Caffeine and Your Golf Game

[Braivo]

This OT thread about butter and coffee got me thinking about caffeine and the way it impacts my performance on the course.

Personally, I love coffee and I drink a very large mug of french press coffee every morning.  I sip on it from 6am until noon or so.  I love the taste and ritual, and it helps me perform at work.  The drawback is that I am addicted to that morning coffee, if I don't have it I get a brutal headache.

When I comes to my golf game, I am reconsidering my caffeine use.  I tend to tee off at or before 7am on weekends, so the round runs straight through my coffee drinking window.  I usually drink my coffee as usual, right through my round, but I think it is negatively impacting my game during morning rounds.  I think the caffeine makes me a bit too jittery and tense, affecting me both physically and mentally.  I have noticed better scores when playing later in the day.  Also, lately, I have experimented with playing my morning round without coffee, also leading to better scoring, granted I have to start sipping some coffee on the back 9 to prevent a headache.

Does anyone else consciously time their caffeine use around their golf game?  Have you noticed caffeine having an impact on your scoring, positively or negatively?  In general, what is your experience with caffeine and how it relates to your golf game?

[Pretzel]

At the course I work and play at I get free soda so I usually tend to grab some Dr. Pepper when I'm paying. In tournaments I don't drink this and find no difference in how I feel while playing (besides the tournament first tee excitement). Dr. Pepper doesn't have much caffeine in it though, so it might not be am applicable comparison. Perhaps it has to do with the amount of caffeine you consume and whether or not you usually have it?

[whatwoodtigerdo]

This OT thread about butter and coffee got me thinking about caffeine and the way it impacts my performance on the course.

Personally, I love coffee and I drink a very large mug of french press coffee every morning.  I sip on it from 6am until noon or so.  I love the taste and ritual, and it helps me perform at work.  The drawback is that I am addicted to that morning coffee, if I don't have it I get a brutal headache.

When I comes to my golf game, I am reconsidering my caffeine use.  I tend to tee off at or before 7am on weekends, so the round runs straight through my coffee drinking window.  I usually drink my coffee as usual, right through my round, but I think it is negatively impacting my game during morning rounds.  I think the caffeine makes me a bit too jittery and tense, affecting me both physically and mentally.  I have noticed better scores when playing later in the day.  Also, lately, I have experimented with playing my morning round without coffee, also leading to better scoring, granted I have to start sipping some coffee on the back 9 to prevent a headache.

Does anyone else consciously time their caffeine use around their golf game?  Have you noticed caffeine having an impact on your scoring, positively or negatively?  In general, what is your experience with caffeine and how it relates to your golf game?

Make sure you keep something on your stomach. I usually eat something small in the morning and drink a 5 hour energy before my round and even after I eat a small breakfast if I don't eat something right after the 5 hour energy I get real shaky.

[scorpion12]

I've never really paid attention to caffeine and my golf game. I know I don't drink a lot of coffee. I have one cup in the morning on the way to work and that's it... my caffeine probably comes in from all the sweet tea I drink. Aside from that, I don't really notice positive or negative impacts of caffeine on my game. I don't get a caffeine headache if I go without it for a few hours.

[isukgolf]

I am a Monster drinker now (use to be a regular Dr Pepper guy) ... and will have a 16 or 24oz Monster on the way to the course in the morning ... I do not see any difference in my ability to shank it ... God I wish I could blame my poor play on caffeine ... I guess I have drank caffeine for almost 50 yrs that its not that big of impact to me. I know if my wife drank the same amount of caffeine as myself, she would not sleep for days ...

[Pretzel]

I know if my wife drank the same amount of caffeine as myself, she would not sleep for days ...

I have to think a lot of caffeine's effects depend highly upon the person. I know caffeine doesn't affect me much at all, whereas others I know will drink a Mountain Dew at 7 and be unable to sleep until 11.

[saevel25]

I never drink coffee before golf. I can get jittery and hyper from coffee from time to time, and that will kill my swing. I've had that happen before and it isn't pretty.

If anything I might take a Claritin D, which is a mild upper, to clear the sinuses which tend to make me more groggy than actually waking up early.

Besides that, a good breakfast is the way to go for me.

[Lihu]

Normally, one or two cups does not affect me, but once I drank the equivalent of 6 cups before a round and it did make me feel much more jittery.

Caffeine is one of those stimulants that builds up in your system. If you drink 2 cups for 6 months, you might find you need 3 to have the same effect. You need more and more of it. It goes on and on till you hit something like 15 cups a day. I have known many coffee drinkers who need 15 cups a day just to stay awake. At night, most of them have no problems sleeping. One of my aunts did say she needed to back off when she turned 60, so she could play tennis without needing to go to the ladies room every 15 minutes.

[jamo]

Caffeine tends to act as a bit of a mood buffer for me. I don't get as down when there's a bit more adrenaline running through me. I don't drink caffeine every time I play golf, nor do I go out of the way to drink caffeinated beverages when I'm playing golf, but it doesn't hurt.

[meenman]

I will never know, the only time I do not start the day with a monster rehad is when i am playing. Figure it wont mix well with the beer I will get during the first couple of holes.

[joekelly]

I'm pretty controlled on coffee intake. Only in am, mostly only my own. Sometimes take a carry away cup onto the golf ferry.  Kinda fun to hang on the stern and watch the sea roar bye, on the way to the golf island. But yes, sometimes i get jittery hands, which is most obvious with putter. And after 2 holes of play i certainly need to 'find a bush' and if i don't, then my golf game collapses.  And that' is not what i pay good money for, so no more ferry coffeys.

[mcanadiens]

Generally, I drink coffee from the time I wake up until dinner time and have for years. If I'm teeing off early, I'd probably miss the coffee if I didn't have it. On the rare occasions that I didn't have coffee, it didn't see to make much difference once I had time to properly wake up. An afternoon round wouldn't be any problem.

[NJpatbee]

I drink 2 cups of high test in the morning between 6 and 7AM and that is it for the day.  I am an afternoon golfer so the effects of the caffeine have subsided and I concentrate on a healthy earlly lunch before I play, but no caffeine.  Once I am past the wake up stage additional caffeine can make me jittery and keep me awake at night.  However, if I were a morning player, I would still need my 2 cups just to find the course.

[Braivo]

Quote:

Snedeker, who said he drops five to six pounds from his 6-foot-1-inch frame during major tournament weeks because of stress, added that he had tried playing practice rounds between swigs of caffeine- and taurine-rich Red Bull to simulate the jitters he feels when in contention. Dustin Johnson, one of the four 36-hole leaders here, said he liked to turn practice rounds during tournament weeks into money games, to raise the stakes and his heart rate.

So clearly I am training myself for Major Championship contention by chugging coffee during my round

[Lihu]

I drink 2 cups of high test in the morning between 6 and 7AM and that is it for the day.  I am an afternoon golfer so the effects of the caffeine have subsided and I concentrate on a healthy earlly lunch before I play, but no caffeine.  Once I am past the wake up stage additional caffeine can make me jittery and keep me awake at night.  However, if I were a morning player, I would still need my 2 cups just to find the course.

Pretty much how I am in the mornings. Sometimes, I can't even find my bag of clubs (usually right there in my hands), when unpacking the trunk. I'm not addicted to it, but it does help me get going.

I have also heard that caffeine in moderate amounts helps to stimulate your body to heal faster and perform better. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/caffeine_sports.htm