AN EDUCATION IN GOLF FITNESS; TRAINER LEARNS IT ISN'T SO EASY.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Daily News Staff Writer

Michael Pauldine won't soon forget his first serious attempt at golf.

A longtime fitness enthusiast with a competitive background in motocross and extreme skiing, he came away from a 1994 links session frustrated on all fronts.

``I used to think I was a good athlete,'' he said. ``I used to think I had good motor skills. I used to think I had a good mental and emotional attitude toward athletic activities. And this game just humbled me on every level.''

Worse, Pauldine discovered, the game hurt physically. His lower back ached and he had numbness in his left arm.

Besides an appreciation for golf's difficulty, Pauldine came away convinced of the importance of being prepared for the violence of a golf swing.

``There's no way to prepare for that activity unless you do fundamental exercises that directly affect the muscles in the activity,'' he said.

Now Pauldine, a West Hills fitness trainer, teaches that. Emphasizing the importance of spinal alignment, trunk and shoulder stability and deep-muscle attention, he has taught more than 40 golfers how to stretch and strengthen the body for golf.

The more who learn that the better, according to Woodley Lakes head pro Larry Atlas, who estimates less than 20 percent of the golfers he sees play are golf-fit.

``It's the difference between driving a finely tuned car and one that has gone 95,000 miles without a tune-up,'' Atlas said.

Pauldine is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and by Body Balance for Performance - the golf fitness program designed by Paul Callaway, former Director of Physical Therapy for the PGA Tour.

Initially, all he wanted from that certification was to learn to stay healthy enough to play golf for many years.

Because Pauldine had always done well in sports - including a four-year stint skiing on the Pro Mogul Tour during the early 1980s - he threw himself into this new activity looking for similar success.

He soon learned progress in this game not only takes a toll on your time, it takes a toll on your body.

``I thought I was pretty fit, and that was the problem,'' he said. ``I couldn't imagine how I could be experiencing pain.''

It was an epiphany that has altered his lifestyle and affected his livelihood.

Pauldine now spends as much time as he can practicing, playing or training. Much of the rest of his time, he spends teaching his clients how to train to play and practice safely.

The first thing they learn is safety starts before you pick up a club.

His Peak Performance golf fitness program teaches players how stretching and light resistance exercises - both designed to strengthen golf-specific areas - not only enhance performance but significantly reduce the risk of serious injury.

Pauldine preaches posture as the primary, saying it contributes to much more than a stylish look.

``When you've got a body not in position to execute this extremely dynamic movement pattern, it's not in a safe position,'' he said. ``When you start doing that a couple of hundred times during a round and add a couple of more days a week during practice, it's dangerous.''

His program has some trainer-heal-thyself background. In 1993, he was sidelined three months by a back injury.

Out of that injury and a desire to rehabilitate quickly, Pauldine learned how to avoid injuries.

He discovered how much a stable trunk area contributes to good spinal alignment. He learned that strong and flexible hamstring muscles play a large role in a safer swing, as do abdominal muscles, hip flexors, rotator cuffs and the muscles that flank the spinal column.

``I changed what I was doing wrong, and my problem went away,'' said Pauldine, who has rebounded from his wretched start to lower his handicap index to 9.5 and finish among the top five in flight play at the Los Angeles and Ventura City championships.

``Now I'm healthy and I'm crushing my driver and I'm digging it,'' he said. ``It is so much fun to play healthy.''

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PHOTO ``This game just humbled me on every level,'' says Michael Pauldine.

Special to the Daily News