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With The 152nd Open Championship about to get underway, we wanted to look into the world of golf to identify what it takes to prepare for a golf tournament. Many of the world's best athletes are about to compete on our screens over the next week, so what better time to look into tournament golf routines?
Origin equipment will stock the professional player's gyms of both the men's and women's tournaments allowing us to get the inside scoop on what the professionals get up to during the week. We wanted to pass on some of this knowledge to aspiring pro golfers preparing fully for their own next tournament.
Our team on the ground will be working closley with the players at this years tournament so we wanted to give you the best insights into getting the most out of your golf game before that next big tournament. We'll look at mental preparation, nutrition, fitness routines, and the importance of sleep.
Fitness Routines
Tournament mode is the last place that you'd think about hitting a PR in the gym, and you'd be right. This isn't the time to be maxing out your one rep max or building speed for a long drive competition.
However, a regular gym routine is good for keeping the body in working order and is commonly used before rounds by the world's best golfers to get the blood flowing, muscles pumping, and get the body moving.
Most golfers will use some kind of stretching routine and weights session to get their body into gear before a round kicks off. This is one of the reasons why preparing for a round can take a bit of time as it involves stretching and warming up before even heading out onto the course.
Typical tournament weeks should involve no more than 2-3 gym sessions maximum, with heavier workouts completed at the start of the week. As the week progresses time should be allocated to lighter activities such as functional training with wall balls, medicine balls, and doing mobility work.
Over multi-day tournaments keep gym work to a minimum besides warming up before a round or cooling down. This isn't the time to be squeezing in a last-minute Powerlifting session.
Finding the right routine during tournament weeks can be tricky, but starting the day with stretching, mobility, and flexibility work is a good idea to get the body moving. If the course has a gym available move into a lightweight workout session to get the body moving.
This could involve light squats, benching, and dynamic exercises that simulate the golf swing and get the body ready to fire. It should take no more than 30-45 minutes, before moving into round-specific warmups like putting and the range. This is just about getting the body and mind into a place ready to perform.
When training for golf a mixture of mobility and weight training sessions is best to improve your game. Strength training will provide the power while the mobility work will keep the swing solid. Using equipment such as the Impulse Multifuntional Cable Machine are great for this reason .
Sedentary lives are now more common for the aspiring amateur which is why this type of work can improve a golf game. If you're looking for a more in-depth training option Golf Digest or My Golf Spy have some great routines that will help your game.
During the season gym time will be limited for most of us, so getting the most out of our time in the gym is key. Sessions should be built around maintaining any off-season gains and periodising workouts around big tournaments.
While time might be limited to dedicate to the gym, the best approach is finding balance, avoiding injury, and working on areas that will improve your golf swing.
Mental Preparation
Regular rounds of golf can be a relaxing pursuit when nothing is on the line, but adding a bit of pressure into the mix can really impact players who don't have the right mental approach. Physical aspects of the game such as technique and swing should of course be up to scratch before entering a tournament, but the right mental game is what separates the amateur from the elite.
When it comes to mental preparation being resilient and mentally strong is vital. During a tournament, there will be pressure moments and game situations where learning to maintain composure and block out the noise will be the key to success.
Learning positive self-talk so that you don't beat yourself up is a must after a bad shot or break and being able to do this in difficult moments can go a long way to keeping you steady through a round. Another great idea is to learn breathing techniques that lower the heart rate as this can allow you to maintain composure in difficult moments.
This can also allow you to be present in the moment without getting overwhelmed which is why it's a favourite among tour pros. Don't expect to be laser-focused for five hours straight during a round either, have fun while you play but when it's your turn to play the shot dial in with 100% attention to your routine.
Controlling stress levels takes practice but it will allow you to play your best golf. It will enable you to keep composure through a round so that swing, tempo and strategy remain consistent without change.
Mental preparation is different for everyone meaning there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this area. Practical tips like these are a great starting point but as golf is a highly unique sport a mixture of trial and error is best to identify which aspects will work best for your game during a tournament.
Devise a plan
Practice makes perfect, but planning will roadmap what needs to be done when planning for a tournament. It's important to identify early on where time needs to be allocated during the week to reduce stress.
Being in the middle of the golfing season isn't the time to be making big changes to your golf game, but having a plan in place for how you will approach the next tournament whether the last one went well or not can go a long way to setting your mind at ease and making the week go smoother.
Briefly sitting down to understand what to work on will inspire confidence for the week. It might be that on revisiting the last performance it's obvious that time is needed on the putting green should be revisited that week or chipping could do with more focus before the next tournament.
If possible, try to scope out the venue or play a practice round at the next venue, especially if it's a course that hasn't been played before. If this isn't feasible use Google Earth to map out the course or use YouTube to gauge the course layout so you know where to play shots, understand green speeds, and most importantly where not to miss.
Depending on the type of courses being played, it might be that different equipment is needed. Say the course is more links-based, using longer irons that keep the ball flight lower to the ground and checking that the bounce on wedges is suitable for the course can go a long way to helping you perform the best on the day.
Lastly, having a solid plan for the tournament days is key, revisiting nutrition, warmups, and processes for the day. Working out routines will keep you grounded and stop nerves or emotions from getting the best of you on the day. It offers a safety net for settling you into the day before going out to play.
Diet
While John Daley might smoke two packets and drink 12 diet cokes a round, this is not advisable for 99.9% of players in the world. Golfers are fortunate they don't need to follow a strict diet as part of the sport but to maintain peak performance during tournaments some staple foods should be consumed.
Most tournament rounds take place over multiple days with tee times usually starting in the morning. Consuming food sources that will provide a clean source of calories, replace lost nutrients, and help fuel them over a round is vital. Having a diet that includes the following items would be a good idea:
Pre-Round:
During the Round:
Post-Round/Recovery:
Fluids:
Sweet Treats:
Importance of Sleep
Not only does poor sleep affect the ability to perform it will negatively impact recovery, health, and wellbeing. Subpar sleep will impact on-course performance by impairing cognitive ability and lowering focus.
Anything less than 6 hours will negatively impact performance, however, everyone has different sleep requirements so take this with a pinch of salt. Ultimately we suggest aiming to get anywhere between 6-8 hours of sleep, which is most optimal for on-course performance.
Life will get in the way but where possible try to keep a consistent sleep schedule getting up and going to bed at around the same time. This will make getting good quality sleep much easier and keep your body in the same sleep pattern routine.
This is especially true during tournament weeks when things can get busy and emotions will be at their highest. Lastly, avoid or limit caffeine use around 8 hours before going to bed. This will give it enough time to leave your body making falling asleep much easier.
Conclusion
Rounding out this blog we hope that this post has given you a bit more insight into the next steps to take to prepare for that next big tournament. Mid-season isn't the time to be making massive changes to your gameplan but it is a good time to tweak and build on previous experiences to improve for the future. If you'd like to speak with a member of our team then get in touch with us today on +44 333 2000 750 or email us at [email protected].
