Blog 4: Everything Golf ⛳
Part 4: The Mental Game & Smart Training — Playing Golf Without Breaking Down
Welcome back to Everything Golf!
We've covered the biomechanics of the swing in Part 1, the three big injuries in Part 2, and the off-course physical preparation in Part 3. Part 4 is where it comes together. How to structure your golf season intelligently and how the mental side of the game connects directly to your physical health.
Golf Is a Mental Sport: And That Affects Your Body
This might seem like an odd thing to cover in a health series, but bear with me. The psychological demands of golf are genuinely unique. No other sport gives you that much time between shots to think which means that much time to ruminate, catastrophize, or build tension in the body that shows up directly in your swing and your injury risk.
Research on stress and injury consistently shows that psychological stress increases muscle tension, impairs movement quality, and reduces tissue tolerance to load. A golfer who is mentally tight on the course is physically tight on the course, and physical tension in the swing drives compensatory mechanics that accelerate injury.
The most common mental patterns I see in golfers that affect their physical health:
Outcome Fixation: Obsessing over score rather than process leads to grip tension, swing changes mid-round, and the kind of forced swings that overload the lower back and elbow
Frustration-Driven Overswinging: After a bad hole, swinging harder to 'make up' for it. This is when most acute golf injuries happen. The body is not in a good mechanical position when you're swinging out of anger.
Pushing Through Pain: Golfers are notoriously stoic about pain on the course. Playing 18 holes on a back that told you to stop after 9 is a reliable way to turn a manageable issue into a significant one
Practical Mental Skills for Golfers
These aren't soft suggestions. They're evidence-based tools that reduce both performance anxiety and physical tension on the course.
Pre-Shot Routine: A consistent, repeatable routine before every shot anchors attention to process rather than outcome, reduces cortisol, and cues the nervous system into the motor pattern. Spend as much time developing this as you do your swing.
Breathing Between Shots: Slow diaphragmatic breathing between holes or after a bad shot lowers heart rate and reduces the muscle tension that feeds poor swing mechanics. Three slow breaths walking to the next shot is enough.
One Shot at a Time: Segment the round into individual shots rather than running score calculations. This is a classic mental performance technique and it directly reduces the physical tension that comes with outcome pressure.
Knowing When to Stop: This one is non-negotiable. If something is genuinely painful during a round, finishing the round anyway is not toughness. It's how minor injuries become major ones.
Structuring Your Golf Season Intelligently
Most recreational golfers don't think about periodization, but they should. Here's a simple framework:
Pre-Season (6–8 weeks before your first round): This is when the physical preparation work from Part 3 matters most. Build mobility, load the relevant tissues progressively, and start swing work gradually. Don't play 36 holes in the first week of the season.
In-Season: Maintain strength work at reduced volume (once per week is enough to maintain what you've built). Prioritize recovery between rounds. Be honest about cumulative fatigue during golf trips or tournament periods.
Post-Season: This is the most neglected phase. Address any niggles that accumulated during the season before they carry into the next year. Off-season is the right time to make swing changes and build physical capacity, not mid-season when tissue is already loaded.
How Many Rounds Is Too Many?
There's no universal answer, but some useful guidelines:
Playing more than four or five rounds per week consistently increases injury risk significantly. The tissue simply doesn't have enough time to recover between loading cycles
Consecutive days of golf (golf trips, tournaments) increase the importance of pre and post-round mobility work and soft tissue recovery. What you do off the course between rounds matters as much as what you do on it
Any increase in playing volume greater than 20–25% from one week to the next is a load management red flag, just like it is in running or any other repetitive sport
Up Next — Golf for Life
The final part of Everything Golf is the one I find most meaningful — how to keep playing this game for decades, what changes as you age and how to adapt, and why regular maintenance is the difference between a golfer who plays into their 70s and one who reluctantly stops in their 50s. See you in Part 5.
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If your golf season feels like a cycle of niggles, compensations, and trying to play through pain — that's not normal and it's not inevitable. Book an assessment with Dr. Keirstyn and let's build a plan for the whole season.
📍 Endurance Therapeutics | Oakville, Ontario
📞 905-288-7161