Darin Hovis, a Titleist Performance Institute-certified medical and golf fitness professional, is the owner of Par 4 Fitness in Naples, Fla.

Darin Hovis on the importance of preventing and dealing with student injuries effectively:
Playing with an injury or playing with injury-inducing swing mechanics is a big problem in amateur golfers; approximately 80-90 percent of golfers have health limitations in their golf game. A critical and largely overlooked component of keeping golfers on the course is improving functional movement to help prevent injury and correct dysfunctional movement patterns. What I and other golf fitness professionals do is perform assessments such as the SFMA (Selective Functional Movement Assessment) to correctly diagnose functional movement patterns and get to the root of the problems. I have met countless individuals who have had misdiagnosed movement issues that can be fixed with a correct diagnosis and corrective exercise in most cases. Suddenly, these people who may have had pain with motion for the past 10 years are now moving functionally without pain! As a golf professional, focus on performing a TPI Level 1 evaluation for your students to help identify basic issues and areas of focus. Dysfunctional movement patterns may exist in golfers that experience no pain at all; they play the game well, but the dysfunctional patterns are going to create injury or pain at some point in their lifetime. Paying attention to this will have a great impact on your students.

Darin Hovis on the business impact of preventing and dealing with student injuries effectively:
We have golfers come in all the time with aches and pains. These symptoms are relieved in one session 90 percent of the time if there is no underlying structural issue, which would need further imaging. These outcomes allow our golfers to play pain-free and take more lessons from their PGA Professionals. Students are willing to pay extra when they perceive themselves as a higher priority, and taking time to evaluate students adds that value.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email Par4fitness@yahoo.com