There's a new star on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour this year.
Measuring 13 feet 6 inches high by 36 feet long and weighing 47,000 pounds, the Inglewood, California, Centinela Hospital Player Fitness Center made its debut among the lady pros less than four months ago and has since proven itself an invaluable addition to the tour.
Already a part of the PGA Tours, the climate-controlled "clinic on wheels" expands hydraulically from 7 to 22 feet in width in less than 10 minutes, providing more than 500 square feet of carpeted floor space for workouts and therapy. Two physical therapists from Centinela Hospital Medical Center (CHMC) supervise the golfers' use of exercycles, weight equipment, and free weights as well as treat golf-related physical ailments.
Representing the latest in state-of-the-art technology in the sports medicine field, these fitness centers represent much more than posh workout rooms on the professional golf circuits.
The overwhelming acceptance of these centers by the players signals an important philosophical change in the pro golf camps.
As an outgrowth of the data gathered at CHMC's Biomechanics Laboratory, the National Athletic Health Institute, and the Sports Injury Clinic, the centers testify to the fact that keeping in shape is critical for all athletes.
Dr. Frank Jobe, cofounder of Centinela's Biomechanics Laboratory and medical director of the PGA, explains:
Unfortunately, the prototype golfer in the public's mind has long been the out-of-shape executive who rides a cart, plays eighteen holes, and then retires to the nineteenth hole. Even at the professional level, golf has seldom been regarded as a sport that requires vigorous or specific body conditioning, especially when even potbellied players were winning major tournaments. The prevailing attitude was that walking eighteen holes and spending time on the driving range was enough to keep the "golfing muscles" in shape.
These perceptions about golf are now changing, reflecting a growing awareness by amateurs and pros alike that a specific program of stretching and strengthening exercises will not only lower the risk of injury, but will improve performance - at every level of the game.
A center of activity
The fitness center vans, introduced on the PGA Tour three years ago and on the Senior PGA Tour two years ago, currently provide the players with a center for such conditioning activities. "The women on the LPGA Tour have wanted it for a long time," said Amy Alcott, one of the top money winners on last year's tour.
"The center is right there on site, and we are provided with the best facility, equipment, and personnel possible," said senior PGA player Bob Charles.
"The van enables players to maintain continuous fitness programs," said Dr. Lewis
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