Train Like the Pros at the Grand Del Mar

I spent some time recently with Shawn Cox, Director of Golf at the stunning new Grand Del Mar resort in San Diego County. Formerly at Torrey Pines and LaJolla County Club, Cox is the only pro in Southern California to be a PGA member.
        A veteran of the TPI Experience at the Titleist Performance Institute, a unique program that assesses physical fitness, swing and equipment fitting, Shawn has distilled it all into a “Train with the Pros” program, available only here at the resort. He starts you off with a detailed flexibility test, then sets up on the private teaching site a custom-designed, daylight screen––the only one of its kind in existence––and a video camera. In a 3-hour or full-day lesson, you work with Shawn on your swing while frequently watching yourself on video. Among other techniques, he compares, on split screen, your swing to that of a variety of PGA and LPGA pros whose body types match yours. He inputs your information and details into his computer, and after the swing, putting and chipping intensive, he e mails to you the results of your fitness test with recommendations and how-to videos for specific exercises; and, he custom designs a practice program according to the teaching experience you had together. You can also schedule on-course playing lessons.
    A veteran of golf lessons at resorts around the world, I recommend this program above any other I've tried. A note: Cox was on the National and Rose Bowl Champion football team at the University of Washington, and is in the Husky Hall of Fame.
    Only guests at The Grand del Mar and members of the 150-member private club may play on Tom Fazio's smashing beautiful Grand Golf Club course, which rambles into the wilds of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve. Built nearly a decade ago, the track received a multi-million-dollar re-do shortly before the resort's grand opening at the end of 2007. The newest resort in Southern California, the Grand Del Mar is an extravaganza of Mediterranean opulence.