For golf lovers, there's no place like Kiawah Island (and no place better)

This article first published at www.forbes.com.

The Kiawah Island Club recently added a new amenity for members: The Golf Performance and Development Center. This addition by the Kiawah Island Club follows a growing trend across the country.

According to a Pulse Survey by the McMahon Group featured in the Club Trends publication produced by the National Club Association, there has been a noticeable uptick in facilities and services provided by private clubs to enhance golfers’ performance.

	2009	2017
Practice putting green	83%	89%
Full-service driving range	72%	75%
Junior golf program	70%	77%
Trainers specialized in golf fitness	26%	33%
Restricted driving range	24%	16%
Golf-specific fitness equipment	20%	27%
Indoor hitting facility	11%	27%
Short-game practice area	n/a	84%
Video training	n/a	60%
Golf performance center	n/a	17%
Short course	n/a	8%

Additionally, the survey found the highest participation increase for golf activities and events at clubs from 2009-2017 was the use of practice facilities (71%).

The Kiawah Island Club says it is always looking for ways to improve add value for club members. Over 65% of homeowners who have purchased in the last five years are golfers, with many considering themselves avid players, which helped lead the decision making on this project.

Exclusively available to club members and their guests, this digital practice range, and the pros who staff it, will assess your swing, monitor your progress and provide customized recommendations to improve your game. There’s even an on-site fitness center so you can complete workouts tailored to target specific muscles you need to strengthen to see progress on the course.

“We think we have the finest training center in the country,” said PGA Cassique Head Golf Professional Dylan Thew. “When we first presented our plans [to ownership], we shot for the moon, and in the end we got everything we wanted.”

Thew says there wasn’t a single thing suggested by himself or any of the other golf professionals on site that wasn’t included in the final project.

Kristi Dosh

Inside the Golf Performance and Development Center during the final stages of construction

Key features include:

Neurofeedback: FocusBand technology provides audio-visual neurofeedback that can help you master the mental side of the game by helping you improve focus.
Golf Fitness: Utilizing the Titleist Performance Institute screen, an assessment is made that includes swing mechanics and biomechanics, physical fitness, movement quality and current health. Taking into account a golfer’s history, a unique fitness plan is created for that individual, which can then be implemented in the golf-specific fitness room on-site that’s overseen by the Director of Golf Fitness.
Launch Monitor Technology: Two state-of-the-art monitors can measure ball flight and club data from 6-yard pitches to over 300-yard drives. The ForeSight GCQuad uses four high-speed, high-resolution cameras to capture ball and club data at impact. The TrackMan 4 uses doppler radar technology to capture swing data and display a 3D trajectory of each shot in real time.
SAM PuttLab: Analyzing the 28 most important parameters of your putting stroke, the SAM PuttLab allows golfers to understand their individual strengths and weaknesses for more efficient training.
Biomechanical 3D Analysis: Using MySwing (which creates a 3D rendering of a golfer’s swing much like an MRI captures your body), K-Vest (a wearable system that tracks biomechanical data) and a BodiTrack Pressure Mat (which records balance distribution), every aspect of a golfer’s swing and body mechanics can be recorded and analyzed to improve their game.

Members can also get custom club and ball fitting inside the Golf Performance and Development Center.

“There’s no aspect of their game we’ve overlooked,” said Thew.

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