EP Golf's 2014 PGA Show Recap!

We are wrapping up the week in Orlando, FL after having come down for the 2014 PGA Show and wanted to share the highlights of a great show!

2014 PGA Show

The show highlighted companies from every corner of the industry including apparel, equipment, teaching and training aids, and golf fitness and performance. In addition to seeing the great products and services, the networking with other industry professionals was excellent as well. A big highlight for us was meeting up with women’s long-drive champion, Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk, who we’ve followed for quite sometime. If you want to understand why the development of strength, speed, and fitness is important check out some of Lisa’s videos at her website, www.lisalongball.com.

Scott with Lisa "Longball" Vlooswyk

Hugh with Lisa "Longball" Vlooswyk

We also ran into EP Golf’s resident professional, Shane Warawa, and one of my friends from when I was the fitness center director at the Dunwoody Country Club, their golf department head Mike Dausch. By far a massive highlight was getting to attend some of the presentations at the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) booth. One of our favorites was a presentation by Dr. Greg Rose and 5-time long drive champion, Jason Zubak on why power (strength + speed) is of the utmost importance to the golfer, something we’ve been saying for a long time now. It’s great to see TPI recommending, intelligent, effective, and scientifically sound training protocols for the golfer – and it’s important to note this stuff benefits golfers of all levels.

TPI presentation with Dr. Greg Rose & Jason Zubak.

Hugh trying out The Pill.

There was an entire section of the show floor dedicated to fitness and performance which was very cool. One of the things we noticed was that quite a few companies had “resistance-based swing trainers”. While on the surface this may seem like a good idea, we would suggest considering the following points:

• the golf swing already promotes asymmetries as it is only performed to one side during play and practice
• training on a resistance-based golf swing “simulator” only continues to promote an asymmetry
• it is very possible to train the muscles and similar recruitment patterns utilized in the golf swing through a general training means
• loading a golf swing will most likely have a negative effect on the biomechanics of the swing
• due to the potential asymmetry, training time should be spent developing strength and power in the opposite direction
  

Due to these points, which were confirmed by Dr. Greg Rose’s presentation at the TPI booth, we feel that there are far better ways to spend off-course training time, and money, than on a “resistance-based swing training” device. Save the sport-specific work for your one-on-one time with your golf pro. In addition to the fitness and performance section of the show, we noticed many performance training aids, particularly for the short game. Some of these, such as The Pill, we will be using and reviewing on the site, so check back for those articles and reviews!

We noticed a big trend in movement-correction devices. These seem like a very good idea, we are interested to see if there is carry-over once the corrective device is removed from the golfer. This will definitely be a topic of future articles and blogs. All in all the trip down to the PGA Show was a great experience and served as the perfect week for us to officially launch EP Golf. We secured many potential partners to help us execute our mission, and that is to be the premeire golf fitness and performance resource on the web!

We’ll see you out on the greens!

-EP Golf