Developing and Maintaining Endurance for Golf
Endurance is a critical component of playing the best golf game you can. Any lack of endurance in your body usually becomes apparent somewhere on the back nine when you start to feel tired, less focused, and unable to maintain proper posture during your swing. You will often find that your putting goes awry as well and you may also become quite hungry (a distraction, to say the least). Golf-specific endurance must be consciously developed to meet the numerous physical and mental demands of golf. Fortunately, by focusing on just a few key areas any golfer can increase his or her endurance for a round of golf, whether competition, tournament or just friendly play. The bottom line is that your score will thank you!
By Pritam Andreassen, NSCA-CPT
NUTRITION
Properly fueling your body is the easiest way to increase your stamina. Please do not rely on the snack bar at the turn; fatty, excessive protein or carbohydrate-laden foods will not help your golf game. Pack snacks for yourself that support keeping your body and brain focused, sharp and strong for 4-5 hours. You can never pack enough food—better to have too much than too little, but remember you don’t have to eat it all. Try these ideas for munchies: nutrition bars (there should be no high-fructose corn syrup listed anywhere on the label), nuts (no more than a handful—nuts are quite high in calories, but are great in small quantities), fruit, low-fat string cheese, peanut butter sandwich on whole-grain bread, cut up veggies with hummus and, of course, water. Remember, small frequent snacks are better than one big meal. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, soda and anything loaded with sugar (this includes a lot of sports drinks—read the labels carefully).
STRENGTH
The stronger your muscles are the better they can support your golf swing technique throughout the round and the less you will feel fatigue from walking. It doesn’t matter whether you lift weights, practice yoga or do Pilates, but whatever it is that works for you, please incorporate 30 minutes, 2-3 times per week of some sort of full-body strengthening work into your routine if you have not already. Not motivated? Consider this—as you age, your body will wear out and an injured golfer is an unhappy golfer. Greater muscle strength helps to prevent injuries and keep you golfing longer. Now, you may be wondering if walking the course helps build and maintain endurance. Yes, if you do it at least three times per week. If you can’t do that regularly, make sure to fit workouts in instead. Certain types of cardiovascular activity will also benefit your golf game, such as walking hills or doing incline intervals on the treadmill, but not as a substitute for developing and maintaining muscle strength. However, the bottom line is that any sort of exercise off of the golf course is better than none.
FOCUS
Your mind has to be in this just as much as your body. Stepping onto the course carrying any sort of stress or negative emotion will detract from your ability to focus on your game (of course, golf can be a source of plenty of negative emotion as well), so before you tee off take a minute or two to take slow, even breaths and let go of any stress you might be carrying with you. While playing, keep your thoughts on your game, your surroundings and the present moment as much as possible. Take a second before each shot or putt to consciously relax and take a deep breath. Avoiding alcohol and caffeine will help you maintain your mental clarity. Also, make every attempt to put golf-induced frustration behind you as soon as possible or your game may really suffer. Above all, relax, enjoy and have a good time! It’s just golf!
Pritam Kirstine Andreassen is the owner of The Strength Connection, LLC, specializing in functional strength applications for golf and life. She can be reached at 206-579-8927 or visit
www.strengthconnection.com.
