Tour Fit For Golf at The Portugal Masters

Five months ago at Celtic Manor two men embarked on a golfing journey that even the most well travelled golfer would look upon with envious eyes. The Golfbreaks.com Ultimate Tuition Break winners, Chris Hughman and Nick Blunt, have enjoyed the many privileges that are available on a daily basis to the European Tour professionals. Nick and Chris have received expert tutelage and guidance from world renowned golf coach Simon Holmes and biomechanics guru Jean-Jacques Rivet along with a fitness programme courtesy of Rob Hillman and his team in the European Tour Physio Unit. It truly has been an experience that money can’t buy and an opportunity that they have grasped with both hands.

This week saw Nick and Chris head to Vilamoura in Portugal to compete in the Portugal Masters Pro-Am alongside Pablo Larrazábal whose form this year sees him competing for a top 10 spot in the money list. As amateur golfers the week represented a dream come true for the competition winners, working on the range side by side with some of the world’s best players and coaches. It is something they had become partially accustomed to over the five months of training, but even working with Simon and Jean-Jacques couldn’t prepare them for the experience that awaited them in Portugal.

Walking through the corridors of the opulent Tivoli Victoria and rubbing shoulders with their heroes, the likes of Jimenez, Kaymer and Montgomerie to name drop a few, Nick and Chris wore smiles from ear to ear that told a story in itself. The few days in Portugal alone have been enough for a multitude of stories back at their clubhouses in the UK. Incredible. Unforgettable. Superlatives flooded their vocabulary and manifested the excitement that lay within.

The week began with the now customary assessment in the European Tour Physio Unit truck down at the Oceanico Victoria course which had been set up to assist the Tour players during the Portugal Masters. Rob Hillman, responsible for the fitness of some of the world’s best golfers, has worked with Nick and Chris throughout the process to help them overcome injuries, increase strength and flexibility and ultimately increase their physical performance to allow them to achieve the positions necessary to improve their golf game. Both men have clearly reaped the rewards from the hard work in the gym and at the range; they now have a fantastic knowledge of how to understand themselves physically and how they can work towards their goals. It is extremely interesting to hear how Rob works with golfers to achieve movements that not only push the body to its physical limits but also create new problems through increased stress.

‘The golf swing is an unnatural movement that sees golfers looking to push the natural physical limits of their bodies. It has only been in the last couple of years that the Tour players have really bought into the preventative work we try to get them to do in the gym; previously we might only see the players when they had a problem. Now they want to know how to prevent injury and increase performance.’

Rob Hillman Physio Unit Director at PGA European Tour.

Leaving the Physio Unit both men felt ready for the final assessment using the aboutGolf technology with Simon and Jean-Jacques. Over at the driving range Raphael Jacquelin was working on a few balance issues with his coach and Jean-Jacques; presenting a great opportunity for the two amateurs to see how the technology worked for a Tour player. Essentially the difference is all in the margins, a tour player may be trying to make fractional changes to his balance whereas amateurs are looking to make larger alterations.

The final assessment for the competition winners was much shorter than the work they have done in previous stages of the programme. ‘It is important prior to a tournament not to give a golfer something new to think about, it is better to remind them of things that work for them, perhaps giving them one thing to think about that will help them on the course’ Jean-Jacques Rivet.

The afternoon was spent taking everything they had learnt out on to The Vilamoura Old Course for one final practice round with Simon Holmes giving final pointers and reminders. Both men were striking the ball well and things looked good for the Pro-Am the next day.

Their afternoon tee time gave them plenty of time to prepare and warm up alongside the players at the practice facilities. Both men were also given a behind the scenes look in the Srixon / Cleveland Tour Truck along with a custom built wedge of their choice. It was fascinating to see how quickly the clubs are built and adjusted plus all the notes regarding the tour players’ favoured set ups.

The moment of reckoning was soon upon them, stood on the 10th tee the amateurs were introduced to their Tour player, Pablo Larrazábal. The men had speculated for months about who they would play with and in all honesty they could not have been luckier. Pablo was a credit to himself and the European Tour, playing the entertaining host and always willing to try to help the amateurs on the course. The nerves of both amateurs must have been at strained at this point and Pablo was quick to help them relax and settle into their round. His influence was apparent throughout as the team gradually improved throughout the round; by the midway point in the round all 4 players in the group were putting for birdie in front of a crowd assembled at the 18th green.

Earlier in the day Jean-Jacques had told the men to be brave, to stick with what they had learnt and to both Nick and Chris’ credit, they did just this. It would have been easy under the pressure of the Pro-Am to slip into the comfort of old habits, neither of them succumbed to this pressure and the results were there for all to see.

Speaking to Pablo after the round he was clearly impressed by Nick and Chris; words echoed by Simon and Jean-Jacques back at the clubhouse.

So has the programme been a success? In short, yes it has. However, it doesn’t end there, what has been achieved is merely the start. Simon and Jean-Jacques have enjoyed working with Nick and Chris so much that they plan to continue to work with the amateurs, taking their upward curve to the next level. It is remarkable to see how far both men have come in just 5 months; Tour Fit For Golf and the principles behind it should be on every golfer’s radar. The Tour players are starting to understand their bodies and the biomechanics of their golf swing better every year; if it is important to them, then perhaps it should be important to you.

As Jean-Jacques stated at the start of the programme:

‘It is easier for amateurs to make bigger improvements by understanding the role fitness and biomechanics can play in golf; for tour players the margins are already so small that the improvements are slight. For amateurs, the rewards can be great.’