I love the Titleist Performance Institute. I am a certified Golf Fitness instructor (L.1) and a firm believer in functional movement screening and training. It’s magical stuff. But where does it fit in the context of improving your golf game? At what point should physical training become the focus for your game? Those are tough questions. Here’s the copout answer, that unfortunately also happens to be true: It depends.
The physical capabilities of your body set the ceiling for your ability level in anything you do. No matter how much I train in the water or how good I get in my swimming technique, I will never be able to swim like a seal. At some point in any pursuit, our body becomes the limiting factor. Let’s call this concept Physical Capacity: the point at which your body’s physical capabilities begin to limit your skill development. Consider the following depiction of a club golfer below. Lets call him “Donny.”
Donny’s diagram above represents a LOT of club level golfers. Donny isn’t a star athlete by any means, but he stays fairly active in his daily life and maintains a decent level of stability and mobility in his body. He has a couple of nagging injuries from the past, but nothing that causes him any pain or serious movement dysfunction. However, Donny is new to the game and his skill level is quite mediocre. He has a long way to go before he reaches the point of physical capacity. For Donny, working on his fitness may not be the fastest way to improve his game. His time would be better spent with his PGA of Canada instructor, improving control of ball contact, direction, curve, or speed.
Now, consider the following diagram of a player with an equal physical capacity but much more developed skills. Let’s call this gal “Alex.” 
Alex has dedicated lots of practice time to improving her game, and has had some great direction from her PGA of Canada instructor. However, she lacks a lot of stability, has weak glutes and a weak core, and struggles to generate rotary speed in any sport that she plays (this makes her a perennial late pick at company softball). Alex’s skill level is very close to her physical capacity. This suggests that for her to continue to progress, addressing the issues in her functional movement patterns are going to be very important. Otherwise she is going to hit that physical capacity ceiling and “plateau.”
The reality is that very few golfers ever get to Alex’s position. Most are stuck somewhere between her and Donny, never reaching their physical capacity for skill. And here’s the important part: If you haven’t yet reached your physical capacity, improving your physical capacity can’t lead to an improvement in skill!
It’s been said that “It’s easier to sell ‘em something than to tell ‘em the truth.” Chiropractors (some, anyway) make a darn good living out of assessing your problems for free, then prescribing an expensive course of treatment to fix them. Trainers and golf pros who go overboard on the “golf fitness” bandwagon are no different. For most players (if not all), a full TPI screen will show a great many areas in which physical capacity is lacking. First, keep in mind that these deficiencies are deficiencies by comparison to PGA Tour players, the best of the best. The standard for your game should never be based on what Dustin Johnson can do (very few can live up to that!) unless you’re competing against Dustin Johnson. The standard for your game should be based on what you want to accomplish. Second, in many cases there are technique adjustments that can be made to work with physical limitations. For many golfers, this will be enough to reach an acceptable standard of golf. Third, there is nothing to indicate that if a student improved their fitness until they were able to pass every test, it would make any difference whatsoever on their skill level.
This is NOT to say that golf fitness training is not important. It is. The best golf coaches understand human movement and work with their students (possibly a trainer and medical professional as well) to build a swing that will work for them and the physical capacity of their bodies. Functional movement screening (the basis for the TPI screening protocols) is also important in reducing the likelihood of injury, and in determining movement dysfunction. It is a piece of the puzzle. But it is rarely the whole picture.
This post is largely based on opinion. Please leave your own thoughts on the topic in a comment below, and consider sharing this post via the social media links provided. As a bonus, check out Ben Crane’s amazing gym abilities, honed by a childhood spent in gymnastics.
well put sir, this is a topic that seems to be widely debated lately and there is not a really clear answer….interesting subject for debate though!..
At the risk of coming across rudely…So patently obvious, not even debatable. So I will ask how are you defining “skill level”?
Obvious to both of us, yep. Obvious to everyone? Not so much. Good question about the definition, I don’t have a good answer for that. Within “golf skill level” are about 10 different areas in which it is possible to have differing skill levels and also differing capacities.
Matt: I compliment you on taking on this issue but I have to disagree with your approach slightly. I think there are multiple layers when it comes to skill and physical capacity and it’s not quite as simple as skill limits running up against physical limits. For example, let’s say you have a golfer that can’t perform even a simple hip hinge. This is a physical capacity issue that will totally block their ability to attain skills in the long game. But then once they’ve attained a decent level of hip hinge then I think you’re right–skill is the dominant factor until they run into other physical issues such as inability to generate a lot of rotational power or lack of flexibility limiting their ability to maintain their angles when ball is below the feet or on a downhill lie. The Golf Progress Pyramid is my preferred model whereby skill is built atop a physical base (with strategy and the mental game built on top of your skills) but it is not to imply that the physical aspect is the most important, it just means that there are certain gates that must be unlocked on the fitness (more appropriately termed “function”) side of things before skills can be applied atop that foundation.
But it’s quite possible that I’m dead wrong and you’re right.
Nick I think we’re on the same page actually. In the case of the golfer who can’t perform a hip hinge, he has reached his physical capacity. He needs to increase capacity before he can improve his skill. This process may happen many times over during the process of golf progress (tm?). But I also think that most people have a decent base, or at least a mostly functional base, and have yet to reach their capacity.
Video response? Get on it
I think we agree then Matty. Interesting to consider the differences between long game and short game when it comes to physical capacity getting int the way of skill development. In theory you should be able to be an absolute mess but still putt like a tour pro.
Heck ya they could! Why not?
Golf fitness is the fastest growing division in golf today. Regardless of your age, current handicap or fitness level a physical assessment will identify physical limitations. Sean Cochran, TPI Certified and trainer to Phil Mickleson states, “golf pros to amateurs have spent enough time and money on equipment and lessons, their focus should be on improving their physical capabilities”. Chris Scheel Vancouver Island’s Most Qualified TPI Golf Fitness Professional (Level 3) and Level 2 Junior Fitness Instructor.
I agree with the first part of that, for sure. Of course Sean Cochran is going to say that, he makes his living from fitness, not lessons or equipment
I’m all for functional movement, for improving the quality of golf and life! All I’m saying that golf fitness is a part of the overall improvement process. But for a lot of players, it isn’t the most important part.