The Winner's Circle

In the past two years, the 16 touring professionals who live, play or train at Sea Island have racked up an impressive record of ten PGA TOUR titles, including Brian Harman’s wins at the 2023 Open Championship and 2025 Valero Texas Open, as well as Harris English’s 2025 Farmers Insurance Open victory. Spend some time around the team members at the Golf Performance Center (GPC), and you’ll hear recurring themes that underpin success at the elite level of the game: a culture of excellence, a holistic approach, camaraderie and strong communication.

“Rather than one instructor at a facility wearing multiple hats, our philosophy has been to bring in many high-level specialists in very specific areas of the game,” says Craig Allan, Director of the Golf Performance Center and Master Club Fitter. “In doing that, we’ve found a way to satisfy golfers at all different levels, including professionals, which is obviously creating some success out there on the tour.”

Designed to provide expert performance training since its opening in 1991, the GPC features six hitting bays, a workshop, teeing areas, practice greens, a putting studio and a gym — plus a lineup of the latest technology, including Trackman Radar and GEARS 3D motion capture. “The sheer size of the GPC might be intimidating at first glance, but our goal is to make it a comfortable place for everybody, whether beginners, amateurs or touring professionals,” Allan says.

Brian Harman practicing on the driving range.

ASSESS FOR SUCCESS
For most pros, the first step after returning from a few weeks on the road is an assessment. Tom Hemmings, Golf Fitness Specialist and Elite Instructor, uses a combination of technologies to identify what a player needs to work on in their fitness regimen, in conjunction with their swing coach. “For example, the GEARS system can be used as a reference point for how they’re moving three-dimensionally,” he says. “Once we have the baseline, I’ll bring them into the gym and use a variety of devices and sensors to measure their range of motion at a joint, speed of movement or strength in a specific position. Then the performance variables come on top of that, if they’re trying to get stronger, increase stability or work on speed.”

What does an average week for a tour player look like at the GPC? Everybody’s different. “If you had to use the word average, it would be something like three to five workouts with their trainer and three to five practice sessions of an hour or two working on various elements of their game,” says Justin Parsons, Master Instructor, who notes that it might include two or three 18-hole rounds of golf as well. “Even in an off week, they’re trying to stay sharp, giving them the foundation to do what they do when you see them on television.”

Harris English training with Tom Hemmings.

Club fitting is another element of the GPC that pros take advantage of when they’re away from their regular tour trailer. “Everything we do aligns with our philosophy about instruction being holistic,” says Allan. “During the season, most of the work we do is associated with maintenance and small changes. In the off-season, you might see a little bit more testing of new products. Players appreciate being in a place where they can take their time and know how the ball is supposed to fly or react on the greens, taking tournament week variables out of the equation.”

Brian Harman has been on the PGA TOUR since 2012 and spent over a decade training at the GPC. Harman remarks, “There isn’t a season that has gone by that Craig Allan and the fitting staff haven’t helped me improve my game. The equipment has changed drastically in those 13 seasons, and my swing has changed, but the support from the fitting staff has not. I enjoy having an unbiased series of experts waiting for me at Sea Island when I’m ready to work on my equipment.”

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
One of the keys to the track record of success at Sea Island has been taking promising young players and accelerating their development with individualized programs. “Many of them played college golf in the Southeastern Conference or elsewhere in the Southeast, and because we’ve seen them grow up, we know their family structure, their desires and their capabilities,” says Randy Myers, Director of Golf Fitness and Master Instructor. “Some have been in our system for a dozen years or more, so those relationships are a core strength and we’re always looking to help them in any capacity we can.”

Professional Golf Club Fitting

Harris English represents a perfect example of that path. He grew up three hours west of Sea Island in Moultrie, Georgia, working with legendary Sea Island Instructor Jack Lumpkin in his early teens, as well as playing tournaments at Sea Island as a junior and during college at the University of Georgia.

“Sea Island was always on my list of places to move when I got done with college, and I’ve been here for 14 years now,” English says. “When we travel 25 to 30 weeks a year, it’s nice to be able to drive two or three minutes to work out, practice or play one of the three championship courses — knowing that I have some of the best experts at their position that I can bounce questions off of. Golf is an individual sport, but I feel like we have a team at Sea Island that’s working to make each other better and people who have the same passion and energy about this game that I do.”