Pre round nutrition

[GeneralStore]

Well done on your impressive improvement over 1 year. Nothing wrong with being dedicated and committed to something, everyone is different and get the best out of themselves in different ways. Your mindset is obviously right for you based on your progress.

On the food point, the only thing I would add to what has been said above is I believe its better to snack rather than have too much. Thats a personal thing. Our halfway house is really good and I have sometimes made the mistake of having too much (bacon, egg & sausage roll + large coffee) all at one go (thats after a breakfast at home) and that is coma-inducing as opposed to fuelling.
Dont even get me started on the carvery at some of the nicer courses. Goodnight nurse!

I normally have some eggs or fruit and yoghurt pre-round for breakfast and then munch on a packet of nuts all the way around along with 2 or 3 bottles of water, that works for me anyways. A banana is also good or a fruit and nut mix as opposed to just nuts.

Its not going to make you play like Seve, but it does make a difference. Have played without the food and I havent noticed a difference, but lack of water for me is a killer.

 

[User20205]

Have you tried Homers special coconut milk yet, he swears by it:thup:

I tried some, it looked like human breast milk, and tasted like dishwater.

 

[London mike 61]

In the early morning, a bowl of cereal with a banana and a couple of slices of marmalade toast ( but no butter ), carbs give sustained energy and the marmalade is a good quick release energy fix to get going with.

Late afternoon tee time, I would have a sandwich and a banana.

Mid round on both would be a small mars bar, and I always carry 2bottles of water in case 1 isn't enough

 

[Snelly]

Wrong, so very wrong!

Yes some people do have natural ability and can do what they like and still compete, but the majority don't. For the majority of people they have to work at things and golf being a sport that everyone works on all of the time, any gain can make a difference. You just have to look at the change in tour players over the last 15 yrs, the rise of the athletic golfer is here to stay. Along with that are the team of staff behind the scenes, why?................because any gain they can make is significant! Look at the guys on tour they can all swing a club, at the top the big difference is mental attitude, that’s what separates the winners from the losers.

Look at who has dominated golf:

Nicklaus
Player (A massive advocate for eating healthy and staying fit)
Palmer
Faldo
Ballesteros
Woods
McIlroy

Yes fatties win tournaments, but the athletic one’s consistently win more.

Now let’s talk about Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood, great players, but what do we usually say about them? Bottle merchants.......has diet and the mind then maybe got something in common, I think an argument could be made that it does.................especially when Westwood made the decision to get fitter to improve his golf!

He may not be on tour, but the opening poster is looking for ways to improve and nutrition is certainly a great avenue to start. Eating correctly and staying fuelled is the best way to keep focus. The mind is what separates the good golfers from the great golfers and how do you fuel the mind (not just books) by eating right. If you can keep focus for the full 18 holes I can guarantee your scores will come down.

Of course you may be happy going out and hitting a ball once a week with no intention of improving, just playing for the love of the game, that is perfectly reasonable. If however you wish to take it seriously and are looking at ways to improve. I would say apart from the obvious one, practice! Nutrition and fitness would be the next areas I’d look at to make improvements in your overall game.

Any discernible gain you can make is worth attempting as all the small gains add up to make one significant one!

You clearly know far more about golfing excellence than me so I will bow to your superior knowledge and experience.

Every day is a school day.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

In the early morning, a bowl of cereal with a banana and a couple of slices of marmalade toast ( but no butter ), carbs give sustained energy and the marmalade is a good quick release energy fix to get going with.

Late afternoon tee time, I would have a sandwich and a banana.

Mid round on both would be a small mars bar, and I always carry 2bottles of water in case 1 isn't enough

I'd want a nap after that lot!

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I'd go one further and say it was an affliction golfers are affected by which causes them to identify the wrong solution to a problem. For example...

Problem:I can't hit my driver straight
Real solution: Get a lesson and practice
Golfer's solution: Buy new driver

Problem: I can't putt
Real solution: Practice
Golfer' solution: Put fatter grip on putter

Problem: I get tired during a round
Real solution: improve fitness
Golfer' solution: Eat slow release food and drink fancy drinks

Hawkeye that is sooooooo spot on.

