Instruction
MORE EXAMPLES:
Winter (minimum):
> 100lb person should be consuming 50 ounces of
water per day.
> 150lb person should be consuming 75 ounces of
water per day.
> 200lb person should be consuming 100 ounces of
water per day.
being fully hydrated, getting good quality sleep, and eating good
quality foods should be more than enough to fuel a junior golfers
mind and body.
The last thing you want to do is amplify the effects of playing
under pressure (nerves and jitters) by consuming excessive
caffeine. The best thing you can drink to perform for golf is good
old fashioned H2O.
SLEEP
> 100lb person should be consuming 75 ounces of water
per day. Sleep is the foundation of recovery. It’s at the base of the pyramid
shown in the initial image. There simply is no way around
overcoming lack of sleep. And before you’re out of your teenage
years, you still require more sleep than the average adult – age
14-17 should be getting 7-9 hours sleep per night.
> 150lb person should be consuming 113 ounces of water
per day. 4 tips to get the best nights sleep possible before
game-day:
> 200lb person should be consuming 150 ounces of water
per day. 1) No screens (TV or phones) 30 min before going to sleep
(blocks melatonin release).
2) Set the thermostat to 68* right before bed.
3) Make the room as dark as possible (light is a stimulus).
4) Track backward to fi gure out what time you need to be asleep
to get your 8hrs in.
Summer (minimum):
http://www.golfplusmonthly.com/subscribe
Caffeine is used in a lot of sports as a performance enhancing
drug. Some TOUR players will consume a small amount of
caffeine even on tournament days. But it is unlikely in the
amounts above 100mg of caffeine. Do any of the following side
effects of excessive caffeine sound like something you want on
the golf course?
> ANXIETY
> JITTERS
> INCREASED NERVOUSNESS
> DIURETIC
> MENTAL CRASH AND PHYSICAL FATIGUE
> INCREASED BLOOD PRESSURE
> DIGESTIVE ISSUES
The body naturally produces cortisol early in the day to wake
you up, and it slowly declines throughout the day. Melatonin is
produced in the late evening as your body recognizes night time
approaching to help calm the body allowing for sleep.
Looking at screens late at night fools your brain into thinking it’s
still day time and will not as effectively produce this melatonin,
affecting your sleep.
Drinking too much caffeine both early in the day and especially
later in the day forces your body to produce adrenaline hormones
such as cortisol. This then interferes with the natural lowering of
cortisol in the evening and production of melatonin, resulting in
diffi culty sleeping.
Final words
How much is “excessive” caffeine on tournament day? I would
consider anything over 100mg too much caffeine before a round
of golf. See below for an idea of caffeine content in popular
beverages:
How much caffeine is okay for junior golfers? Anyone under the
age of 18 should not be experiencing the stress or lack of sleep
that warrants any amount of caffeine. The longer you can prolong
caffeine consumption the better. The natural energy felt from
14
GolfPlus Junior March-April 2020
You’ll often hear the argument “what about _____ who smoked
cigarettes, drank soda, and ate poorly but won multiple times on
TOUR?”. My answer is that there’s always going to be outliers,
and this is not the case with 99.9% of elite golfers. To compete
on the biggest stage against the best in the world, do you think for
one second every single one of them isn’t going to do anything
they can to get an edge on the competition? It starts by optimizing
the big three for improved performance, increased recovery, and
better results.