Three Things You Can Learn From Iona Stephen’s Assessment at TPI

It was a pleasure to welcome Iona back to TPI, almost two years after her first visit. She is a terrific athlete, one of the most passionate people in golf, and a pleasure to work with. She wanted to give her audience a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the assessment, so she published over two hours of content from her three-hour session. There are plenty of great lessons from her Titleist Performance Experience, but we wanted to highlight three useful reminders for coaches or anyone working to improve their game.

1. Build your swing around what your body can do.

During her visit, Iona shared that an excellent teacher had suggested squaring her lead foot to create more resistance as she moved onto her lead side. The recommendation was made without a physical assessment, leaving out important context about her limited lead-hip mobility.

When we screened her lead hip with the Lower Quarter Rotation Test, we found a limitation in internal rotation. This is not uncommon for golfers, but it was a slight concern for us given the hip pain she had been experiencing. Squaring her lead foot gave her less freedom to rotate than flaring it.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad tip, but it may not have been appropriate for her. Even an accomplished teacher is working with incomplete information if they haven’t evaluated what your body can do. A physical assessment helps connect swing advice to the capabilities of the golfer receiving it.

2. Address physical limitations before you don’t have a choice.

Alongside exploring adjustments to her setup, Greg encouraged Iona to have her hip evaluated rather than assume the discomfort was simply tightness.

His message was to be proactive about understanding and addressing the issue before it began dictating what she could do.

For golfers, that is an important part of the assessment process. Understanding your body can help you make informed decisions about your swing, your training, and when to seek further evaluation.

3. Making a change takes time and effort.

The data we gathered and the physical screen results gave us a clear direction for Iona’s swing and gym work. We identified what we wanted to address physically and the changes we wanted to see in her swing, but the results weren’t immediate.

We always say that our job as instructors is to make sure a golfer is working on the right things. While assessments help identify an efficient path to improvement in the gym and on the lesson tee, the program won’t work if the athlete doesn’t work.

The success she was having at the end of the session was preceded by many intentional reps. We can help a golfer identify the right path forward and give them the necessary feel, but there is still considerable work involved in learning to apply that pattern to their swing.

Iona’s willingness and enthusiasm to do that work were integral to the progress she made.

The video below shows one example of that work, with Greg coaching Iona through a thoracic mobility exercise to help her develop more shoulder turn.