Q-Link

Today more than 300 professional golfers on the world’s major tours wear Q-Links. They’ve won more than 100 tournaments on the PGA, Champions, LPGA and European tours. At least 20 of those tournaments were won by players who first put on a Q-Link within the previous 5 to 10 days. I’ve personally interviewed dozens of PGA Tour golfers who have shared with me benefits they’ve experienced, including the likes of Ernie Els, Davis Love III and Mark Calcavecchia, who set the all time low tournament score the week he first put on a Q-Link pendant. Jesper Parnevik told me, “I put it on and I won the first week.  They have probably 20 guys that have done the same thing.  If they didn’t have their research and information behind it, you might think that was just a lucky thing. But you see all the stuff that they’d done can prove to you that it does make a difference so you have to really believe it.”

Els reveals, “I actually got it just before the British and wore it for maybe a week or two. I obviously wasn’t playing all that well at that stage of the year. I didn’t know quite what to expect in the British with all that pressure. I knew I needed to try to stay calm and stay relaxed. Since wearing the Q-Link, I’ve been a little bit more myself on the course. Mainly I think the Q-Link’s helped me to stay focused and in the same manner, stay very relaxed.” Ernie won that Open. Calcavecchia broke the 48 year-old PGA all time scoring record and said, “When I started wearing the Q-Link in 2001 it was the best streak of playing golf I have ever had. I feel calmer, less nervous and less anxious, which is a good thing in professional golf.” I have to believe that feeling calmer, less nervous and less anxious has to be good for the everyday golfer too!

Clinical Golf Testing

Historically, products such as these use anecdotal information and user testimonials to back up their claims. For this reason, Clarus reached out to MedSource LLC, an independent research and testing facility in Williamsburg, Virginia to properly structure testing and document any changes as a result of using their product from a clinical perspective. MedSource CEO Ray Gagne had worked for decades with Olympic athletes and professional sports franchises. He has worked especially closely with Texas Rangers team trainer Danny Wheat, Toronto Blue Jays trainer Tommy Craig and Angela Bailey on her way to winning multiple Olympic and World Titles. With a true need to evaluate the overall performance of athletes, Ray designed and patented a series of innovative technologies to monitor strength, range of motion, cognitive and cardiovascular performance. As Dr. Daniel Carr, former US Olympic team physician noted, “Functional measures performed by MedSource in a consistent and objective manner are invaluable to the performance of the athlete. They not only determine abilities, they provide the foundation for future training and excellence in sport”.

At first, Gagne was skeptical of Q-Link claims but agreed to create golf specific parameters and do the testing. First stop was the 2009 PGA Merchandise Show (Q-Link was awarded Best New Product in 2005) and Gagne admits he was astonished by the results. Testing covered a range of parameters including cognitive flexibility, physical strength and motor skills. Players and other show attendees showed significant improvement across the board in all categories. These results help shape an online test version, the Q-Link Challenge, which anyone can take from their home computer to measure their cognitive performance before and after wearing a Q-Link product.

Q-Link Challenge Parameters & Results

Cognitive testing concentrated on attention and motor speed accuracy. It measures the ability to maintain focus and track information over brief and continuous periods of time, reflecting whether a subject can perform attention-based mental tasks quickly and accurately. Internal focus is your ability to keep the mouse over the icon and control keystrokes to ensure that what’s happening on the screen is occurring the way you want it to. External focus is the ability to filter outside disturbances, whether it is talking, noise in the background, etc. A comparable situation in golf would be standing on the tee box and someone talking or moving around in your peripheral field of vision. With cognitive flexibility testing, that focus is measurable. Gagne believes that improved focus will allow golfers to more easily shake off a bad shot and move on to the task at hand, concentrating on the next shot.

Complex attention, which is a combination of internal and external focus, improved in 71% of the challenge subjects. Referring to the 2 to 8% increase in speed within a period of 4 to 6 hours, Gagne states, “What you need to realize is most people are habitual in the way they react and the way that they play the game of golf. To make any type of positive modification in their game in such a brief amount of time, that’s extremely significant.” Although it was not part of the study, Gagne is confident that wearing a Q-Link for more extended periods of time will enhance its measurable benefits. Psycho motor speed relates to the performance of the golf swing from beginning to end.  The ability of your brain to communicate with your body and react accordingly, if you can increase that speed, then you can increase your overall performance. In this category, 79% of the test group showed improvement of between one and 7%.

