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FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS

Golf fitness can prevent injury and improve your game BY CHARLENE SMITH AFN Guest Writer

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nother Waste Management Phoenix Open is behind us, which might re-energize some people to get out on the links. Perhaps your favorite part about golfing is when the beverage cart rolls around. Maybe you are very serious about the game and want to improve your swing and your score. Either way, golf fitness is something that can help you. Golf fitness isn’t new. Professional golfers discovered years ago that golf fitness is about being fit enough to play the game at an individual’s highest level and doing so without causing injury. It’s about understanding how a body’s limitations can influence the golf swing and how to address those limitations through the proper channels – whether it’s through swing instruction, physical rehabilitation or strength and conditioning exercise. Just as there are trained professionals for technique such as swing, there are trained golf fitness professionals. Titleist offers various health and fitness Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) certifications for golf-specific fitness. Ahwatukee resident Mario Ramirez tends to be a serious golfer, with more than 40 years of golfing under his belt along with building custom golf clubs as a hobby. When attending West Point, he was a member of the academy’s golf team. After taking a break from playing golf for a few years, he realized he needed some help with releasing tight muscles for more mobility and strengthening weak areas without doing additional damage to his back. Ramirez ‘s research led him to the Titleist program and he found a TPI instructor nearby – Doug Thompson, owner of the Body Firm Personal Training Studio in Ahwatukee. Ramirez said he selected Thompson because “he has two Titleist certifications. He knows more about proper back mechanics and functions which is important to me because of the problems I have had with my back.” Thompson explained that working with a TPI instructor is beneficial because it can help create more mobility and stability

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