by Wayne Whicher

Created on: April 22, 2009

For all those non-golfers and critics out there who think fatigue on the golf course is pretty silly considering that you are just hitting a little ball around the course, let me set you straight.

I work out about ten to fifteen times a week, mostly cardio, and am in great shape. Let me tell you, fatigue on the golf course is real. Why you ask? It's not about the little white ball or swinging the club 80 times. It's about the five miles of walking you do.

Golf courses aren't flat and the average person burns about 1000 calories in walking an 18 hole round of golf. Add that into the fact that you probably woke up early, skipped breakfast, and are subsisting on two beers and a small package of crackers and that simply translates into burning a lot of calories without taking in very many.

Often times fatigue doesn't set in on one round of golf. However, try playing two rounds of 18 in one weekend. And walking both. That's now about 2000 calories being burned over two days. The uphill holes will take their toll on you and your swing and performance will suffer because of it.

As the leg muscles cramp up and the back muscles tighten your swing tighter. This will cause you not to be able to come fully around in your swing and your game will not be very enjoyable. Once that happens, a different kind of fatigue takes over, and as all golfers are aware and familiar with this, its called mental fatigue.

Now, I know that golf is not as calorie burning as running a marathon or biking miles and miles, fatigue does happen and a few good ways to combat that fatigue to keep your swing hitting smoothly are as follows: Drink lots of water. Don't take ten million practice swings (who likes to be behind that person anyways on the course) and make sure to exercise regularly in the rest of your weekly activities.

Another good solution to playing two rounds in the same weekend is to get a cart for the second round. Smart huh? This really alleviates the walking calorie burn and will make things easier for you.

If you live anywhere near mountain ranges and are just an outdoor type of person and go hiking, the same result can happen if you hike one day and golf the other. We're back to the whole calorie burn concept. Way too many calories expended in the course of two days will fatigue the body and muscles. Warm, flexible muscles are key to scoring well on the golf course.

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