Philip Maffetone - The Healthy Golfer: Lower Your Score, Reduce Pain, Build Fitness, and Improve Your Game with Better Body Economy

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Dr. Maffetones website is www.philmaffetone.com

Copyright 2015 by Dr. Philip Maffetone

Foreword copyright 2015 by David Leadbetter

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Print ISBN: 978-1-63220-499-8

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-868-2

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Foreword by David Leadbetter

T HIS SHORT, SMART , and easy-to-follow book by my good friend Dr. Phil Maffetone is designed to help golfers of all ages and abilities improve their game.

The best tips in golf are usually the simplest ones and The Healthy Golfer is packed with them. You will learn how a healthy, athletic bodysomething thats easily attainable by anyone who practices good nutrition and fitnesshelps lower your score. Moreover, a healthy, athletic body also keeps your energy up, your weight down, improves flexibility and muscle control, and enables you to play injury-free for years to come.

I first heard about Phil in 2002 from a teaching instructor at my Academy in Orlando, Florida. Sean Hogan is also a triathlete and had read Phils earlier books, which were full of practical information intended to help improve the performance of all athletes. I learned that in addition to being a coach to some of the worlds top endurance athletes, Phil also had a private practice in which he saw many golfers with aching bodies that needed fixing.

Phil never dispensed or recommended typical cures like pain medication, which only mask the symptoms but never actually fix problems. Instead, his therapeutic approach was big-picture, lifestyle, and listen-to-your-body holistic. He helped his patients learn how to best balance health, fitness, everyday stress, and diet. In other words, that lingering knee pain might be the direct result of poor eating choices, too much stress, or ill-fitting golf shoes.

Phil and I soon spoke on the phone and discovered we had much in common. We shared many of the same philosophies and notions about human performance, treating each person as an individual with his or her own unique needs.

I invited Phil to join me for the taping of a Golf Channel show, to which he agreed. During the show we discussed many topics, ranging from wearing the right kind of golf shoes, to eating healthy before, during, and after play.

We were both alarmed by how lousy most golfers diets tend to be. Phil emphasized that eating poorly is a recipe for disaster on the course. He noted that when we wake up in the morning, our bodys energy level is low because the body used up a lot of blood sugar during the night to keep all systems working. So when we wake up, we are out of fuel. The most important meal of the day is a healthy breakfast. We agreed that by changing diet, one could play better.

The reason most golfers dont eat well is because they dont realize how food affects their game. That quick snack of a hot dog, chips, and soda before playing the back nine might give a player an initial boost of energy, but only for a few holes. After comes the dreaded golfers bonk, one usually marked by fatigue or lack of mental focus. Phil will explain all this and more in the pages to follow.

The feet and how they affect the rest of the body are other important subjects that Phil thoroughly discusses in this book. As your bodys physical foundation, the feet can significantly help promote free movement in your swing and encourage natural ability. In golf, as in all other physical movements, balance is of the utmost importance. And understanding your feet and how they interact with the ground are main ingredients in balance.

I often ask my students to remove their shoes so they feel the unencumbered freedom with the grass that can help deliver a more efficient swing. Theres nothing gimmicky, overly technical, or exotic about hitting a ball in this manner. Golf is a game of feelings and sensations, and creating a free-flowing motion with your body involves balanced feet, a healthy brain, and everything in betweenareas Phil explains how to enhance easily.

With these newfound benefits, youll experience improved performance on the course. The valuable information he teaches can help lower anyones score, without restriction of age, handicap, or anything other than the desire to thoroughly enjoy the great game of golf.

This book is a simple, feet-first approach that all golfers can immediately graspnothing fancy to learn or a complex stroke technique to master. But dont throw away your shoes: in the right shoes, your feet will fit, feel, and function better.

As Phil explains, what you do off the course regarding lifestyle can dramatically impact your performance on the links. This includes what and when you eat and drink, and how you take care of the rest of your physical body.

To a large degree, Dr. Phil Maffetone and I have had success in our respective careers because of our non-conventional, holistic approach to helping people succeed. In all matters of performancediet, health, fitness, posture, and balancethis book will take you and your game to a new level.

Preface

G OLF OFFERS A complete experience to anyone who plays this wonderful game. It engages your body, mind, and all of the senses. Whether you are a beginner, low-scoring amateur, or professional, there is much to learn about your body and mind in relation to the sport that is rarely discussed in books.

The goal of The Healthy Golfer is to provide you with information that will help engage all of your senses on the course so you can enjoy the game as much as possible throughout your entire life. In fact, this book is intended to complement swing-based golf instruction as it provides a platform on which to build a solid golf game from the ground up, starting with your feet and concluding with a discussion of brain function.

It will be impossible for you to reach your full potential on the course if you are not healthy in body and mind. I should emphasize that health is defined as a state where all the systems of the body are working in harmonythe muscles and bones, digestive and immune systems, brain, hormones, and the rest of the body. Fitness is the ability to effectively use your body to perform athletically, which will certainly result in better golf.