Golf catches up with fitness craze

DORAL, Fla. – When he turned professional 20 years ago, Davis Love III said, fitness wasn’t a priority on the PGA Tour.

But how times have changed.

“There are 15 or 20 different trainers out here,” he said last week at the Ford Championship at Doral. “When I came on the Tour, there were 15 or 20 guys working out. So that’s the difference.”

It’s a major difference. In the rush to stay competitive and hit the ball farther, PGA golfers are spending more time in the gym with trainers and physical therapists.

“Just last week there were five trainers in the gym … and that’s not counting our Tour (trainers),” said Love, who plays this week’s Honda Classic at The Country Club of Mirasol.

“Essentially there were seven trainers for 64 players. But when you look at the guys who are consistently playing well and are at the top of the money list, who is in the gym more than Tiger (Woods) and Vijay (Singh) and the top players? Nobody.”

This isn’t your father’s PGA Tour. It seems like everyone is working out.

“I knew times had changed when I saw Lumpy in the gym,” said Woods, referring to former Honda Classic winner Tim Herron. “Times have definitely changed.”

Randy Myers, former director of fitness at PGA National Resort and Spa and now fitness director at Sea Island Resort, has worked with more than two dozen professional golfers, including Love and Morgan Pressel.

He said at least half the players on the Tour are working on their fitness.

“These guys are better athletes,” Myers said. “People are smarter and they see how much money is out there. If you want to stay competitive and you want a piece of it, you have to stay fit. Guys understand if (they) get well and feel better, they’re going to play better.

“You can’t change the flight of the ball, but you can change your body type.”

Although Woods isn’t the first golfer to take fitness seriously – Myers traces fitness on the Tour all the way back to Frank Stranahan and Gary Player, Woods may be the most successful gym rat.

“The guys understand you have to (work out) now,” Woods said. “The game has changed so much. In order to compete and hit the ball as far as some of the guys are hitting it now, you’ve got to get in (the gym) and spend time.

“You’ve got to get stronger and you’ve got to get more flexible. Look at the scores we’re shooting now on the golf courses that are so long. You really have to get in there now. You can’t afford not to.”

Love, 42, credits Myers and Woods with his ability to play more the past year than in previous years.

“In 2003, I was hanging on and not feeling great and just trying to get through the year,” he said. “One thing Tiger told me, he said, ‘If (you’re) working out and when you get hurt you stop … you’re never going to get better.’

“He said eventually you’re going to have to work through it and continue on. I got that push from him and from Randy Myers to say, ‘Hey, let’s start getting better a little bit at a time and work our way through this.’ Randy certainly put me on a program that didn’t feel like I was doing a whole lot in the beginning rather than what I was doing before. I was jumping in heavy and contributing probably to my injury.”

Myers said the trick for golfers is not building muscle mass but strength, balance and flexibility. Stretching is vital, and his program includes golfers going through a circuit with stretching between lifting.

“You’re trying to build a symmetrical range of motion, but you can’t train yourself out of golf,” he said. “An inadequate training technique will mess someone up.”

Herron said his workout schedule “fluctuates” and he’s been careful to get plenty of rest since coming down with Lyme disease two years ago.

Working out in the gym, Herron admits, is not “my favorite thing to do.”

“I go in streaks,” he said. “Either I go full hook or I just quit. I kind of quit working out. I felt like this is the strongest I could get. But if I look to my future, yeah, I’m going to have to start working out and I’d like to show my kids that’s part of the regimen. With kids you want to set a good example.”

Bart Bryant, a 43-year-old Tour veteran and last year’s Memorial Tournament winner, doesn’t have a personal trainer but does employ a therapist after undergoing several surgeries.

“”Things have really changed over the years, but I’ve sort of got to dance with the partner I brought and try to make the best of it,” said Bryant.