Golf Fitness
Developing great golf fitness involves way more than a candy bar and energy drink on the tenth tee. Having good fitness for golf falls into four main areas.
- physical
- biochemical
- mental
- emotional
When you understand that concept, you are taking an important step towards developing the kind of golf game that brings you great enjoyment.
Physical Fitness
You don’t need to be a bodybuilder to have the proper strength and muscle tone to play good golf. You do need to have enough muscle power, however, to hit shots from deep rough, climb steep hills and maintain stamina over the last three or four holes.
Along with strength, good fitness for golf means you have to remain flexible enough to complete a full backswing and generate enough clubhead speed to produce shots of adequate length.
There is also a mental freshness that occurs when we are in reasonable physical shape. For me, to help keep that physical and mental edge, I have a short-n-sweet daily routine of ten pushups and one-hundred cycles on our step machine. Then a few times a week my wife, dog and I do a rather brisk two-mile walk in about forty-five minutes.
For a more golf-focused workout that will get you in shape, there are several really good golf exercise and fitness videos available. There are also some excellent books that are very reasonably priced.
Biochemical Energy
Our bodies are really chemical, biological and physical machines operating within fairly narrow limits. As such, we require a continuing and lasting form of chemical replacement for the energy we expend playing golf… or just being alive.
We can get a quick burst of good tasting energy from a cup of coffee and candy bar, but a more efficient and longer lasting energy supplement or electrolyte-filled energy drink will give longer lasting results. And even taste good, too.
Mental Clarity
Our ability to think clearly and logically can become seriously affected as we become physically tired or exhausted. For instance, when our muscles tire or our body lacks internal energy it becomes likely that we might neglect an important step in our pre-shot routine or fail to factor in wind speed and direction.
Similarly, if our mind is clouded with outside mental issues (i.e. thinking about jobs, school or car problems) our lack of mental focus can directly affect golf strategy and shot execution.
Emotional Fitness
There should be a new rule in golf.
If you throw a club in anger or frustration you must throw it far enough that it isn’t able to be found or, if you do find it, you can’t use that club again in that round.
Fits of anger over a bad shot really represent an extreme display of selfish pride. You are really saying, “I’m too good to hit that kind of shot!”
Not only to those emotional tantrums disrupt your own golf-focus, they are also disturbing and disrupting to your playing companions. Although I must admit, those “hissy-fits” do make for great stories at work the next day.
Similarly, reacting over emotionally to an unexpected birdie can also disrupt your own emotional focus and tend to be a bit bragging to your playing partners.
Golf IS an emotional game. There is a fine line between too much emotion (either positive or negative) and too little. Every golfer is different, but there are certainly limits that you need to live within, both to keep you own game sharp and to be fun to play with.
