1. An adequate amount of water
Do you get thirsty after a few holes without drinking water? When exercising, your body requires between 0.8-1.2 litres of water per hour (as suggested by the Australian Institute of Sport). This will also vary depending on: - The weather conditions - Your activity level - Your body size Minor dehydration can equate to poor focus, headaches and decreased strength. As we turn to the warmer months in Australia, you will need to monitor this even more closely.
2. Nutritious(!) snacks
Similarly to water intake, you should be eating consistently throughout your round. This is to ensure that you have good blood sugar control. Spikes and lows in blood sugar can cause rapid changes in your energy levels. Throughout your round you should consume foods with a low glycaemic index. This means that the food is burned slowly throughout your round. If you chew into a chocolate bar at the turn, you are likely to get a quick surge in energy followed by a lull. I question whether poor dietary choices are responsible for those mistakes a lot of golfers make towards the end of a round.. Imagine trying to close out the best round of your life when you are dehydrated, hungry and have low energy!
For snacks look at options such as fruits, nuts, trail mixes and protein bars.
3. Elastic tubing
If you are like most club golfers, you hit practice shots into the net, you pay your competition fees and walk onto the first tee with the hope of having the round of your life. Most players are lacking a warm-up routine that gets their body prepared for the round at hand. What you should do instead is take an elastic band with you to the course and perform five exercises i recommend. This will not only help you ‘loosen’ your body, it will also add 5 yards to every drive. Go to the ‘Education‘ page to download 5 yards in 5 minutes fact sheet. 4. Trigger point therapy ball (a golf ball will do)
Do your feet hurt after walking the course?Some courses require you to walk over 6km, and when you combine this with wet ground or hills, your body will feel the stress you have placed on it. The large number of steps you take at the course puts a high strain on your plantarfascia (as seen below).
It may be worth taking your shoes off after the round and giving your muscles some TLC. I would suggest rolling the bottom of each foot for 1 minute each with your golf ball.
5. Electrolyte sports drink
Unfortunately when you are sweating profusely and losing salts from your body, a bottle of water just won’t cut it. You need to be taking in vitamins and minerals which are used for vital bodily functions. You want to ensure that potassium, sodium and calcium is well balanced throughout and after your round to avoid performance pitfalls.
I recommend purchasing a low sugar sports drink which you can sip on throughout your round. Otherwise if you want an easier approach, you can add a pinch of mineral salts into a bottle of water as suggested by golf nutritionist Robert Yang in his book ‘Hole-In-One-Nutrition.’
In summary
Golf is hard enough, especially when you are not optimising your body. These small changes will add up to a noticeable overall effect. Try and do the simple things right, and you will be one step closer to better golf. Do you want to improve your golf performance? If you are in pain, if you want to hit the ball further or if you want to just play better golf - book a free call with me. Together we can discuss how to optimise your body for golf. I look forward to speaking with you.
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