their workout and see the benefits in their golf games among others interested in doing the same.

"You're not gonna get a 55-, 60-, 65-year-old person to go to 24 Hour Fitness or Gold's Gym to work on their golf game," he said. "They just don't fit in."

Bill Bishop of La Quinta said he's "tickled" by his first two weeks in the program. At 69, with a back injury, two knee surgeries and a compressed disc in his neck, he feared his golf career was coming to an end.

He said he's already made up distance he'd been losing and is back to his normal game.

"I feel better when I come out of here," he said. "I feel like I've advanced my understanding of the game and how to avoid injury and how to play with injury."

During sessions, Jacobson talks to golfers about nutrition. The program, he said, is "full service."

"They're gonna move easier because they're more flexible, and their mind will be sharper because of better diet," he said.

Golf Fitness Studio also offers classes in Pilates, self-defense and myoflexibility, a program composed of unconventional techniques to treat muscle injuries and increase flexibility.