Every test subject showed an increase in strength after wearing a Q-Link, with an average increase of 5.89% on the left and 7.46% on the right (dominant) hand. The increase ranged between 1.82 to 20.33% on the left side and 1.0 to 13.72% on the right. MedSource noted, “We were able to diagnose that the Q-Link increased strength in the non-dominant hand which helped create better balance. We have found through testing that the best players act ambidextrously, which provides them with the ability to master the grip and maintain greater control of their swing. We found that after people began wearing a Q-Link, not only were they able to increase their strength, they were able to maintain it for more consistent time periods before fatiguing. They had more energy.” MedSource summed up its results stating, “It is concluded that the Q-Link product has a proven and documented increase in general performance in the areas tested. The results portray that the Q-Link product is an effective wellness modality that can be used to increase both hand strength and cognitive flexibility.”

How it Works

Q-Link technology was developed in conjunction with scientists at Stanford and the University of California. At the core of product performance is Sympathetic Resonance Technology, which clarifies the body’s energetic system and enhances its ability to cope with the debilitating effects of a variety of stressors including electromagnetic fields, which the inventors say are everywhere – from computer screens to cellular phones. “Many of us have felt the field created when a musical tuning fork is struck,” says Seth Ross, director of Q-Link Marketing. “Picture a table with hundreds of them. The nearest tuning fork begins to resonate sympathetically with the next one and so on, until all are resonating. The field has now strengthened to a significant degree, though only the first was struck. Our bodies are made up of 75 trillion cells, and each can be imagined as a tuning fork in the sense that each cell has a frequency. If you picture yourself made up of many tuning forks instead of cells, Q-Link is the powerful tuning fork that has been struck. Imagine how that soothing effect would spread throughout your body.”

Many readers already wear the original Q-Link Classic with SRT-2 technology. Both SRT-2 and SRT-3 contain the same beneficial energy supporting/clarifying/enhancing frequencies. Where they differ, SRT-3 products feature enhanced materials which allow them to
interact more responsively and effectively with the needs of the wearer. A good analogy for this is two computer processors operating at different speeds.  Though both will get the job done, the faster version will do it more efficiently and with more performance oriented results. SRT-3 products are recommended for those regularly immersed in stressful or performance demanding environments and circumstances. Individuals often in close proximity to electromagnetic fields such as computer workstations, offices with intrusive fluorescent lighting, mobile phones or exposed to other invasive electrical equipment or electronics would reap additional benefits. Those seeking improved well-being or to excel at a discipline such as yoga, martial arts, fitness or meditation as well as athletes would also benefit.

Your Ticket to the Zone

We’ve all heard descriptions about being in that mystical place of peak performance called “the zone.” There are those that believe that the chief component of the zone is a lack of stress. Anything reducing stress will help you get there more often and stay there longer. Calcavecchia added, “I think the Q-Link really just kept me in the zone, and allowed me to keep making birdies and break the all-time PGA Tour scoring record.”  The great thing about Q-Link is that it applies to anything you do in life – work, play, sleep… even golf.

Try a Q-Link and Take the Q-Link Challenge

If you’re interested in trying Q-Link or taking the Q-Link Challenge go to www.qlinkgolfspecial.com or call 800-246-2765. Q-Link pendants and bracelets come in several models starting with acrylic pendants. Other items include products in titanium, stainless steel, silver and gold. The company offers a 90-day, money back guarantee. As a special bonus, Ocean State Golf readers will receive a free Q-Link Classic (MSRP $79.95) with any purchase of $99.95 or more.

Take the Q-Link Challenge at www.qlinkgolfspecial.com

“Mainly I think the Q-Link’s helped me to stay focused and in the same manner, stay very relaxed.” Ernie Els

“I think the Q-Link really just kept me in the zone and allow me to keep making birdies and going at that time break the all-time PGA Tour scoring record. When I started wearing the Q-Link in 2001 it was the best streak of playing golf I have ever had. I feel calmer, less nervous and less anxious, which is a good thing in professional golf.” Mark Calcavecchia

“It is concluded that the Q-Link product has a proven and documented increase in general performance in the areas tested. The results portray that the Q-Link product is an effective wellness modality that can be used to increase both hand strength and cognitive flexibility.” MedSource LLC Testing Conclusion

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Doug Perron and Greg Specht

If you talk to the players, most all will say they are in great physical condition and that they follow a golf-specific training regimen to get the most from their bodies and help reduce injuries.

