Golf: Gall ready for rough and Tumble

Lothians star Gallacher started working with Tumblety, an Edinburgh University graduate and also a member at Duddingston, earlier in the year and, soon afterwards, finished fourth in the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour's flagship event.

He has maintained that form over the last few weeks and has high hopes going into both this week's Barclays Scottish Open and the Open Championship at St Andrews next week.

"Stephen and myself first met back at the beginning of May, during one of his breaks from a busy Tour schedule," said Tumblety, who works for Golf Fit Ltd along with another Edinburgh man, Alex Woods.

"Stephen admitted to me from the start that he has worked with a number of fitness professionals in the past and has always attempted to stay fit for his golf.

"However, before myself he had never worked with any trainers who were as golf specific or who worked on such an individual basis.

"The first thing I do when I meet any golfer, regardless of their level of ability, is create an individual profile based on their golfing goals, golfing history and a highly detailed physical screen.

"It is this profile which I have used to design Stephen's exercise programme. I feel it is hugely important for any golfer, particularly one who plays for a living, that the exercise they do is specific not only to thier sport, but also to them as an individual.

"There is no point in everyone doing the same exercises when each golfer has different physical strengths and weaknesses that affect their golf swings. Stephen appreciates that the exercise he is performing at the moment is designed to make it easier for him to swing the club the way he wants.

"We also work hard to make sure we are proactive in preventing injuries, which can only be done through a sound physical balance in the body.

"The key to all this is the detail in the physical screens and also working alongside golfers swing coaches. This makes it easier to give Stephen exercises which target his physical imbalances and make it easier for Stephen and his swing coach to make those all important adjustments in his swing."

Gallacher is enjoying his training and told Tumblety so when they got together at Kingsfield Golf Centre outside Linlithgow after the former Dunhill Links champion had secured his spot at St Andrews.

"Thankfully, it is also showing in his golf," added Tumblety. "Hopefully, things continue to improve as they have been doing as Stephen has been really commited to the programme.

That makes all the difference, because what he puts in is what he will get out of it."

Tumblety has been involved in strength and condition coaching since he graduated from Edinburgh University with an honours degree in Applied Sports Science.

"I orginally studied psychology and sports psychology, before focusing on physiology," he said. "I have been a keen golfer since I was eleven, so I was always determined to find a way to be involved in the sport through my work. I am also certified by the Titleist Performance Institute in California as a Golf Fitness Instructor. I began working with Golf Fit Ltd for about a year ago and since then have been training golfers exclusively.

"Alex and I both believe that the way to be most effective as trainers is to remain exclusive to golf. The way I see it, you can only truly be an expert in one field, there isn't enough time to be involved with more than one sport.

"Sadly, until companies like ourselves came along, there has been a lack of golf-specific trainers available in Scotland. This puts golfers in this country at a huge disadvantage compared with those in countries such as the United States and Australia. Golf Fit Ltd was set up nearly three years ago and since then has expended rapidly. We are now responsible for the golf specific personal training of thousands of golfers all over Scotland.

"We work with males, females and juniors of all abilities. We have also overseen the fitness of a number of Tartan Tour, Challenge Tour and European Tour players.

"We pride ourselves on treating golfers as individuals and avoiding the use of generic programmes. Much of the training we do is home based and therefore we travel to our clients and go through their training with them at their gyms, golf clubs or homes. This makes it extremely convenient for most people to fit their training around their golf.

"Golf Fit Ltd has also set up a junior development programme for talented young golfers, so we can provide these juniors with the training guidance they need to set them on the correct path from the start of their careers. We also make sure these juniors get the chance to meet the Tour professionals who are part of the Golf Fit Ltd Team, so that they can ask questions and learn from these guys. We feel this is something that has been missing in the past in Scotland."

Woods also graduated from Edinburgh University and has a MSc in Strength and Conditioning and a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sport Science. A Certified Golf Fitness Instructor with TPI and a seminar speaker for the Scottish PGA, he set up Golf Fit Ltd in September 2007 and has worked exclusively with golfers since then.

"Our junior development programme is in place thanks to Paul Gibson and the Junior Lothians School of Excellence," said Woods. "We undertook the fitness work for the 32 juniors in their programme through the last off-season and the seven juniors in our programme came from that.".