There’s never been a shortage of golf training aids and there’s never been a shortage of golf instruction gurus. But since the market demands more products ever year, the golf improvement business continues to grow.
These days, it’s all about the power of the core in golf. To address that demand from the marketplace, a couple of instructors in San Diego are combining their different disciplines looking to revolutionize how golf is taught and played.
Bill Westerlund, a 40-year PGA instructor, and Scott Bartley, a 30-year practitioner of the Chinese discipline of Qigong, are working together at the Mission Bay Golf Course on a program they call “The Power of Core-Breathing 4 Golf: Mind, Body, Breath.”
The goal is to mesh the benefits of the deep, mindful breathing practiced in martial arts with an awareness of golf fundamentals that are tied to the body’s core. “Mind” refers to removing emotional thoughts that hinder energy flow; “body” is learning to maximize the use of core energy for peak performance; “breath” is learning a process to make a mind-body connection through core breathing.
“You’ve watched the movie ‘Rain Man?’ Westerlund asked on a recent morning on the Mission Bay driving range. “Well, he (Bartley) is my Dustin Hoffman. He’s out there, and this is, like, out there.”
Out there, yes, but Westerlund and Bartley speak passionately about their approach, and it’s clear they believe in its benefits.
“No one is doing this but us, and we feel we’ve got a winner,” Westerlund said. “Our goal is to change the way golf is taught, the way the game is played, and the way it’s viewed by announcers.”
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