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At first, the thought of combining yoga and golf seems about as natural as trying to hit a greenside bunker shot with a driver. Upon further review, the connection is anything but far-fetched. "Yoga and golf are almost identical," said Marie Friedlander (pictured above), who will incorporate yoga precepts into golf instruction at Newport Coast's Pelican Hill Golf Club later this year. "Yoga is about balance, creating balance within the body. How you stand affects how you move, how you move affects how you live. All those concepts are founded and rooted in golf." Because of yoga's ability to improve flexibility, strength and balance, it has gained traction in golfers' exercise routines. Katherine Roberts, who routinely appears on The Golf Channel, has devised a "Yoga for Golfers" program. Other instructors also have authored books incorporating yoga into golf fitness. Friedlander, who started doing yoga when she was 14, believes the discipline can also help golfers improve their mental games. "Yoga is a lot more than flexibility. It helps with your breathing, which helps with your focus," she said. "If you can slow down your mind and slow down your body, you can become very focused." Friedlander started teaching yoga golf with Ji Kim at the Kohler Golf Academy in Kohler, Wis. She employed a direct approach - once Kim or another instructor analyzed a student's swing on video, he or she would turn to Friedlander for pertinent yoga exercises based on the analysis. "Yoga golf being taught in a yoga studio just doesn't make sense to me," Friedlander said. Her husband, Steve, is the general manager at Pelican Hill. She credits him with helping get her yoga golf teachings off the ground. "The feedback I got from him is what spurred yoga golf. He told me yoga was the most complete exercise he's done in his life," Friedlander said. "He could feel the difference in his swing." SG |
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