Golf Trips - Physical Preparation

[Denny Bang Bang]

I just returned from a long weekend golf trip, 4 rounds over 3 days.  Nothing crazy, pretty common trip for myself and I’m sure for a lot of golfers.  I did not do much physical preparation.  Had only played two rounds this year, one trip to the range, and barely used the Mevo+ in the basement this past month due to work being done in the house.  On top of not much “golf work”, I haven’t paid any attention to my general fitness for several months either.  Oh, and downing a 1/2 bottle of bourbon one night certainly wasn’t helpful haha.  You can all probably guess how it went, but I’ll indulge.  Rounds 1-3 were solid considering not much work put in prior.  Round 4 was a disaster, my body was just tapped out.

I have a big trip scheduled late May, which includes 10 rounds over 7 days.  Needless to say, time to get my rear in gear.  Going to focus on general fitness (strength training, core work, flexibility, cardio) and golf work (daily range or launch monitor time), while taking one rest day every week.  Will definitely put some focus into the smaller muscles in my upper back (serratus, teres, spinatus), the general area feels thrashed.

So… what do all of you do to physically prepare for a golf trip?

[iacas]

Nothing here yet. Didn't do anything to prepare for Sand Valley last year, for example.

[Denny Bang Bang]

5 minutes ago, iacas said:

Nothing here yet. Didn't do anything to prepare for Sand Valley last year, for example.

Do you stay on top of your physical fitness in general?  Would assume you hit balls year round on a regular basis.

I’m not familiar with Sand Valley, did you play quite a bit of golf?

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, Denny Bang Bang said:

Do you stay on top of your physical fitness in general?  Would assume you hit balls year round on a regular basis.

I’m not familiar with Sand Valley, did you play quite a bit of golf?

I don't know what you describe as "staying on top of my physical fitness in general." I'm active, I play soccer, I play and practice sometimes… and I go to the gym occasionally.

[boogielicious]

As an older player, I try and do something every day for general fitness and try to swing as often as possible. When I practice with video, I only hit 20-25 balls. With easy warm up swings, that’s maybe 40 swings. I’ve been doing Fit for Golf for a while and what I noticed is I don’t get fatigued in my core at all when I’m at the range.

I also do mobility stretching and yoga. Those sessions don’t take very long 10-15 minutes.

[saevel25]

On 3/15/2022 at 10:57 PM, Denny Bang Bang said:

So… what do all of you do to physically prepare for a golf trip?

I just try to be physically active year round. 

If it’s early in the season, I will try to hit the driving range a few times to get those muscles stretched and worked out. 

[ChetlovesMer]

On 3/15/2022 at 10:57 PM, Denny Bang Bang said:

So… what do all of you do to physically prepare for a golf trip?

I find that if I just stretch every day on the golf trips I can get 18 to 36 a day without any particular issues related to fitness. At my age, stretching does more for me than pretty much any other workouts. 

If you are looking for workout advise, I'd suggest talking to @RFKFREAK. Here's a clip of him working out before our last TST get together. 

[Denny Bang Bang]

2 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

If you are looking for workout advise, I'd suggest talking to @RFKFREAK. Here's a clip of him working out before our last TST get together.

Appreciate the suggestion, but no advice needed.  I have quite a bit of experience in the human performance realm (former high school and college athlete, a few years coaching at the college level, former gym rat).

When I stay on top of my general fitness, I don’t really have issues with most activities or sports (although some torn up ligaments and such can cause some pain after doing high impact activities e.g. skiing).  Which is of course why I am making that a priority before this trip.  And hopefully it sticks beyond the trip.

It seems to be the consensus so far that those who stay on top of their general fitness (whether intentional or not) don’t really put any extra effort into preparing for a big trip.  I’d be curious see if anyone does do something extra (e.g. play 36 holes two days in a row a few weeks out, or something like that).

