Tournament Day Workouts?

"I played yesterday afternoon and hit the ball amazingly better. Feel much better if I work out in the morning and then play rather than doing nothing before playing.  Felt like I just had that much more control over what my body was doing.  Sounds strange!  I just have to find the time to work out more in the season I think instead of less. What are your thoughts on this?"

That was an email from a golf pro that I train (that's not him above!), and it's a topic that is up for debate.  For him, we have absolutely moved towards tournament day workouts because he has had some incredible success with it.

The next week he had a 2 Day tournament, the Met PGA Head Pro Championship at Ardsley Country Club.  The first day, we didn't train because he had an early tee time and I had another client.  He shot 73 and was 4 strokes off the lead.  The next day, we got a workout in and he shot a 69 and came in 2nd.

One week later, he had a 1 day tournament and again we were able to get a workout in and again he came in 2nd.

Then two weeks ago, he asked me if we could go early (5:45!) since he had an earlier tee time in Long Island for a tournament and I received this email from him that afternoon:

"Hey - Thanks for this morning!  Shot 66 today, won by 4.  See you Wednesday."

This strategy is obviously working for him.

I am pretty excited for this Monday and Tuesday because he is playing in The Journal News Westchester Open at Brae Burn CC in Purchase, NY (very close to Five Iron Fitness).  We have scheduled a session for the morning on early Monday since his tee time is 9:30.  Ben Hogan won this tournament in 1940, along with a bunch of other great names, so there is a lot of history behind it.

Will I kill him in that session?  Absolutely not.

What I will do is our regular routine of mobility and stability work with some extra activation exercises, then a quick set of Medicine Ball circuits where he throws the ball against a wall in different positions.  If he is feeling good, I might do a quick set of strength exercises.

This is something that I would recommend experimenting with.  Don't do it before an important round unless you have tried it already.  Everyone is different so you really have to come up with your own plan for tournament day workouts.

I will keep you posted about his results Monday.