ANDY LEVINSON: Hi, everyone. I’m Andy Levinson from the PGA TOUR. Thanks for being here. Today we’re excited to unveil our new mobile fitness facilities. These are part of the PGA TOUR player performance center. The player performance centers go to 62 events each year. They travel about 24,000 miles each, and we have athletic trainers, physical therapists and chiropractors that are here to provide our players with consistent, elite-level training services.
We’re excited about these new facilities. We’ve been able to add about 200 square feet over our previous facilities. We’ve got Technogym here that’s an official supplier of the PGA TOUR, and they’re providing a number of pieces of smart connected fitness equipment, as well as a variety of other performance tools to give our players all kinds of different modalities to train with, and we’re just very excited to have them on as a partner.
Now I’d like to hand it over to PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan.
JAY MONAHAN: Thanks, Andy, and good afternoon, everyone. I’ll just add that these vans, these fitness trailers have been in operation for 30 years, so today is a very special day. When you think about today’s athlete and today’s PGA TOUR player, they are bigger, they are stronger, they’re faster, they’re more flexible than they’ve ever been before, and are certainly bringing tremendous excitement to our tournaments week in and week out, and this move will only enhance their ability to prepare for playing professional golf at the highest level, and that’s on the PGA TOUR.
To just so reiterate what Andy said, I want to thank Technogym for their great support. I also want to thank our Player Fitness Council, many members that have contributed to what we have here today over the last year and a half, as well as our player directors and also these two great players, who are the embodiment of bigger, faster and stronger who are here with us today. So thanks, everybody. Mark Stevens?
MARK STEVENS: Now we’re going to do a few questions with the players so you can get some audio. Brooks, we’re going to start off with you. How have you seen the role of fitness change in golf from the time you started playing until now?
BROOKS KOEPKA: There’s a big difference. You look at these athletes that are coming out now, they’re actually athletes. Everybody is working out. Everybody is trying to become as fit as possible, make sure they’re flexible, they’re stronger, and in good shape to play all year-round.
MARK STEVENS: And then also, how have you used fitness to become the golfer that you are today?
BROOKS KOEPKA: A lot. Fitness plays obviously a big part in my golf game, making sure you stay flexible. You need to be able to be out here week in and week out and have consistency, and that’s what we’re able to do with this.
MARK STEVENS: Lastly, who or what influenced you in your point of your life or career to embrace fitness and use that as a catalyst to where you are?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I think everybody in my generation, you saw what Tiger did, how skinny he used to be and then how he was able to put fitness into his routine and become one of the better athletes in the world, and it’s impressive, and I think he led by example and the rest of us are just following.
MARK STEVENS: Jhonattan, talk a little bit about the fitness centers and how important it is to have a consistent place to go as you travel the country all year.
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Well, I think that’s the key. Having a place that you can come in, consistently come in every day, every morning, and be able to train, be able to, like Brooks said, keep your body in the best shape that you can so you can perform the best you can, I think that’s kind of one of the biggest things nowadays, being able to keep your body healthy, keep your body flexible. That allows you to perform on a consistent basis on the course, and that’s kind of where you’re seeing better players today.
MARK STEVENS: You’ve had a chance to kind of check it out. Compared to the old fitness trucks, what is the difference in space? How is that going to benefit all the players and having the equipment from Technogym, state-ofthe-art equipment? How does all that impact what you do on a weekly basis?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Well, just the simple fact that you can do a lot more now. Obviously the space was limited in the other trailer, so obviously the type of work that you had to do was limited, as well. So obviously expanding, being able to give you a variety of things that you can do, that you can achieve more, just kind of brings a huge spectrum of things that now we can start trying to achieve and get better at. So obviously the better we can do, the better we can be, it’s going to show on the course.
MARK STEVENS: Lastly, you see the trainers, the physios on a weekly basis, and it’s a huge investment in the players’ health and fitness. Kind of talk about that weekly care that the trainers are able to provide in both of the trailers.
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Well, I mean, I think it’s just amazing the fact that you have the same guys every single week, guys that know your body, guys that can actually guide you through getting better and getting stronger out here, and obviously as qualified as they are, it makes a huge difference. Like I said,
being able to come every morning and say, hey, I want to get better at abs and flexibility and all these things, and having a place and having the guys to combine with that makes for a good recipe, and we’re seeing it every day here on TOUR.
MARK STEVENS: Thank you very much for your time. Thank you to all our guests.
Q. Alex, thank you so much for joining us. We are in the new Technogym Performance Center, the PGA TOUR performance center. This truck goes to 62 events; am I right? So you’re going to have this truck wherever you go. ALEX NOREN: Yeah.
