Personal trainer takes a swing at fitness program for golfers

By Julius Whigham II
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Adam Cole holds the golf club in his hands, repeatedly practicing his swing. His routine looks similar to that of many golfers, except for a few differences.
Instead of being on a golf course surrounded by tees and greens, he is standing inside a gym, surrounded by weights and fitness equipment. Instead of hitting a golf ball on the driving range, a device strapped to his leg is moving 100 pounds of weight with each swing.

Cole is performing one of the exercise routines in the Butch Harmon Golf Fitness training program.
Personal training director Rafael Moret has been teaching the program at the Delray Beach World Gym on South Federal Highway since December. The program, designed by Butch Harmon, a former swing coach for Tiger Woods, combines traditional strength and conditioning training with exercises designed specifically for golfers.
"The program is specifically designed to strengthen the avid golfer's swing," Moret said. "It could be somebody who is just starting out. It could be a pro. The exercises are focused on the actual golf swing."
Moret, who resides in Pembroke Pines, introduced the program to the World Gym in Paramus, N.J., three years ago. He has lived in South Florida for six months and is the personal fitness director for all of the World Gym facilities in Palm Beach County. Since starting the program, he has found no shortage of clients.
"This has been a golf mecca," Moret, 29, said.
The success of Woods and other professional golfers has made golf-specific fitness training increasingly popular among avid golfers, Moret said
Cole, who also works for World Gym and who lives in Delray Beach, said he is a recreational golfer and has been training with Moret for about a month. In that time, Cole, 27, said.

The success of Woods and other professional golfers has made golf-specific fitness training increasingly popular among avid golfers, Moret said
Cole, who also works for World Gym and who lives in Delray Beach, said he is a recreational golfer and has been training with Moret for about a month. In that time, Cole, 27, said he has already noticed improvements to his golf game.
"It's great, I just feel more stable on the swing," he said. "My accuracy has gone up significantly, and for me I notice it more because I'm still new, so it's not like I need fine refinements. Most of the refinements I see are larger refinements that I can notice over a short period of time."
When golfers come into the gym, they spend much of the time on one piece of equipment, the cable cross machine. The machine allows the golfers to connect a variety of devices and mimic the golf swing while also getting strength training. Moret said the fitness program is typically divided into four parts - injury prevention, which uses exercises to strengthen the shoulder and wrist, general conditioning, swing training and stretching to strengthen a variety of muscles.
The workouts last about an hour and are done at least twice a week. The program lasts at least six weeks. It has become popular among younger golfers, particularly high school golfers," Moret said.
"We've been getting a lot of kids that are still in high school that are still playing, that want to get a little bit stronger," he said. "A lot of kids are already being recruited by colleges as early as their junior year to play golf. Their year of training is a lot more intense than most people think. The strength-training element helps them get a little bit better conditioned for everything that's coming."
Moret said the feedback he has heard from clients who have tried the program largely has been positive. Many typically notice improvements in their swing and in their conditioning, he said.
"The biggest thing I hear is 'I'm not tired when I'm