 

[Vmixture]

Hawkeye that is sooooooo spot on.

In some cases, maybe. Decent advice? yes. In this scenario? no.

 

[Conman85]

You clearly know far more about golfing excellence than me so I will bow to your superior knowledge and experience.

Every day is a school day.

It sure is mate! Tomorrow's lesson.........the meaning of the word fact :thup:

 

[turkish]

What about post round nutrition.... Since I've taken this game up every time I finish a round I'm starving and Craving fast food- often a quick stop at Maccy D's on the way home!!! Somehow I've still lost 5kg in the last month playing 2-3 rounds a week + practice

 

[Snelly]

It sure is mate! Tomorrow's lesson.........the meaning of the word fact :thup:

Delightful.

Looking forward to reading your reports on diet based handicap reductions and how pre-round nutrition has got you to single figures.

Seems so obvious now that you have explained everything. I am just a little bit surprised that this approach isn't more commonplace.

"Eat your way to scratch" has a great ring to it.

 

[MadAdey]

Why do people laugh at others saying about what to eat. If you have a 10 o'clock tee time then you are passing through breakfast and lunch and into the afternoon, so what is wrong with having something to eat? Do the same people to to work everyday and not eat anything until late afternoon? So what is wrong with someone wanting to eat whilst exerting energy.

if someone comes on the site, especially someone new and asks a question why don't people either answer it with respect or say nothing.

i always find 3 scrambled eggs on a couple of rounds of toast with orange juice is a good start to the day when going for a game.

 

[Oddsocks]

Eggs benedict......

We have a winner. Many a match won on this!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Why do people laugh at others saying about what to eat. If you have a 10 o'clock tee time then you are passing through breakfast and lunch and into the afternoon, so what is wrong with having something to eat? Do the same people to to work everyday and not eat anything until late afternoon? So what is wrong with someone wanting to eat whilst exerting energy.

if someone comes on the site, especially someone new and asks a question why don't people either answer it with respect or say nothing.

i always find 3 scrambled eggs on a couple of rounds of toast with orange juice is a good start to the day when going for a game.

No-one is saying that people shouldn't eat, everybody has to eat. The argument is that it doesn't matter what you eat. We are only playing golf at club level so there is no requirement to eat slow release energy foods and fancy drinks. Sure, eat breakfast or lunch, take a picnic on the course and eat something every hole, but let's not kid ourselves that we need "slow release" foods and coconut water (or the like) to improve our performance.

At the end of the day, if you eat crap all week, a banana and a granola bar isn't going to make a blind bit of difference half way through a round of golf. If you get hungry, eat something, but don't worry about what it is.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

In some cases, maybe. Decent advice? yes. In this scenario? no.

I know your a newbie and I'm apparently not allowed to disagree but you had one good round which probably would have happened anyway. I mean, you got from 25 to 16 without bothering too much about what you eat so shooting under handicap is hardly a surprise. Your improvement an good play is impressive for someone who's only been playing a year, but it is all to do with lessons and practice not what you eat.

 

[tsped83]

No-one is saying that people shouldn't eat, everybody has to eat. The argument is that it doesn't matter what you eat. We are only playing golf at club level so there is no requirement to eat slow release energy foods and fancy drinks. Sure, eat breakfast or lunch, take a picnic on the course and eat something every hole, but let's not kid ourselves that we need "slow release" foods and coconut water (or the like) to improve our performance.

At the end of the day, if you eat crap all week, a banana and a granola bar isn't going to make a blind bit of difference half way through a round of golf. If you get hungry, eat something, but don't worry about what it is.

Amen. Common sense prevails!

This thread is mind blowing. Hungry = eat food, who cares what. It's a round of golf, not an Iron Man event. Seriously people some of the tosh being spouted is unbelievable! We're amateur golfers for gods sake!

 

[Snelly]

No-one is saying that people shouldn't eat, everybody has to eat. The argument is that it doesn't matter what you eat. We are only playing golf at club level so there is no requirement to eat slow release energy foods and fancy drinks. Sure, eat breakfast or lunch, take a picnic on the course and eat something every hole, but let's not kid ourselves that we need "slow release" foods and coconut water (or the like) to improve our performance.

