LEFT TO RIGHT: Dr. Bob Donatelli works through a variety of Strengthen Your Game exercises with a client in his Las Vegas studio. The three primary categories: strength, balance and endurance are shown by example left. Derivatives of many of these exercises can be reinforced at home as well.

Bob Donatelli remembers one particular gentleman who came to see him, begging for some help. The man had tried everything to improve his game, including Butch Harmon himself, all to no avail. In many ways, Donatelli was his last chance.

“I had a guy that came in, a 55-year-old dentist, very out of shape, plays golf five days a week,” said Donatelli, one of the foremost physical therapists in the sports world. “I didn’t know how he had time to be a dentist with all that golf! But he had been to see Butch Harmon, and he couldn’t physically do what Butch was telling him to do. He said, ‘I can’t keep my elbow straight, I have to bend it, and it’s driving me crazy.’ Sure enough, the guy had a major physical limitation, of the joint capsule. After five minutes of joint mobilization with him, the problem was corrected.”

Behold, the healing power behind Strengthen Your Game, the golf fitness program designed by Donatelli, National Director of Sports Medicine for Stryker Physiotherapy Associates. The program, piloted nearly three years ago, has been fueled by the success of the PGA, LPGA and Champions Tours (and in fact, they take physiotherapy fitness and physical rehabilitation trailers to each event), with everyone from Fred Funk to Jim Furyk and Natalie Gulbis reaping its rewards. Building on the program’s success and the strength of trusted Stryker and Tour brands, the program has now sprouted to include more than 70 satellite locations around the country, including 15 in the Midwest.

The program utilizes state-of-the-art technology, backed up by extensive research and data to deliver 3 primary resultants: power, accuracy and endurance. And while he may be able to easily succeed where others could not, Donatelli says he’s not trying to put the Butch Harmons of the world out of business, he’s trying to compliment what they teach.

“I don’t want to be a coach. I don’t want to be a golf instructor,” Donatelli said. “In our certification programs, we don’t teach the golf swing. We look at it, we understand the phases of it, we understand the muscle’s activity and range of motion during those phases, but that’s it. When a golf pro is working with a player, if they can’t do something, it might not be they don’t have the skills, it’s that they don’t have the physical capabilities of doing it. Either lack of muscle strength, range of motion, or some aspect of balance is preventing them from doing it.”

Donatelli hasn’t let much prevent him from succeeding over the past 15-plus years, a span in which he’s showed his own impressive strength and range. Donatelli got his big break when he began helping former Major Leaguer Dale Murphy one off-season. “That year, the manager said that was the healthiest Dale Murphy he ever saw,” Donatelli said.

Then, after helping star outfielder Marquis Grissom dramatically in the twilight of his career, Donatelli soon found himself as the go-to guy for many ailing athletes, from Terrence Newman of the Dallas Cowboys, to tennis star Andy Roddick.

He also began passing along his knowledge, in a series of clinics to fellow therapists. Donatelli taught his secrets to a former associate, PT, ATC Billy O’Donnell, now National Accounts Manager for Strengthen Your Game. O’Donnell’s reaction was similar to the legion of pro athletes who had beaten a path to his door.

“Billy said, ‘This program is amazing. It could really take off nationally. (at the time he was the regional manager for five states),” Donatelli recalled. “He said, ‘I want you to move to Vegas and help roll it out.’ One thing led to another, the program outline was presented to Stryker’s Director of Innovation, Jeff Ignaszak, and then we had the Tour, and all of a sudden, it became, Strengthen Your Game.”

As Donatelli is quick to explain, Strengthen Your Game isn’t about making you a better golfer. The program is designed to make you better physically, with a better golf game the beautiful by-product. Strengthen Your Game focuses on three major elements of physical fitness: Strength, balance, and endurance. Of course, the sum is much more than the parts; it’s also how those parts work together to form the golf swing. Donatelli uses baseball as a metaphor.

“What happens when a player’s fooled by a pitch?” he said. “He swings way out in front, right? That means he’s shifting his weight too soon, and he’s way out here, and he’s not going to hit the ball well at all. So the weight shift has got to be subtle, a smooth pendulum — just like golf.” When your muscles, balance and trunk are working properly, less can actually be more, as well, Donatelli said.

“In fact, a professional golfer actually uses 30 percent less muscle activity than average golfers, yet they drive the ball, like, 50 percent further,” he explained. “So it’s not necessarily muscle strength — it’s important, don’t get me wrong — but it’s the synchronization of the firing of those muscles, the transfer of that weight, that’s especially critical. And that’s what you’re working on here.”

Now Donatelli and Stryker Physiotherapy Associates are bringing their program to the pages of Great Lakes Golf, in a special, eight-part series. In the next few issues, we’ll highlight each of the critical elements of the program, and how you can improve your game by improving these elements. Take it from Donatelli, you’ll not only be stronger, but you’ll be better, too.

For more information, and to find a Strengthen Your Game location near you, visit www.strengthenyourgame.com.