I Thought I Was in Good Shape For Golf!

/ The Grateful Golfer

Every once in a while, I do an activity and realize that I am not in good athletic condition as I thought. Two nights ago, I was invited to curl on a competitive team.  We used this game as practice for a future tournament because I am not a curler, but dabble in the sport from time to time.

Serge, the Skip (or team captain) and I are friends and he invited me to join the Military Base team to compete in Regionals next week, so the game two nights ago was a great opportunity to hone (practice and learn) my curling skills. We were matched against the toughest team in his competitive league and played them to a draw (I was very happy). I had talked about golf Regionals before and curling Regionals are the same concept. Anyway, back to being in good shape.

Since my being diagnosed with cancer in 2009, I have embarked on a journey of well-being that included physical activity every day (or I try to every day). As the years passed, I found that remaining active was important to remaining healthy (sleep, proper diet, and reduced stress being the other three important points). Well, after the first end of curling I realized that my physical activity needs stepping up.

Curling, in this league, consists of 8 ends. A team of four throw 2 rocks each per end. As the lead player on the team, I do a majority of sweeping. I can honestly say, my technique is not the best, so I expend a great deal of energy sweeping the rock. To be a great sweeper, being physically fit is a must and I can honestly say that I overrated my physical prowess. As you can see from the video, it looks pretty easy, but there is a fair bit of science to sweeping a curling rock.

Let me tell you it is anything but easy. After the first two rocks I swept, I realized that my physical conditioning was not near to the level in needed to curl and for that matter to play golf. I seem to have gradually let myself think that what I was doing was enough. Ooops is all I can say. In all fairness, the holiday season did not help, but now I am just making excuses. It is time to re-evaluate my training program and step up my fitness game. If I have any illusions of playing better golf in 2018, I need to spend more time focusing on my fitness and well-being.

Before I delve into some crazy routine, I was reminded by Brian Penn from All About Golf in his recent article “Careful With That Off-Season Workout!” to be careful and to seek professional help to prevent any injuries. Thanks Brian for the sage advice.

I have a general routine that includes stretching, light weights and aerobic conditioning. It is nothing that will make me an Olympic athlete, but it will keep me healthy, improves my mental state, and helps prepare me for golf season.

Do you train in the off-season?

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

10 thoughts on “I Thought I Was in Good Shape For Golf!”

  1. My partner and I had an introductory session this week! He’s hooked, but we have nowhere near us to practice; we’re in between the one in Kent and Deeside. We’ve always enjoyed watching it on TV, now we can comment on team tactics with authority!

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  2. Jim,

    I have curled on a couple of occasions and it is indeed way harder than it looks! Hopefully your routine has you feeling in tip top shape by the start of golf season…I’m chipping away at mine…almost feeling ready to start hitting some balls!

    Cheers
    Josh

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  4. I do a bit of static cycling year round to keep my knees in reasonable shape. Other than that I largely rely on the physical activity involved in running a plant nursery to keep me fit. I know I should do something in the winter to compensate for reduced activity on the nursery. But good intentions and all that ….. Cheers, Rob.

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    • Rob

      You said an important thing. Good intentions. I fall into that category all the time when it comes to exercise. I just need to do better. Running a nursey is pretty active work, I doubt I would train either. Besides golf should count

      Cheers Jim

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  5. After damaging one of my shoulders I do have a few exercises I do to keep my mobility. And I have had the thought that I should do more. My first thought on the subject was to get another rowing machine. I had one ages ago. It was convenient. It could slip under the bed when not in use. I could exercise indoors in semi comfort. And it worked most of the muscle groups all at once. It probably isn’t necessarily the optimal thing for a golfer, but better than nothing. And can be picked up pretty cheaply. I don’t know what happened to the one I had. I’d guess the wife sold it off in one of her yard sales. Can’t blame her as I didn’t use it much after the kids were born. Anyway, that’s the one thing that crossed my mind when I think about the need for doing more.

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