At the end of the day, if you eat crap all week, a banana and a granola bar isn't going to make a blind bit of difference half way through a round of golf. If you get hungry, eat something, but don't worry about what it is.

Well said Hawkeye. I totally agree and think you are absolutely right.

It is only average club golf. Eat whatever you want, whenever you want.

The thought that diet improves scores or reduces handicap to any meaningful extent is laughable and this forum is one of the few places in the golfing world where a suggestion like this would get any credibility.

To the OP, why not extend this thinking to other tweaks you could make to create infinitely small improvements? Have a massage before going out to play for example. A lot of the pros do so why not club golfers? Being fully relaxed on the first tee with no muscular problems or spasms could be the crucial difference between a perfect drive and a snap hook? Or ensure you are fully focused by listening to a sports psychologist on your iPod between shots? It could help. Carry a lucky rabbits foot? Copper bracelet?

All of the above is irrelevant to bringing the club back square at impact. You can either do it or you can't. Raisins or an isotonic drink make no difference.

As for needing mid round food to concentrate on a shot by the time you reach the 16th... Really? You must have a mind like a sieve.


We are talking about golf and golf of a pretty low standard at that. Unfit, middle aged white blokes wearing daft clothes and wandering around 18 holes. This is not triathlons or cycling sportives. If it were the latter, I would be in full agreement about the importance of the right food and drink.

 

[Conman85]

Delightful.

Looking forward to reading your reports on diet based handicap reductions and how pre-round nutrition has got you to single figures.

Seems so obvious now that you have explained everything. I am just a little bit surprised that this approach isn't more commonplace.

"Eat your way to scratch" has a great ring to it.

At what point did I say you could eat your way to scratch?! Only showing you either never read the post or didn't understand it?

The guy has come on asking about diet, how can he use it to help improve his golf and we are giving him options! Not stating facts that are total tripe.

Seems so obvious now that you have explained everything. I am just a little bit surprised that this approach isn't more commonplace.

It is look on the PGA tour

As for this argument we're only playing golf at club level, why don't we not bother practicing then? or better yet its just club level, how about we carry twenty clubs, since we're not really doing it for a living anyway. No point in having a range finder either as we are just club golfers and can't consistently hit our clubs the distance we want! I could go on and on............As stated the OP is looking for advice, he may take his golf more seriously than you do and wants to get 100% out of every area of his game - that's fine! Just as it's fine for people to eat big macs and play as they wish.

 

[North Mimms]

Before a round-
Absolute minimum- toast for breakfast.
Ideal- 2 poached eggs on toast at the Club.

Not recommended for me
An enormous fry up - I hate feeling bloated
Nothing to eat-I'd be chewing grass on the 6th tee if I went out on an empty stomach!

I wouldn't go 4 hours at home without a drink of something, so always have a wee bottle of water with me. A takeaway cup of tea at the turn is always welcome

 

[garyinderry]

my bag acts as a rolling tuck shop at times. none of your fancy dan health snacks. oh no. drinks, chocolate, sweets (many varieties) , lighters and papers. now buy something and GET OUT!!!

 

[Loz1607]

No-one is saying that people shouldn't eat, everybody has to eat. The argument is that it doesn't matter what you eat. We are only playing golf at club level so there is no requirement to eat slow release energy foods and fancy drinks. Sure, eat breakfast or lunch, take a picnic on the course and eat something every hole, but let's not kid ourselves that we need "slow release" foods and coconut water (or the like) to improve our performance.

At the end of the day, if you eat crap all week, a banana and a granola bar isn't going to make a blind bit of difference half way through a round of golf. If you get hungry, eat something, but don't worry about what it is.

Maybe people should look at what they eat all week as well??? If you spoke to a good sports nutritionist, they would tell you about how healthy clean eating promotes health and well being and in return can lead to great benefits in sports performance.

Westernised diets are a major cause of disease, too many cabs and not enough fresh veg and fruit are common problems. Would benefit from this not just for playing golf, but sleeping better, more alert mentally at work etc.