David Watt's TPI instructor role at Hilton Park

improving members' fitness and their swings

By DAVID WATT
Readers who follow the golf on television, especially tournaments in the States, may well have heard commentators talk about the Titleist Performance Institute(TPI). They are the world’s leading experts on golf specific health and fitness and count a vast number of touring professionals as their clients.

Probably their biggest devotee is Padraig Harrington who has worked extensively with them in recent years and this week they were mentioned again during the Accenture Match-play in relation to Ben Crane.

His recent victory in the Farmers Insurance Open was a welcome return from a back injury that threatened to derail his career.

As reported in Golf Digest, “It was Crane’s third career victory - and maybe not his last. His work with Dr Greg Rose of the Titleist Performance Institute, both on fitness and simplifying his golf swing, have Crane relatively pain-free both in body and mind.”
Last September I visited the Butch Harmon School of Golf in Dubai to attend a TPI course and am now one of only a few certified Teaching Professionals with the Institute in Scotland. My role as a TPI instructor at Hilton Park Golf Club is to assess my pupils’ physical attributes relative to the golf swing and link them directly to any swing faults that may be present.

Should any underlying problems be suspected, then the player will be referred to a physiotherapist who is part of my team, ensuring they receive a thoroughly comprehensive service.

I then develop an exercise programme unique to each pupil that will attempt to correct any limitations and allow their swing style to be developed properly, efficiently and without risk of injury.

Sometimes the difficulty is in trying to convince a golfer that some of the most effective work they can do for their golf swing can be done without a club in their hand! However, the response I have had so far has been 100% positive and there is now a good section of the membership at Hilton Park improving both their bodies and their golf swings!
Should anyone like to hear more about the TPI programme that I run please feel free to email me at proshop@hiltonpark.co.uk . There is also a wealth of information available on the TPI site at http://www.mytpi.com/