By Greg Ellison

New aquatics offering uses water therapy for practice prior to returning to greens

(Sept. 10, 2020) Ocean Pines Aquatics new “Fluid Golf class” is a water-based personal training program that helps golfers recover from injuries or recent surgeries.

Ocean Pines Director of Amenities and Operational Logistics Colby Phillips said the concept came to light this spring while researching potential new offerings during the covid-19 pandemic.

“I learned that 70 percent of people that play golf have some sort of injury they have sustained not from golf,” she said.

Phillips said the idea behind Fluid Golf is to hit the pool before the course if nagging injuries are making the pursuit unduly challenging.

“As we age, we find ourselves with injuries to our backs or shoulders,” she said.

Swinging a club or driver incorporates player’s knees, waist, and shoulders, with Fluid Golf focused on helping sufferers of such injuries recover faster and to minimize subsequent ailments, Phillips said.

“We start slow by doing exercises in the pool to strengthen the area that has been bothering them,” she said.

After obtaining personalized training lessons at the Sports Core Pool, Fluid Golf participants can eventually perform the exercises without assistance, Phillips said.

“It’s one-on-one and it has to be scheduled,” she said.

The cost for 30-minute sessions is $25 for Ocean Pines swim and golf members, $30 for Ocean Pines residents and $50 for nonresidents.

Phillips said as an introduction for the curious, but uncertain, free 15-minute sessions are available.

“If you take a golf club and you swing it in the pool, you’re using that resistance and working on those muscles,” she said. “Aquatic therapy in general is amazing for your body.”

The training regimen involves exercises beyond lining up a long shot under water.

“It’s not just with a golf club in the pool,” she said. “We’ll show you exercises that you can do depending on the nature of where you’re trying to get better and then you can come do it on your own.”

Phillips said the physical impact on a person is significantly reduced when workouts are performed in water.

“On land, it’s so much harder,” she said. “In the water you’re getting that same mobility but you have the resistance of the water and the buoyancy … so you don’t have the impact you would have on land.”

Fluid Golf is the latest training course from Ocean Pines Aquatics, which also offers “Aqua Jog” classes and “Hydrorider Water Cycling.”

“There are people who can’t ride a bike on land or take a spin class because they have bad knees,” she said. “They come take our hydro-cycle class in the water and they can do it because there’s no pressure on the joints, but it’s building the muscles.”

Phillips said Fluid Golf should improve flexibility, stamina and balance to allow golfers to play longer and stronger. She added, however, that the program is to help players who have “tweaked something and just want to strengthen those muscles,” and not for more serious problems. “We’re not a physical therapist,” she said.

To learn more or register call the Sports Core at 410-641-5255.