Golf clinic to swing into action at HSC

by Cindy A. Abole, Public Relations

When Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) player and golf pro Pam Weeks steps onto the Harper Student Center “green” and executes a perfect drive swing, the absence of a fairway or 18-hole course is the least of her worries.

Since spring 1998, Weeks has worked with student wellness center director Julian Smith and Miriam F. DeAntonio, M.D., associate professor, Department of Psychiatry, to coordinate the Harper Student Center's new golf clinic. Weeks will offer golf tutorials to individuals beginning at the end of August. Wellness center members can participate at a reduced rate.

“To play golf, you have to learn how to hit the ball,” Weeks said. “The fundamentals of the golf swing need to be learned.” Weeks wants to help beginners and advanced players learn golf swing techniques without having to leave the MUSC campus.

The clinic will utilize the latest in video technology featuring a portable video lab designed to monitor an individual's golf swing at various speeds. Weeks also uses a swing machine, best described as a large circular hula-hoop designed to guide a golfer's swing, pass and direction. An exterior golf net replaces the usual fairway or "green" as students practice.

Weeks was director of the Links at Stono Ferry from 1990-1995 and earlier at Snee Farm in Mount Pleasant. She's taught thousands of golfers in the Tri-County area—many of them Lowcountry physicians and staff affiliated with MUSC. Weeks believes that today's physicians and health care professionals are simply too busy to find enough practice and travel time to take lessons at a driving range. Weeks hopes to lure golf enthusiasts back into the game by concentrating on form and technique.

"Good technique yields to greater success on the golf course," she said.

"There's a skill involved in controlling the body—the balance of the club, back swing, impact and follow through. It comes together in one beautiful controlled motion," Weeks explained.

Weeks also advocates the physical training benefits of the game. Men, women and children can improve their upper/lower body flexibility over a period of time. Ultimately, the Wellness Center can prepare a specifically designed fitness program that can focus on an individual's goal to gain strength and flexibiltiy.

Weeks teaches the clinic, in association with the Golf Club of Charleston, a proposed 43-acre golf practice and training facility, to individuals or groups (usually three to four people of the same skill level), by appointment.

For further information contact Weeks at 556-GOLF.

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