A golf conditioning program should always be accompanied by a solid golf nutrition plan. In essence, what you eat determines how you play. So, which foods produce champions and which foods hinder play? Let me give you a few hints.

It goes without saying that proper nutrition is important for all of us. But, if you are serious about shaving valuable strokes off your scorecard, you need to make some tough decisions on seeing your diet through. If you travel for golf, or play in frequent tournaments, it is important not to fall into the trap of ‘settling’ for fast food or a quick bag of chips or chocolate bar. Make a commitment to use some or all of the following tips and your energy will reach new heights in your next round.

o Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Both of these are diuretics and cause fluid loss. They also both affect performance. Coffee can over stimulate your mind or your muscles, making your performance uncontrolled. Excessive consumption of alcohol severely affects your coordination.

o Avoid large amounts of food in the two hours leading up to tee time. Food in your digestive system diverts blood away from your brain and muscles, affecting concentration and physical performance. A meal two to three hours before play is preferred.

o Don’t skip meals. Golfers need that slow and steady release of energy to see them through difficult or long hours of play. Smaller meals are better to help increase metabolism.

o Eat 5 to 6 small meals throughout the day. This gives your body the nutrition it needs to last.

o Drink lots of water. Think in terms of 8 to 10 glasses each day. Continue throughout your round to stay hydrated especially during the summer months.

o Combine carbohydrates, proteins and fats at each meal. This aides in overall digestion and ensures you are getting the proper nutrients.

o Bring a snack or bag lunch. Beverage carts are not known for healthy choices, so don’t put yourself in a position to feel forced to rely on them.

o Avoid high processed foods or sugar based foods. They tend to raise blood sugar levels quickly and, then, drop rapidly causing fatigue.

o Stick with the basics. Don’t try new foods just before you play. Stick with what you know your body responds well to.

o Keep it simple. There is no need to make elaborate meals or go to great extent in preparation. A piece of fruit and bag of nuts will go a long way in replenishing energy when you need it.

As a golfer, especially if you are of a championship caliber, it is essential to have a wide variety of complex carbohydrates to maintain your energy through an 18-hole match or a 72-hole tournament.

Mentally your brain needs to stay conditioned to tell your body what to do, not to mention calculating distances, swing strength and maintaining focus. Follow these 10 tips and watch your scorecard drop to new lows.

Golf exercise equipment, if chosen correctly can have an immediate and dramatic impact on your golf game. This equipment can be very inexpensive and purchased at your local Target store. There’s no excuse to not have some exercise for golf equipment.

You’d be surprised to find out it is not expensive; and is not necessarily in a gym or health club either.

Yes…there are golf “machines” for stretching and strength building that are well over one thousand dollars, but are definitely not needed.

When you think of the golf swing, it’s a dynamic movement completed in space with your ‘whole’ body. So any kind of training or golf exercise equipment should be able to accommodate this.

For starters, a pair of hand weights (dumbbells) are inexpensive, portable and can be used for dozens of golf-specific exercises. They don’t have to be heavy or cumbersome. You’d be surprised what a 5 to 8 pound pair of dumbbells can accomplish with the right golf exercises.

Next on the list of golf exercise equipment is tubing. You may have seen it in articles, on the television or in a catalog. Exercise tubing is extremely portable, very inexpensive and also can be used to mimic many phases of the golf swing, but with resistance.

I personally use exercise tubing in all of my programs, with all of my personal clients and in my own golf workouts. It can give you one heck of a workout if you have the right resistance. These bands come in varying tensions from light to extra heavy.

Another piece of golf exercise equipment is a stability ball. It’s the big ‘beach ball’ looking thing that is used in offices to sit on, in many exercise classes, at most health clubs and all of the physical therapy clinics.

Why? Because again it’s portable, inexpensive and very versatile. Doing golf exercises on the ball incorporate core stabilization, balance and stability. All important factors in a mechanically sound golf swing.

And the last piece of golf exercise equipment is the weighted medicine ball. You might remember them from several decades ago as the big leather balls that the old fitness fanatics used to improve strength and power.

Well now they’re back! They are used in every sport-specific strength program in existence. You can do so many sport-like movements with them and they weigh as much as 20 pounds, so you can imagine the benefit from a power standpoint.

I have a couple of my ‘bread-and-butter’ exercises I use in all my programs that incorporate the weighted medicine ball and they are very effective.

So there you have it! Three or four pieces of inexpensive and portable golf exercise equipment.