important competitive round, playing your best starts before you arrive at the golf course.  Our busy lifestyles aren’t always conducive to productive preround prep, but a few simple things will give you the best opportunity to play your best.

Check your equipment

• Do you have enough golf balls, tees, and a glove.
• Do you have a dry towel.
• What is the weather going to be? Do you need to pack your umbrella and rain suit or a sweater for changing weather.

Fuel and hydrate

A typical round of golf will burn 1000-2000 calories.  To maintain mental and physical energy you need to eat high energy food and stay hydrated.  A preround hotdog and beer may be tradition but what you choose to eat, and drink can have a big impact on how well you play. 

• Before playing a meal that combines carbohydrates, healthy fats, and protein will give you long term energy to get your round started off well.
• During the round eat snacks like, nuts, raisons, protein bars, or fruit. Avoid food with high sugar.
• Hydration starts well before you play. Water is best method of hydration.  If you need a little flavor for your water add some sea salt or drink water with electrolytes.  Avoid sports drinks with too much sugar or caffeine.
• Drinking 4 ounces of water per hole is recommended to stay hydrated.

Warming up properly

There is a difference between practice and warming up.   Practice is to maintain and improve your skills.  Warming up is the process to get your body ready to move and having some confidence before you start the round.

• Spend several minutes stretching your shoulders, hips, hamstrings and back.
• Range time – start with small swings with wedges and work into full swings with irons and the driver. A great way to end a warmup session is to visualize the first hole or two you are going to play and hit the anticipated clubs you will use on those holes.
• Putting green – the main purpose of going to the putting green prior to playing is to get a feel for the speed of the greens. Find a spot on the green and hit putts of 30 feet going in both directions.  This will allow you to calibrate the length and pace for your putting stroke.  Also, hit some 3-5 foot putts to gain confidence in the ball going into the hole.

Have a plan

• If you are familiar with the course you are playing, mentally go through each hole and think about the best strategy to for that hole. Think about aim points to avoid out of bounds, penalty areas, and bunkers.
• If it is your first time playing a course, a great way to prepare is to look at the course on Google Earth. Combined with the scorecard you can get a great feel the shape and width of holes, where hazards are and develop a strategy.

What you do before your round can have a big impact on the way you play.  Give yourself the best opportunity for success!