Palm Harbor Gyms and Fitness

After a $1.8 million makeover in 2007, Largo Golf Course invites visitors to cruise down its lush new fairways and attack reworked greens while gunning for a par of 62. The executive course includes 8 par 4s and 10 par 3s, adding up to a total distance of 3,335 yards from the back tees. Between strokes, players cruise in an electric cart, which provides a smoother ride than a dogsled pulled by the most committed caddies.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-62 course
• Total length of 3,335 yards from the back tees
• Two sets of tees per hole

With a successful career as a golfer and a coach that earned him a 2011 induction into the U.S. Golf Teachers Hall of Fame, Mike Stevens draws from a lifetime of experience to foster golf-game improvement in his clients. Mike’s custom, six-week golf training program—the flagship curriculum for his On Target Golf Schools—uses a biomechanics-based understanding of the golf swing to help students hit the ball farther and straighter without having to sell their soul for a corked 3-wood. Mike enhances lessons with the competitive insight gleaned from his continued success in tournaments, including a 2011 victory at the Copperhead Cup in Tarpon Springs. In addition to his six-week course, Mike offers clinics designed for kids and one-on-one lessons for those who want more private counseling.

Wendy O’ Lenic, the Wendy of Wendy Fit, began her professional dance career in 1979 with a Vegas dance review. Over the years, her passion for movement evolved and found a new life in yoga. Her curriculum covers various disciplines including yoga, Pilates, and meditation. Within the earth-green walls of her studio, Wendy and her staff lead students through group classes, private and semiprivate personal training sessions, and specialty courses such as ballet core and kettlebell. Once annually, the studio co-sponsors a yoga cruise so that students can practice their moves in fresh air and catch views of dolphins doing planks.

Chicago's only official studio for Fletcher Pilates, Helios Center for Movement sculpts students of all ages and skill levels with muscle-challenging Pilates sessions that earned it the Chicago Reader's award for Best Pilates Studio in 2010 and 2011. The Fletcher Pilates schedule of classes includes Pilates mat sessions that engage limbs and cores with a posture-firming regimen that utilizes towel work alongside floor exercises, boosting lung capacity to wind-tunnel levels with the style's signature percussive-breathing techniques. Promoting a balance from crown to anklet, On the Ball sessions challenge minds and bodies by forcing students to file their tax returns while stretching and flexing atop a stability ball, and Pilates Sculpt incorporates small weights into a series of barre and spinal exercises in order to strengthen muscles. The studio's impassioned instructors cap class attendance at 10 students to ensure that each pupil receives personalized attention and a unique nickname.

In the heart of Aptos Village, Joy of Movement Pilates & Gyrotonic Studio fosters physical and emotional health through personal Pilates sessions, mat classes, and machine-based workouts. As one of 100 Pilates Method Alliance Gold-Certified Pilates instructors worldwide, owner Jennifer Balboni leads the studio's team to utilize their unique backgrounds in dance, massage therapy, and yoga to motivate students as they execute total-body toning moves. Reformer classes feature a low 3:1 student-to-teacher ratio to ensure each reformer receives the attention they need. In addition to strengthening mind and body in tandem, the green-certified studio supports sustainable living with green practices such as recycling, efficient lighting, and water conservation.

The physician-led programs at Club Reduce approach weight loss via two holistic approaches that are informed by science. Comprehensive programs may spring fully grown from the cranium of Zeus or from one-on-one consultations, during which practitioners may send samples of clients’ saliva or hair to the lab for analysis that will reveal hormone imbalances, or they might direct clients to input their diet into a computer system that will highlight vitamin deficiencies. These programs target personal obstacles to slimming down, such as hormone irregularities and sugar dependency, and may be tailored to relieve chronic headaches or allergies or restore health to lackluster skin. The second path sidesteps regimes in favor of three discreet, relaxing treatments that aim to noninvasively jumpstart the metabolism and catalyze natural detoxification processes.