What does it take to make your workouts and golf game 18STRONG? Join us as one of Germany’s most well respected golf instructors, Nicholas Zaher, shares his experience of teaching golfers to play better through both golf instruction and fitness.
As a 40 year old “holistic golf coach,” Nicholas Zaher has personally seen big changes in his own game, longers drives, better posture, more endurance on the course once he started paying more attention to his body and started LIFTING HEAVY THINGS! He has since been implementing fitness and strength training into all of his clients programs with incredible success.
Subscribe to the 18STRONG Podcast on iTunes and stitcher by clicking the button below:
Nicholas Zaher’s Background
- Graduated as a Fully Qualified PGA Golf Professional at the PGA National Headquarters, Great Britain in 1997.
- 2002 to 2009 Nick was Director and co-owner of all German based David Leadbetter Golf Academies (DLGA) and a Senior Certified DLGA Instructor.
- In 2007 he learned about the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) whilst in Sweden and since then has been on a fascinating journey
- TPI Certified Golf Fitness Instructor, Golf Biomechanist, Junior Coach, Fitness Professional and FMS Certified.
- Founder of Golf Athletz, a holistic coach, a passionate golfer, multiple Ironman finisher and lives in Berlin, Germany.
Highlights from this Episode
- Nick shares his background growing up in Liverpool where he learned to play golf on the Soccer Pitch of all places!
- He walks us through his experience playing and eventually earning his pro card and how he ended up owning and running all of the David Leadbetter Schools in Germany
- After being introduced to TPI in 2007, Nick’s journey as a golf instructor rook a turn in a new direction that involved finding the missing piece to his golf instruction
- Nick’s new found passion for learning more about the body, how it moves, and how to maximize it’s performance has created a much more “holistic” philosophy to Nick’s coaching methods
- Nick says he really noticed a HUGE difference in his game when he started working more o his body, and especially when he started LIFTING HEAVIER THINGS
- Nick gives us 4 exercises that he thinks have changed his game and life:
- Deadlift
- Kettlebell Swings
- Turkish Getup
- Goblet Squat
- Nick references and explains Charlie Weingroff and Dr. Mark Cheng’s video “Hack the Hinge” for some great tips on deadlifting:
- Dial
- Spread
- Squeeze
- Crush
- Clobber
- Nick’s challenge for the listeners
- Try to do a 2 minute plank. A real one. Where you are squeezing everything and your body is shaking because you’re woking so hard
- See how far you can broad jump. Standing on both feet, jump as far as you can. See if you can jump as far as you are tall
- The get up and get down drill. You’ll have to listen to Nick’s explanation in the episode for this one, it’s a doozy. (once we get him to do a video of this one, I’ll link it up)
CaddyShack or Happy Gilmore?
Caddy Shack
Who would you like to spend a day on the course with?
Nick Faldo
What are you excited about in your near future?
He is getting ready to start a new program introducing the fundamentals of the kettlbell in to his golfers programs.
Where to Find Nicholas Zaher
Facebook: Golf Athletz
YouTube: Golf Athletz (primarily in German)
Golf Athletz website: www.golfathletz.de (in German)
Other Links/Resources Mentioned
Nick’s Exercises for Hitting a Ball Below Your Feet (We will link this as soon as it is published on YouTube)
Having Trouble Leaving a review from your iPhone or desktop?
CLICK HERE to see how on your iPhone!
CLICK HERE to see how on your desktop!