Research Round-up: August 2024

Welcome back to the AE Golf Performance newsletter! It’s that time of the month where I want to share a quick overview of some interesting research studies I’ve been reading or thinking about recently. I am going to focus on two golf-related studies this month, but covering slightly different aspects.

Golf Studies

Bliss and Langdown, 2024

Title: Integration of golf practice and strength and conditioning in golf: Insights from professional golf coaches.

Purpose: Distribute a survey to golf coaches which explores their views and practices related to how strength and conditioning (S&C) can be integrated within a golfer’s preparation.

Background

Golf has seen pretty dramatic shifts in terms of how it views S&C and fitness. While there are still a lot of superficial views and misconceptions about the role of S&C for golf, the industry has mostly adopted it as part of a golfer’s preparation. However, how best to integrate it alongside the other aspects of a golfer’s preparation is very important, and probably varies based on who you ask. This study sought to investigate some of the views and practices that coaches have in terms of integrating S&C into the broader development of golfers throughout the year.

What They Did

A survey was distributed to golf coaches through several different distribution channels. The data from 43 coaches were compiled and analyzed, and common themes were identified.

Key Results

The study asked about a wide range of questions related to coaching, and where S&C fits in. But here are a few findings that I found interesting:

1. Across the entire group, most coaches (70.7%) said that they worked alongside a S&C coach to help their golfers, though many of the younger coaches (18-30 years old) did not have their golfers work with a S&C coach, while most of the coaches 31 and older did.

2. Most coaches (78.6%) believed the S&C coach’s job is to help the golfer with input from them as the golf coach, while a smaller percentage (17.9%) said the S&C coach should work independently.

3. More than half (63.4%) of the coaches planned out their year without input from the S&C coach.

4. When asked about speed training, 65% of coaches said they used no dedicated speed training, or only during specific times of the year.

5. When asked about the main benefits of S&C, most golf coaches said to reduce injury risk (85.7%), improve mobility to help with swing technique (82.1%), and to increase strength/force (82.1%).

Key Takeaways

This study highlighted that there is a mix of similarities and differences between how golf coaches approach things. Most of them said they provide some sort of year-round planning, but the most common method was to be reactive in terms of what they believe the golfer needs at that time (30.8%). Interestingly, older coaches were more likely to have their players work with S&C coaches than young coaches, though over half of coaches plan out their players practice without input from the S&C coach. It seems that the views towards how and when to integrate S&C, as well as the dynamics between golf coach and S&C coach are largely inconsistent.

I have a lot of thoughts on this, but I do think golf is a sport where there is considerable room for growth when it comes to integrating the different specialities together into a cohesive support system for golfers. While most golfers have a team around them, the dynamics of how those different team members interact is very important and appears to be somewhat inconsistent.

Nagashima et al. 2024

Title: Association between carbohydrate intake during golf rounds and its related factors in Japanese Elite Junior Golfers.

Purpose: Analyze the nutritional intake of competitive junior golfers during a competitive round.

Background

While golf is not considered as intense of an activity as running based sports and activities, it can require substantial amounts of energy over the course of 4-6 hours of a competitive round. Estimates of energy requirements depend on the characteristics of the golfer and course being played, and the method used to measure energy expenditure, but it is not uncommon to see estimates of >1000 kcal worth of energy per round of competitive golf. Given how much precision involved with golf, even small amounts of fatigue (mental or physical) could influence your ability to execute each shot at 100%. So it is generally a good idea to fuel yourself properly throughout a competitive round. One area of interest is carbohydrate intake, since blood glucose can drop across a round of golf, which is speculated to be a contributor to mental and/or physical fatigue as the round progresses.

What they did

The researchers asked 64 skilled junior golfers (32 male, 32 female) to complete a survey on all foods and drinks they consumed during competitive rounds. The data from the surveys were analyzed for nutritional content.

Key Results

Overall, there were a few interesting findings:

1. On average, golfers consumed about 630 kcal worth of food and drink during the round, with ~26 grams of carbs per hour. This is generally slightly lower than the recommended amounts (often reported at ~30 g).

2. The golfers consumed fairly low amounts of protein (~7 grams), and most of the carbs came from gummies, gels, and sports drinks. Very little came from fruits.

3. When asked why they consumed food during a round, the most common responses were “Due to Hunger” (34.4%) and “Change of Mood” (32.8%).

4. Male golfers were less likely to consume the recommended amount of carbs. In contrast, golfers that had received nutritional education in the past were ~3x more likely to meet the carb recommendations.

Key Takeaways

There were a few interesting aspects of this study for me. First, they consumed slightly lower amounts of total carbs than is generally recommended. I personally have mixed thoughts about this, because while I would probably recommend slightly greater amounts, the recommendations are pretty general and different golfers will feel and perform better with individualized strategies.

Additionally, most of the carbs came from sports drinks, gels, and gummies. These are convenient sources of fast-digesting carbohydrates and are commonly used by endurance to help support the high metabolic demands of their sport. They can certainly play a role in golf, since they are a convenient source of carbs. But one consideration is how long a golf round can take (>5 hours in competitive settings), and the value of keeping hunger at bay. Additionally, the intensity of walking the course is lower than most endurance sports, so a quick digesting source of carbs (like glucose) is not quite as important for golf. I’d prefer at least some of the carbs to come from sources like fruit, which provide carbohydrates along with other helpful things (fiber, additional micronutrients) while being more filling.

Additionally, the golfers ate very low protein during the round. This is not a concern from a pure fueling perspective, since protein is not an advantageous metabolic fuel compared to carbs and fats. But again, the long duration of competitive days means it can be hard to hit overall protein targets if you are not getting a decent protein dose at the course. And protein sources may also help the golfers feel full and avoid having to deal with being hungry when trying to focus on their games.

When asked about their rationale for consuming foods, the most common responses had to do with feeling hungry or noticing that their mood changed. This is interesting, in that the golfers seemed to be noticing a chance in how they felt before they decided to eat in many cases. Hunger is your natural signal to consume foods, so I believe that is reasonable. But it’s possible that some golfers may benefit from more consistent fueling throughout the round to avoid reaching a point where their mood changes due to hunger or lack of fueling.

Finally, an interesting finding was that golfers who had received educational guidance on nutrition had different intakes of carbs than those that did not. This indicates that if we can provide better education to junior golfers, that they may apply it during competition. This is encouraging from my perspective!

Nutrition for golf performance is still very under-studied and we have a lot to learn, but I’ll try to hit on some key topics within that area in the future!

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