Trevor Immelman Player Profile

Jul 11

Trevor Immelman Player Profile

Posted In: Features By: admin 0 Comments

Recently we had the opportunity to sit down with Trevor Immelman and ask him a few questionson his thoughts about golf fitness and his success. He graciously gave us an entertaining interview in his candid Sout African accent.
GFM: Did you have an idol player growing up?
TI: I had many really, and for different reasons. From a mentoring point of view, Gary Player; he is from South Africa, leads a healthy lifestyle, and the way he treats people, probably the biggest influence in my life. Nick Price is another one, and for similar reasons. He is a fantastic athlete.

GFM: What about Ernie Els, he has mentioned he watched you growing up, he is 10 years older than you.
TI: Yeah, Ernie was the same age as my brother and that is the reason why I got to know him at such a young age. Because they used to play amateur and junior golf together. So I used to tag along and go and watch. I have been very fortunate to spend a lot of time with him and learn allot from him while he was becoming one of the best players in the world. He has definitely helped me along the way.

GFM: Did Gary Player have any influence on your dedication to fitness?
TI: He has always spoken to me about fitness & nutrition. He used to tell me stories, like back in his day how he would be doing squats in the evening before the final round of the U.S. Open, and how everybody thought he was crazy, and ripping apart his body, but I guess he’s 72 and still going strong.

GFM: Is there a higher or lower level of awareness about golf specific fitness in South Africa?
TI: Golf Specifically, probably a little bit behind here in the U.S. But with Rugby and Cricket, the fitness industry is booming right now down there.

GFM: Pearl Valley Estate & Spa, do they have golf specific training there?
TI: It’s a brand new facility with a Jack Nicklaus designed golf course, spa and gym, but they haven’t quite tapped into the golf specific stuff. I don’t think anybody has really, I think its just beginning to take off.

GFM: How do you condition for endurance?

TI: I have always been naturally a pretty healthy person, I’ve never struggled with it or worked on it too much. Since I was 6 years old, I have done a lot of playing & practicing all day, so I have trained my body to endure long days on the golf course. Of course in the gym
we work on all the right muscles firing and getting the muscles loose, legs and hamstrings, but for the most part, endurance is not really one of the areas I have had to focus on.
GFM: Right now are you working on any particular performance areas-Distance, injury prevention, improving swing mechanics?
TI: When you are talking about distance, the main areas you want to focus on are your legs, they need to be powerful, and your core needs to be powerful and stable. They way we have evolved with my fitness routine, when we started in 2002, I was pretty thin, so we concentrated on pushing allot of heavy weight to build some muscle and increase my weight. Then we decided maybe we had taken that a little too far and we wanted to get some more speed and explosion into my muscles and maybe a bit more flexibility. That’s where we decided to come up with some new ideas on how to change my routine. This is how we came up with the band system. (SSR Bands, which stand for Strength, Stretching, and Rehabilitation, made by Hedstrom) So we could exercise speed, strength and flexibility all in the same movement. So that is kind of how we evolved and those are the things I work on to keep my strength up, but really have explosion in the muscles so when you get over the shot, other than the short game and finesse shots, like when you are standing on the tee, you got one go at the ball, so you really want to explode that one time. Its like doing one max rep, like when you are in here training, its not like doing 25 reps, you got one go at that ball and you want to give it everything you got, so those are kind of the lines we started thinking along from a golf performance point of view.

GFM: If you could say one thing to our readers about golf specific fitness, what would it be?
TI: Well, you got to find ways to protect your lower lumbar, your shoulders and your wrists. This is one of the reasons why we came up with our system, because the way you can set up the bands to hang and the exercises where you can, in a way traction those areas to get blood in there and relieve the areas, that’s what you got to do, because you know you want to play pain free, you don’t want to get out on the range and make the first few swings and go AHH, and run to your bag and pop a couple of advil. That’s not what its about, its supposed to be fun for all amateurs going out there and not having to compensate in their swing for a sore shoulder or back or something, so that’s how we came up with some of this stuff.

GFM: Managing your tough schedule of travel, competitive play, business, & Family you must sometimes have to choose between practice and conditioning. Where do you put your priorities? Why?
TI: It has become increasingly difficult. For me, family is the most important thing, its number one, so that’s got to come first. Living here (Trevor makes his home at Lake Nona Country Club in Orlando Florida) is the ideal situation for my profession. I got the gym, golf course and my home all close by. I can get in an solid hour workout with Dave (Herman) and still be 5 minutes from my house. So when I am home, I can get in 5 to 6 days working out. On the road, I work out 2 to 3 times a week. I do 15 minutes of cardio and then run through the muscles to make sure they stay primed and maintain a base so when I get back here, I haven’t moved backwards and then we can start increasing my strength again and try to move to the next level. (note: this interview took place after loosing 20 lbs. Following a parasite illness and stomach infection). I warm up every day. About 75% stretching and the rest strength work to get some blood in the muscle before I play.

