Personalized Golf Health Coaching Energizes Students

78 | April 2014 | www.pgamagazine.com
Dave Cahill
PGA Master Professional,
Cahill Golf Schools,
Public facilities
Eat and exercise your way to better golf, including playing more holes, playing more often and scoring more consistently. Customized instruction programs focusing on “golf health” offered by PGA Master Professional and Life Member Dave Cahill at his Cahill Golf Schools in Minneapolis, Palm Springs and Las Vegas have helped more than 1,000 students revitalize their games through health and fitness. Cahill, who is Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) certified and is also a certified health coach, had grown weary of referring students and their lesson dollars to other specialists such as personal trainers, fitness and exercise gurus and nutritionists. So he picked the brain of a doctor who wanted to infuse golf instruction with health and fitness programs, attended a battery of educational programs, earned his certifications, and adopted the program for his own training before taking his specially-tailored golf-health program to the masses. “I took the program myself and saw tremendous results,” notes Cahill. “My flexibility and stamina returned, and I even gained 20 yards with the driver. Seven out of 10 of my golf students and fellow professionals were either obese, overweight, or out of shape. I simply let them know how my aches and pains disappeared, my flexibility and stamina returned, and my golf performance improved. I let them know this optimal health program would improve their performance, too.” Cahill says that in the first month of administering his customized golf health program to his students, more than 60 of them reported the same improvement in performance: increased flexibility, stamina, and a drop in aches and pain. Cahill notes that three components provide the foundation for long-term health and improved golf performance: A “health coach” to guide and support, a clinically tested method to safely achieve a healthy weight, and a proven system for long-term health and performance. “Our clientele today is the recreational golfer who wants to play better,” says Cahill, who is joined on the teaching end by his son, PGA Professional Mike Cahill. “Each aspect of our program is customized to the individual. Mike and I structure our lessons, schools and programs to be one-on-one. We do take couples and small groups of friends, but we teach them individually in a group setting.” Cahill says golfers who have seen the results of his customized health program are excited about their success and are now referring other golfers to both the health program and lesson programs at the three Cahill Golf locations. They are also playing more rounds of golf and enjoying their games, which Cahill says is contributing to the growth of the game. On the revenue side of the equation, Cahill generated more than $10,000 in new revenue the first year of offering his health program, and has seen income grow 20 percent in each of the two years since he introduced the program. “On average, I spend five minutes per week with each of my optimal health clients,” he says. “After a month most are totally independent. The additional income has been a welcome benefit. The compensation is comparable dollar per hour to my professional teaching income, and the contacts and connections I have made through the optimal health program have generated a new community of golfers interested in taking lessons to complement their health, fitness and nutrition program.”