In today’s Monday Mulligan we’re going to look at 4 steps to deal with the heat in summer junior golf tournaments. Your junior golfer is going to play in a lot of tournaments where it is just plain hot! Embrace the summer tournaments, even when it is very hot.
Here we go:
Step 1: hydrate properly. Your youngster hopefully has established the good habit of drinking plenty of pure, clean water every day. Three days before a hot weather event, S3 starts drinking extra water, mainly sipping/drinking water all day long, not to a point of discomfort, just steadily throughout his waking hours. All golfers need to be constantly drinking water during their hot weather rounds. The ill effects of dehydration can be life-threatening at worst and lead to poor mental decisions and poor shot-making during a round.
Step 2: eat properly before and during the round. Load some carbs and healthy fats 48-72 hours prior to teeing off. Eat a good meal before teeing off. For nutrition during play we use fruit snacks, peanut butter crackers, beef jerky (non msg) or a pbj cut into 4 pieces.
Step 3: dress appropriately. Light-colored breatheable wicking fabrics make all the difference n the world in comfort. Our family rarely wears cotton shirts/tops any more. The comfort level of the new high-tech fabrics is absolutely amazing! Long pants are pretty much worn during cooler weather.
Step 4: set a positive mental attitude. When Sammie was 5 years old he said to me, “Dad, it’s really going to be hot playing golf today.” To reset his attitude, I said, ” Son, we live in South Texas and you are going to play more tournaments when it is 90-degrees or hotter than you will in cooler weather. We will work as a team to prepare you to be comfortable in the heat and play well in it.” He said, “OK, Dad.” And that was the end of the discussion. We implanted these 4 steps plus some additional factors which we will get into later this week.
Enjoy your hot weather golf! Proper preparation makes for an enjoyable time!
See you on #1 tee… Sam
