Too often I hear that golfers don’t have enough time to prepare prior to their round. To me, the fact you would invest 4-5 hours to play golf but not spend 15 minutes preparing surprises me. Don’t get me wrong, I know that your time is precious, but wouldn’t you want to give yourself every chance of playing well?
I can assure you, investing a small amount of time prior to your round will reap a return.
Fill your bag
Before leaving the house you should load up your bag with adequate fluids and nutritious foods. There is plenty of research to suggest that dehydration and hunger can lead to poor focus, confusion and ultimately poor decision making. Try closing out a personal best round with that going on..
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) recommends consuming roughly one litre of water per hour of activity to avoid dehydration. This amount obviously changes depending on the climate, so you may need more or less water depending on where you are playing. I also like to recommend carrying an electrolyte fluid. You can do this by buying a typical sports drink, or simply by adding mineral salts to your water bottle (this obviously doesn’t taste as good).
So what about eating habits? Well simply put, if you are getting hungry at golf, you aren't doing it right. The key is to maintain sufficient energy throughout your game without spikes and falls in your blood sugar level. In Robert Yang's book ‘Hole in One Nutrition’ he makes reference to this idea. If your energy is unstable then your golf may be too. To avoid this, Robert suggests having foods with proteins, fats and fibre. Rob suggests products such as beef jerky, trail mixes and fruits to snack on throughout your round.
Kick-start your body
Do you slam your foot on the accelerator of your car as soon as the engine turns on? Probably not. So with that being said, you should also stop walking onto the first tee without a decent golf warm-up. The concept of a warm-up is misconceived by a lot of golfers.
I like to think of the warm-up doing three things
1. Increasing movement in any restricted joints or muscles
2. Activating and preparing ‘golf muscles’ for their work of the day
3. Stimulating your nervous system so that your coordination and sequencing is on point from the first shot
It’s not uncommon that players skip this important process, and it’s not uncommon for many golfers to play poorly in their opening holes. I wonder why?
Clear the mind Giving yourself a set period of time before each game does great things for your body, but also for your mind. There is a calming effect of being well prepared. You can probably recall of a day being late for a tee time and having no idea where the first shot is going. Like Jack Nicklaus and many other greats say, golf is played mainly between your ears so you want to ensure your mindset is positive. There are many great resources to feast your eyes on if you struggle with your mental game. One of my favourite books is ‘Be a Player’. The authors Lynn and Pia give you many great examples of how you can trial and test what techniques work for you.
In summary, spare yourself a few extra minutes before your next game to get prepared, your body, mind and scores will thank you for it. Do you want to play your best golf possible? Book an assessment with me If you want to move better, feel better and play better click the link below. Book in for your in-person or online consultation now to play your best.
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