GFM: You said you like to read Biographies, has this helped you prepare for your success?
TI: Absolutely, there is no doubt about that. You know you always realize when you read those books, the sacrifices these people have had to make. Right now I’m reading about John Hudson and Mt. Everest, how he makes it on his 3rd attempt after failing on two other attempts. Its just like everything else in life, you don’t always do it on the first time. You go to tour school and you miss out, you can’t get too despondent about that. You learn little things like that, the struggles and sacrifice people made, but also the enjoyment they had once they achieved the goal that they set out. Then I can try and relate it to my life.

GFM: How and why do you prepare yourself before the 1st Tee physically & Mentally? Any special Routine?
TI: My caddie and I will do a lot of work on the course to be ready by Wednesday evening. I am the kind that I like to know that I am prepared well, so that way I can just relax and go and play. That eases my mind, that I have done all the hard work, at that point you got to let go and let everything happen.

GFM: What could you tell our readers about calming nerves on the 1st tee?
TI: You just got to expect it, you can’t shy away from it. I’ve seen guys bundle themselves up, and then they get even more nervous. So what you got to do is accept it and almost make it a mini challenge for yourself, say all right, I’m going to be nervous on the 1st tee. There is one thing I can guarantee you, that everyone else is nervous on the 1st tee too. It’s a natural thing, I don’t think there has ever been any golfer, from Jack Nicklaus all the way down to an amateur golfer, that hasn’t been nervous on the 1st tee. So its one of those things you have to accept and deal with and move on as well as you can. Its something you can’t dwell on, it might affect the rest of your day.

GFM: Mentally, after making a bad shot, what do you do to prepare for the next shot?
TI: Acceptance is huge, you have to accept the golf shot, and accept the results. You have tried to hit your best shot, you prepared for your best shot and it didn’t come off, so you need to accept that and put it behind you and go to the next with a keen mental approach and try to hit the best shot you can possibly hit. I definitely think it’s a mistake to dwell on the last shot.

GFM: Mentally, how will you prepare for the Presidents Cup? Prepare differently than regular tournament play?
TI: From a golfing point of view, no. I will treat it as a normal tournament. Obviously being a team environment, you know its an incredible feeling and its great to spend the week with world class golfers. At this young point in my career, its nice to be able to spend time around those guys and learn from them. Match play is all about momentum and putting. Then you try to beat the guy you’re playing.

GFM: Tell us about your diet leading up to and during a tournament. Why?
TI: My main thing is to keep putting calories in. I have a very fast metabolism and have difficulty putting weight on. For me its making sure I can stay hydrated as much as I can and make sure I’m eating allot. During the busy tournament week with media and sponsor’s obligations, you tend to skip meals hear and there. I make sure I find the time to eat and try to maintain my weight.

GFM: What can fans learn from watching you play?

TI: That’s a good question! When I’m out there, I’m trying my best to perform to my ability and I have a tremendous respect for the game and what people have achieved in the game. That’s one of the reasons I love it so much and why I enjoy competing so much. So maybe what people can learn, the main
thing is that I never throw in the towel, I’m going to keep going, no matter what’s happening out there, I’m going to grind it out and shoot the lowest score I possibly can.
GFM: What is your favorite golf course?
TI: Muirfield Village. I really enjoy that course, I love that tournament and its one of the events I look forward to every year.

GFM: Who would be in your dream foursome?
TI: Probably Rock Stars, because I am very fortunate to be able to play with some of my idols, so I’m not going to throw them in there. It might be guys that have never played golf, like Jimmy Hendricks and people like that [Laughing].

GFM: He would probably be playing left handed.
TI: Who knows what he would be doing out there [Laughing]. I’m a music fanatic, so I really haven’t thought about it, I need to take some time to figure that one out [Laughing]. You might get back with me on this one. You know I might even throw in a comedian in there, Bill Murry, or Chris Rock, or Seinfield . I want to go out and have some fun. I wouldn’t want to set up a four ball that’s going to be about competing that day. Its about going out and having fun, having a blast like it’s the last round you will ever play.