Titleist, a leading manufacturer of golf balls and golf equipment, developed a program in 2003 called the Titleist Performance Institute. The purpose of the program was to make golfers more fit, so that in the long run they will play better and longer and hence use more golf balls.

“Wally Uihlein and the top staff at Titleist had the foresight to see that the USGA was putting restrictions on balls and clubs and the only way to get more distance was to improve the ultimate source-the golfer’s body,” said PGA Tour professional Brad Faxon who has been going out to the Titleist Performance Institute facility (which is next door to the Equipment Testing Facility) in Oceanside, Cal. since soon after its inception.

“You are hooked up to wires and electrodes that test your legs, trunk and upper body to find the areas of strength and weakness, and then you are given a fitness program to help improve the areas you need,” added Faxon. “The reason that young players absolutely kill the ball is that they are learning at an early age to best use their body for the golf swing,” he said.

Two life-long friends from Pawtucket, Doug Perron and Greg Specht, have embraced this Titleist Performance Institute concept with the formation of iGOLFfit. Perron is a physical therapist assistant, personal trainer and fitness instructor who owns Barrington Fitness Studio. He is a graduate of Newbury College has been trained at the Titleist Performance Institute, the golf fitness program in Oceanside and has been honing his craft for 18 years.

He has earned the distinction of TPI’s Level 3 Fitness Certification, Level 2 Medical Certification and is working towards his Level 3 Junior Development Certification.

Specht is a graduate of Northeastern University with a degree in physical therapy. He owns Specht Physical Therapy, an orthopedic and sports therapy center in Swansea and has been a physical therapist for 19 years. Greg has earned his Level 2 Medical and Level 2 Fitness Certification and is an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist.

“The goal of Titleist Performance Institute is to have everyday golfers have access to this golf-specific health and golf fitness information and technology through an internet program called MyTPI. Part of the program includes access to articles and exercises on their website http://www.mytpi.com/.

“I really believe in the program. I’ve seen how it has improved the golfing ability of so many of my clients,” said the enthusiastic Perron. “Doug is the best fitness trainer that I know. I’ve gone to him so often that we have become good friends,” said Faxon who also mentioned that Doug’s wife, Valerie, is the best massage therapist he’s ever worked with.

“We try to work on strength, mobility, stability, balance and power,” said Perron who does a complete evaluation of each client who comes to his studio. These evaluations are done compared to a standard, and he and Specht use many different tools in the evaluation process. Within a couple of days the client comes back into the studio and a targeted fitness and wellness plan has been developed with specific exercises to work on to improve your golf fitness.

“If I find that someone has a physical limitation or injury that would preclude doing some of the exercises or training regimen, then I send him or her to Greg,” said Perron who also gets many referrals from golf professionals. Kyle Phelps at Rhode Island Country Club and Troy Pare at Wannamoisett are two local pros that are Titleist Performance Institute certified.

“Kyle is just down the street and he really gets it with regard to golf fitness training. I am always sending clients to him with the results of the TPI evaluation, and he often sends golfers to me,” said Perron. “I’ve told many of my clients that they are wasting money by taking lessons when they won’t improve substantially until they become more fit,” said Phelps.

“The first thing I do when I want to make a change in someone’s swing is to test the person and make sure that they have the ability to do what I am asking. If they can, we attack it, but if they can’t I suggest that they go and see Doug, We work as a team for the benefit of our students and I’ve seen results from everyone I’ve sent to Doug,” said Phelps.

“The TPI Model is great and Doug is the best. He is not only an expert in his field, but you will never find someone who will care more about your results than him,” he added.

Steve Napoli, head professional at Carnegie Abbey and long-time member of the RIPGA and a proponent of the TPI program, admitted that he likes work but he hates working out. “I go to the Barrington Fitness Studio twice a week at about 5:30 in the morning. The time flies by and I find that Doug has really been helpful for me,” said Napoli.

“I’ve been to Greg when I needed physical therapy and he’s been very helpful,” said Faxon who sees PT’s across the country while on Tour. “Their (Perron and Specht) concept of feeling good and golfing great is wonderful for golfers and it will certainly help golfers perform at their peak,” added Faxon.

Visit their website at http://igolffit.com/ to find out more about this concept of physical fitness as it relates specifically to golf.

Editor’s Note: Perron and Specht have agreed to write a golf fitness column in each issue of Ocean State Golf for the next year.

Stay tuned for more golf health and golf fitness techniques!

As always, we’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment below!