Sometimes I feel like a broken record. Every winter and again in the spring, I ask players the same question: Do you want to play better next season? The answer is almost always yes. Yet very few follow that answer with a real plan.
The offseason is the time to start. Taking even a small amount of time each day and investing it in yourself can make a meaningful difference. Stretching, lifting, shadow-boxing, walking, running, whatever keeps you moving and engaged. Consistency matters more than intensity. In many cases, sixty days of increased activity and better habits can produce changes you can see and feel.
I turned 65 this past October, and listeners of The Tom & Tom Golf Podcast know Tom Poljak enjoys reminding me of it. Last December, I found myself in my doctor’s office weighing 265 pounds, with blood sugar numbers that were heading in the wrong direction. My body hurt, and my mobility was limited.
As I write this, just days before Christmas 2025, I weigh 185 pounds, and my blood sugar numbers have been stable and healthy for months. Naturally, people ask how I did it. This wasn’t my first reset. At 39, I went through a similar transformation.
The pattern is always the same. When attention slips, activity decreases, and poor habits take over. For me, that usually means too many carbs, ice cream, and chocolate milk. It adds up quickly.
I didn’t rely on medications or injections. I returned to fundamentals: pushups, sit-ups, free weights, heavy bag, speed bag, and tether ball. When the diet improves and movement increases, the weight comes off. What I did differently this time was intentionally connect that process to my golf. I added stretching and golf-specific exercises, which ultimately led me to become Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) Certified.
What Is TPI?
TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) is the world’s leading educational organization dedicated to the study of how the human body functions in relation to the golf swing. For over twenty years, TPI has gathered the world’s largest technical database of the game’s top Tour professionals as well as everyday golfers. TPI collects 3D motion capture, force, pressure, launch monitor, strength, power, and movement data on every player that visits the TPI campus.
Using this data, TPI discovered how a properly functioning body allows a player to swing a golf club in the most efficient way possible. Conversely, TPI determined how physical limitations in a player’s body can adversely affect the golf swing and potentially lead to injury. This relationship, what TPI calls The Body-Swing Connection, is the foundation of all professional certification courses offered by TPI. (Taken directly from the TPI website.)
So I’ll ask again: do you want to play better this season?
Improvement requires effort and commitment, but the goal is simple in helping you make the best possible swing your body is capable of making. The TPI screening process identifies limitations in flexibility, range of motion, posture, and stability, providing a clear roadmap for improvement.
Whether you work with me or another TPI Certified Professional, the value is in understanding your body and building a plan that supports it. The investment is real in time, effort, and resources, but so are the results.
Commit now, and when spring arrives, you may be surprised by how different both your body and your golf game feel.
