News Release
Get in Shape on the Green
December 20, 2007
Program combines teaching golf skills, conditioning techniques
By NEIL HODGE
Times & Transcript Staff
Published Tuesday December 4th, 2007
Appeared on page B8
Louis Melanson and the Max Health Institute in Dieppe are combining their resources to bring golfers the best of both worlds.
They will introduce a new multi-dimension program during an information session on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the CEPS building on the Université de Moncton campus. It's open to golfers of all skill levels and the minimum age is 12.
"This program is for anybody who wants to have golf lessons and conditioning in one package. It's everything through one philosophy," said Graham Black, who's an athletic therapist for the Max Health Institute.
"This is an open information session for anybody who wants to find out what this is all about. I met with Louis Melanson this summer and we did some brainstorming. We worked with Marc Bourgeois this summer and now we're going to make the program available to the public."
Bourgeois, a Dieppe native, graduated this year from Kent State University in Ohio where he attended on a golf scholarship. He's a three-time New Brunswick junior champion and 2007 New Brunswick amateur champion.
Melanson operates the Louis Melanson Golf Academy at the Fox Creek Golf Club. He's a five-time Atlantic PGA Coach of the Year and also the New Brunswick development coach for the Royal Canadian Golf Association.
The Max Health Institute is a physiotherapy and sports medicine clinic. The company is heavily involved in conditioning for hockey and it trains approximately 70 players during the off-season.
"We want to diversify by going into other sports and golf is one that we did a lot of research on," said Black. "We have Louis Melanson's expertise as an instructor and a lot of research material that was taken from the Royal Canadian Golf Association.
"We also talked to three universities in the U.S. to look at their philosophies, compared it with the latest research and then tweaked a program for golfers. We're excited about the program we've put together."
Black is a former athletic therapist for the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He worked in a similar position last season in the National Hockey League with the New York Islanders.
"Some people think they don't necessarily have to be in shape for golf, but that's actually where we get a lot of the injuries," he said.
"A lot of golfers get injured because it's not a natural movement to swing your body as far as you can to the left and then as hard as you can to the right.
"We see a lot of rotator cuffs, tendinitis, golfers elbow and sore backs, shoulders and necks. We have golf-specific exercises on flexibility."
There will be three different golf and conditioning packages made available beginning in January. The price is $450, $800 and $1,200 depending on the number of golf lessons and conditioning lessons you want.
"For a lot of the common stuff we see, there's prevention exercises that can decrease your chances of getting injured," said Black.
"We add everything together to increase your power, stability, balance and so forth."