TORONTO, Ontario, Canada -- While other destinations may tout golf as the game of a lifetime, for Fairmont guests, it’s the game for a lifetime. The distinction is key to several programs pioneered at Fairmont resorts that emphasize both physical fitness and overall, ongoing wellness and their integral relationship to playing your best golf - and enjoying life to the fullest.
Consider Fit to a Tee, the vigorous, hour-long exercise-and-stretching regimen devised by a team of certified personal trainers at the Willow Stream Spa, at the AAA Five Diamond Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. It combines 30-minutes of functional training - movements that strengthen golf physiology by mimicking parts of the golf swing - immediately followed by 30-minutes of intensive, trainer-aided stretching to promote muscle tone and agility by reducing stiffness due to the natural build-up of lactic acid during any vigorous exercise.
Apropos of the golf swing itself, the exercise segment relies on the student’s own body weight, rather than using machines for resistance, though trainers also employ medicine and Bosu balls, as well as elastic therapy bands, to increase stability and strength. The workout also alternates among upper body, core muscles, and lower body, and is sufficiently strenuous to raise the heart rate, thereby enhancing endurance and cardiovascular health.
“The average golfer, unaccustomed to exercising to improve his game, is often surprised to find that Fit to a Tee is invigorating,” says Charles Wise, the resort’s Fitness Supervisor. “And while the pros we see in the spa know all about stretching after any physical exertion, it’s an invaluable lesson for most of our students. So while the program can provide immediate relief to, say, a student with lower back pain, we also strive to teach players stretching movements that will help them at home or on the road.”
Core Values
Another forward-thinking program geared to well-being and game improvement is Pilates for Golf, the newly expanded fitness program offered by The Spa at The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa. Pilates is a system of zero-impact exercises that focus on the core muscles in the abdomen to enhance strength, flexibility, range of motion, proper alignment, and balance, all of which in turn help to prevent injury. Also sometimes referred to as the “power band,” these core abdominal muscles’ pivotal role in all athletic movement is frequently overlooked.
“It’s exciting to be a part of the exponential growth in Pilates’ popularity,” says Jeanette Newman, the certified exercise physiologist and instructor who directs the hotel’s Pilates for Golf program. “Probably because the practice has traditionally been marketed primarily to women, Pilates has generally been ignored by the guys, but the roster of golfer-devotees now includes Tiger Woods, along with Tina Mickelson,” Phil’s older sister, herself a “Class A” PGA Professional.
Indeed, the practice was invented by and named for a guy, Joseph Pilates, a boxer, wrestler, and swimmer who as a young man devised the mat workout based on ancient Greek and Roman calisthenics. A German national, he moved to New York City in 1929, where he met and collaborated with well-known choreographers George Balanchine and Martha Graham to promote musculoskeletal health in professional dancers and athletes.
Pilates has recently been recognized as invaluable to golfers, whose movements produce many of the same physical stresses. Golfers practicing Pilates are thus able to better maintain a consistent swing plane and to generate greater clubhead speed. The rhythmic breathing of a Pilates workout can even mitigate tension in pressure-packed match situations. Not surprisingly, a number of PGA pros with histories of back troubles, like Rocco Mediate, have also become enthusiastic proponents of Pilates.
Often neglected in golfers’ ardor for game improvement - especially for hitting the ball farther - is Pilates’ value in ensuring good posture for frequent travelers. Less-than-ergonomic airline seats, different and unfamiliar beds, long hours in front of a computer terminal - all of the elements of the traveler’s routine add up to a formula for back pain. Unlike free weights, for instance, a simple Pilates routine of no more than 20-minutes can be completed without equipment, in one’s own hotel room.
Golf, Too
Of course, it’s no coincidence that programs like Fit to a Tee and Pilates for Golf are found at Fairmont resorts in golf-mad places like Scottsdale and Sonoma. The former is the scene of the PGA Tour’s FBR Open each January. The Sonoma Golf Club, open only to members and guests of the resort, is host to various qualifying tournaments for the PGA and the U.S. Open -- and, more recently, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the season-ending event on the Champions Tour.
Willow Stream Spa locations from Fairmont properties in Mexico to Miami to Banff offer golf-centric therapies including the 60-minute Golf Performance Treatment, a massage involving passive and isometric stretching; and the Up to Par body treatment, also one-hour, featuring an avocado wrap and avocado-oil massage to moisturize dry skin.
A leader in the global hospitality industry, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is an extraordinary collection of luxury hotels which includes iconic landmarks like The Fairmont Banff Springs, Fairmont Monte Carlo and New York's The Plaza. Fairmont hotels are one-of-a-kind properties where sophisticated travelers can discover culturally rich experiences that are authentic to the destination. Situated in some of the most exclusive and pristine areas in the world, Fairmont is committed to responsible tourism and is an industry leader in sustainable hotel management with its award-winning Green Partnership program. Fairmont's portfolio includes 55 distinctive hotels, with plans to develop over 20 new properties in the coming years in destinations as diverse as Beijing, Abu Dhabi and South Africa.
Fairmont is owned by Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, a leading global hotel company with over 85 hotels worldwide under the Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel brands. The company also owns Fairmont and Raffles branded Residences, Estates and luxury private residence club properties. For more information or reservations, please call 1-800-441-1414 or visit www.fairmont.com.