Q. What does that mean for you having a place like this at your fingertips wherever you want it? ALEX NOREN: Well, the thing is we do a little bit of work in the mornings and then maybe four times a week at night, more strength. So sometimes the hotels don’t have gyms. You try to find a gym nearby, and that takes a lot of time. Sometimes we don’t have time, so this is great. I’ll definitely use this a lot, especially in the mornings. It’s so easy, next to the range. You get a lot more done than having to travel somewhere.
Q. What time would you get here, and then what are the muscles that you’re working and trying to get ready to go before you play? ALEX NOREN: Well, usually we just do maybe 20 minutes on the bench, like a massage, chiropractic stuff, just to get my body in shape, and then we do about 20 minutes flexibility, mobility, and that you can do in here. You do a bunch of stuff, turning exercises, some stability stuff, and then with some bends, with some weights maybe, everything to just keep the body aligned and in shape and then ready to go.
Q. Do you focus on cardio work at all? ALEX NOREN: I don’t. I don’t. Maybe if I tried to lose some pounds, I’m working on it, but we get a lot of cardio walking. We’re fortunate this is a walking game. You just have to — every five minutes you have to hit it sometimes as hard as you can, but I don’t work on any cardio, and I think maybe it’s not very productive if I’m trying to gain speed.
Dr. Marty Miller DHSc. ATC, CES, PES, CPT, Director of Education and Training at Technogym: As the game of golf and player needs have evolved over the years, training equipment and solutions have also come a long way. Specifically, Technogym’s 30+ year investment in R&D, and working with world class professional athletes, has re-invented the category of cardio vascular training with the SKILLRUN – a ground breaking treadmill that supports professional athletic training.
As the Official Supplier of the PGA TOUR Player Performance Centers, Technogym will outfit the fitness centers with the highest performing sports equipment including SKILLRUN Treadmills and SKILLTOOLS.
Technogym SKILLRUN allows golfers to perform traditional cardiovascular training and instantly transition to lower body power training.
The Biofeedback feature on Technogym SKILLRUN provides the golfer real time feedback on their running efficiency in order to maximize their results and minimize lower body overuse injuries.
Technogym SKILLRUN has an extreme incline feature allowing golfers to train in a wide range of inclines that will help lower body strength and power development, while increasing the cardiovascular demand of the golfer, while training with up to a -3% decline simulates the downhill undulations they face on the course.
The SLED PUSH feature in Technogym SKILLRUN allows for lower body power development without the need for high risk exercises while simultaneously creating core activation. This can be performed in a one arm sled pushing position to create even a higher demand on the core, and shoulder complex.
Technogym SKILLTOOLS are a variety of performance tools that create a wide range of training modalities for the players, for total body mobility, stability, and power development within their workouts, before a round of golf, or for recovery after a round of golf.
Slam Balls are great for total body multi-planar explosive power-based
exercises.
Medicine balls are perfect for strength and power development in golf specific movement patterns.
The Mobility Stick is designed to aid in rotational stability and mobility-based exercises required for the game of golf.
Balance Pads create a suitable unstable platform to challenge the balance and stability of golfers while performing golf specific exercises.
Stability Balls allows for a wide range of core and total body mobility, stability, and strengthening exercises related to golf.
Power Bands are used for total body stability, strength, or power-based golf exercises. A perfect piece of equipment for activating the central nervous system to activate golf specific muscles, as well as to develop the explosive movement patterns necessary in the golf swing. Mini Bands are used for activation of the key muscles of the hips and core, as well as in the upper body for the key muscles of the shoulder complex, which are muscles used frequently in golf.
Foam Rollers are used both pre and post workout as well as pre and post golf. Foam rolling is the perfect warm up and recovery technique allowing golfers to move better, play more often without restriction, and reduce their chance of injury.
SHAWN BUCHHEIT, Vice President Real Estate and Residential for Technogym: This is a perfect partnership between PGA TOUR and Technogym. As the world leading producer of design and technology-driven fitness smart connected equipment Technogym has been training champions for the last 30 years. Our long legacy includes being the official equipment supplier to the past seven Olympic Games.
Providing world-class sports performance equipment and solutions for the elite PGA TOUR players represents a strong validation of our ongoing investment in R&D for our products, innovation and quality standards.
This partnership is a natural fit of two great brands. The landscape of the golf industry has changed immensely, and technology is more relevant than ever. Technogym is a leader in golf innovation and our smart connected equipment is perfect for golf training due to its unique performance and technology capabilities.
We are proud that PGA TOUR choose TECHNOGYM as Official Fitness Equipment Provider for their Player Performance Center. This means the world’s best golfers can train on the most innovative smart connected equipment by Technogym during the PGA TOUR.