[ChetlovesMer]

7 hours ago, Denny Bang Bang said:

Appreciate the suggestion, but no advice needed.  I have quite a bit of experience in the human performance realm (former high school and college athlete, a few years coaching at the college level, former gym rat).

It's okay, I was pretty much just ribbing my on my buddy. He's a good dude. 👍

7 hours ago, Denny Bang Bang said:

 I’d be curious see if anyone does do something extra (e.g. play 36 holes two days in a row a few weeks out, or something like that).

In truth I'd really like to do this, but it usually just isn't possible for me with my job and family obligations. Looking at my calendar I'm kinda thinking my very first round of the year will be during my upcoming trip. Which is probably not ideal, but man, work is crazy busy right now. Plus I've got some landscaping that has to be done in my yard and that's going to include me hauling around a half dozen yards of dirt, one wheelbarrow at a time. 💪

[boogielicious]

11 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

 

If you are looking for workout advise, I'd suggest talking to @RFKFREAK. Here's a clip of him working out before our last TST get together. 

Hair is not long enough.

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Hair is not long enough.

I guess your right. ... Gee, I really thought that was him.

[TourSpoon]

I make sure to bring the Advil. 

I don't do anything special for a golf trip, especially if I am playing frequently. Leading up I may play an extra 9 or 18 on a Saturday, but I don't know if the extra holes help. I think the key is that the golf muscles are being used versus not being used. It is not such a shock on the system if you are at least hitting balls on a regular basis and are physically active. 

The last trip I did was 6 rounds in 3 days and there was drinking going on at night. The first 36 was easy, the second day was Advil for the back and extra stretching, the third day was reaching deep, and the fourth day of no golf is recovery.  One factor was keeping hydrated with water during the entire trip. Once you get dehydrated you basically are done having a good time no matter how prepared you think you were coming into the trip. 

 

[RFKFREAK]

On 3/17/2022 at 7:57 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

I find that if I just stretch every day on the golf trips I can get 18 to 36 a day without any particular issues related to fitness. At my age, stretching does more for me than pretty much any other workouts. 

If you are looking for workout advise, I'd suggest talking to @RFKFREAK. Here's a clip of him working out before our last TST get together. 

😂

 

To answer the question, I just make sure to get to the gym 5x/wk and make sure my diet consists of mainly nutritious foods.

 Stretching is def helpful but I'm really neglectful of it post-training but def prioritize it before working out and before golfing.

[Denny Bang Bang]

On 3/18/2022 at 4:05 AM, ChetlovesMer said:

In truth I'd really like to do this, but it usually just isn't possible for me with my job and family obligations. Looking at my calendar I'm kinda thinking my very first round of the year will be during my upcoming trip. Which is probably not ideal, but man, work is crazy busy right now. Plus I've got some landscaping that has to be done in my yard and that's going to include me hauling around a half dozen yards of dirt, one wheelbarrow at a time. 💪

I’ve thought about it as well, kinda like building up to longer distances for a marathon runner.  But I have the same time constraints between family and work.

On 3/18/2022 at 1:48 PM, TourSpoon said:

I make sure to bring the Advil. 

I don't do anything special for a golf trip, especially if I am playing frequently. Leading up I may play an extra 9 or 18 on a Saturday, but I don't know if the extra holes help. I think the key is that the golf muscles are being used versus not being used. It is not such a shock on the system if you are at least hitting balls on a regular basis and are physically active. 

The last trip I did was 6 rounds in 3 days and there was drinking going on at night. The first 36 was easy, the second day was Advil for the back and extra stretching, the third day was reaching deep, and the fourth day of no golf is recovery.  One factor was keeping hydrated with water during the entire trip. Once you get dehydrated you basically are done having a good time no matter how prepared you think you were coming into the trip. 

 

Yea, Advil definitely helps during the trip.

One trip to AZ I went pretty hard one night drinking in Old Town, combined with that dry heat… extremely difficult to rehydrate.  And I thought UT was dry, lesson learned.