I am on the fence on this issue as it pertains to college as well.

When I was in High School, our lunch was typically Ala Carte which meant we picked out individual items. This could range from bagels, pizza, fruit, and more.

I am not going to say we didn’t have healthy options, but when you are in High School, its much easier to reach for the bad food that taste good. I typically would get some breadsticks and pizza for lunch and a coke. Yea, real healthy!

Now, I had a high metabolism, so I tended to burn off whatever I put in my body. I was also in an APE class (Advanced Physical Education) which worked me pretty hard.

I recommend this to any athlete in High School. If you don’t have a PE type class, then work out on your own.

But this post is about nutrition. High School has so many bad influences whether its smoking, drinking, drugs, and of course bad food.

If you put decent stuff in your body, your going to feel better and have more energy. You are also preparing your body for the exercise and strain golf will put on it.

I have known plenty of players who are into doing drugs after school, smoking and drinking. Sure, they were great players, but is there a chance they would have been better if they cut that out of their systems? Probably. Thats obviously a guess, but I have personally never been the type to drink, smoke, or do drugs.

Call me a straight edge. Go ahead, point and laugh. :)
I have gone through 4 years of high school and 4 years of college and the most I ever drank was literally a sip of wine, which I hated. Smoking grosses me out and to be honest, I am not stupid enough to do drugs.

But, what works for me doesn’t work for others. I have just found, over the years, that the players that seem to be head and shoulders above everyone else are those that are in shape.

In college, you have to play 36 hole events in 1 day, walking.

Now, in High School, you don’t have this. You typically play 9 hole matches unless its an Invitational, sectional, regional, or the HS state tournament. Why not start early? Get in shape in high school so you can be at an advantage to your playing competitors, and then when you reach College (if you plan on playing) you will be ready for the workout regime and diet that you will need to go through.

Try and start eating good right now if you are in High School. If you smoke or use tabacco products, I recommend dropping those now or at least cut down. I know this sounds like a stretch, but get off soda’s. There is really nothing good in sodas. I quit on August 2, 2004 and haven’t had a soda since. I drink water and juiced. I drink Ice Tea, but its decaffinated.

Again, this is a personal decision, but I feel if I would have done this in High School, I would have been in much better shape and my golf game probably would have improved because of it. Some players have high metabolisms like myself, so though I ‘almost’ had a 6 pack :), I was still putting a bunch of crap in my body (food wise)

These are just recommendations.

Posted in: Diet / Nutrition