Heather Angell, a multi-year PGA South Florida Section and Southwest Chapter Award winner and four-time Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, is the TPI-Certified PGA of America Director of Instruction at The Club at Fiddler’s Creek in Naples, Florida.
Heather Angell on the importance of interviewing students to learn about their health and wellness:
Once I transitioned away from playing full-time and focused on instruction, I continued to use the techniques I learned from my tour days with my students. Moving to South Florida, the demographic of my students changed, and I found that having a fitness background was necessary. Many of my students are retired, have very little sports activity in their background and are now jumping into a sport that requires flexibility and strength. Now, many come to me with back pain, old injuries flaring back up, inflexibility and a general lack of fitness. It became increasingly important to me to make sure that, as I was using the techniques I had learned while on tour, I was up to date on the latest fitness trends, and I shared that information with my students as they shared with me their health and wellness background to ensure a proper regimen is prescribed. TPI has created a certification process where the instructor can assess any physical limitations a golfer has and provide exercises to strengthen weak areas, while also determining how those weaknesses will impact the student’s golf swing. Many of my students have sought lessons from me after hearing about my visionary approach to teaching. Students are often unable to properly execute the positions/movements of the golf swing because of physical limitations. Together, we address the issues and are then able to make progress with their golf games. Often, I find that physical limitations are caused by ill-fitting equipment. Once this is discovered, I am able to create a plan for my students to guide them in the right direction. I have even found uncorrected vision problems that have led to physical limitations due to body adjustments that students make to see the ball and their aim lines correctly.
Heather Angell on the business impact of interviewing students to learn about their health and wellness:
I recently had a student with scoliosis. However, after an extensive first lesson interview, where I went over any injuries, illnesses or physical limitations that could impact his golf game, my student did not mention his scoliosis. During the lesson, I noticed he was struggling to get a proper setup and inquired in more depth if there could be anything impacting the way he set up. It was at that point that he mentioned his scoliosis, thinking it would not impact his golf game. I was able to conclude that a heel lift in one shoe could help align his body properly and made the recommendation. Not only is the shoe lift helping his golf game, but it could also prevent future injury and pain in his daily life. His constant back pain has lessened and allowed him to work on swing aspects he was unable to perform before. We were now able to make improvements to his swing and keep his enjoyment of the game up due to less body pain. As a result, he has broken 100 on 18 holes and continues to improve his score. Interviewing students to learn about health and physical conditions before jumping into teaching swing mechanics can make a world of difference in their progress. Following the structure of the TPI Fitness Model makes that assessment easier for PGA Professional coaches.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email golfangell@pga.com.
