Knowing what to eat before golf

Hi All,

Looking through this thread one thing that comes to mind when talking about golf fitness is what you should eat before and during the game. The reason I am commenting on this, is that I played on Wednesday this week and while all my mates had a belly buster breakfast of bacon, eggs & the works, I decided to have the continetal one (ie. cereal, toast and fruit). I also had taken a few ceral bars, 2 water and 3 bananas for during the round.
Now you might say so whats your point. Well I noticed by the 11th tee my mates all started to feel tired and though it might sound funny to blokes, they had bad burps with tasting of their breakfast again. Also I noticed that one of my mates lost concentration on putts and was 3 to 4 putting on occasions. Were as me, I felt great and apart from feeling hungry at the 9th tee but 2 bananas cured that. My game was in great condition especially my short game. As on average my puts for the day was around 1.6 with me having some great long putts.

Just thought I share that info with you as the next time I am out I will be going for the healthy option again to see if my game improves because of what I eat before hand.
Cheers
Mark

Hey Mark,
First let me commend you on making healthier choices in your diet. You have made a great choice in making breakfast healthier. I'm wondering if you are eating too much during a round. Strictly from a calorie standpoint each banana is about 100 calories. Each cereal bar (I'm averaging the amounts) is about 130 calories. So you are taking in about 500 calories per round. Now even if your walking, and at a rapid pace you probably aren't buring nearly that many calories per round. I have been playing early morning rounds pre-breakfast for about 2 months. I've been able to lose about 13 pounds by increasing my daily walking milage and cutting down on my breakfast. I would love to see a study done on energy expenditures while playing golf. Or if golfers needs to eat during a round and if that increases performance. If anyone has results of such a study I would be very interested in it.

Hi,

Roughly a round of golf walking requires approx 1700 cals plus you have your own individual Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) to add on for the day. This is dependant on the amount of muscle you have as apposed to fat but lets say the average person (regular golf palyer/resonabley healthy) will be 1600-1800 cals per day. Therefore if you play golf 4-5 hours - that day you will require 3300-3600 calories of which 1700 will need to be consumed by the end of the round.

The issue is more to do with blood sugar levels and the effect this has on the decisions you make in the last third of your round - blood sugar tends to feed the brain if you like. Do you pull that 5 iron in a cross wind or do you lay up?

Also check out the new stuff on Glycemic loading - too much sugar intake has your blood sugar levels leaping up and down throughout the round but try foods witha low GI to keep those fluctutations to a minimun.

Hope this helps.

This is an important but neglected topic indeed. Many golfers tend to sit down and eat halfway (after the 9th hole) and a light snack would be best. Notice how other athletes eat bananas during break time? Water intake is also important. The bigger picture also includes vitamins and minerals if you don't have a balanced diet...

You can't talk about golf and what you eat without including the most important calorie intake...The empty calorie. What's a round of golf without the important snickers bar and the even more important beer.

Did I mention beer.

Of course this is a joke, but don't forget the beer.

a little wine might help... but just a glass or two only.