In the high-stakes world of competitive sports, talent and hard training can only get you so far. To really close the gap between a good player and a champion, you need to look at how you fuel your body from the inside out.
This was the topic of a recent important player meeting held by Tarun Sardesai Golf Academy. The session was led by the academy’s resident sports nutritionist, Vedashree Bhat, who kicked off proceedings with a simple challenge to the players – it was not going to be a boring, one-way lecture. She wanted a real conversation with questions and answers to show these young golfers how simple choices in their diet could completely change their game.
Sports Nutrition vs Regular Eating
Vedashree Bhat started by clearing up a common misconception that regular nutrition and sports nutrition are not the same thing. They are very different from each other. For everyday eating, the goal is to stay healthy and nourished for a normal lifestyle, but sports nutrition is all about athletic performance, quick recovery, and competitive results.
Food is pure fuel for golfers looking to increase swing speed, hit longer distances, and stay incredibly sharp for all 18 holes. Picture your body as a car. Put the right good-quality fuel in the tank, and you will get to where you want to go smoothly. If you don’t, you’ll surely get stranded halfway.
To demonstrate her argument, she asked for a show of hands from anyone who had ever felt dizzy, unfocused or completely drained in the middle of a round. She explained that these sudden crashes usually happen simply because an athlete hasn’t fuelled up properly before getting on the course, as hands went up..
Total Energy Intake (The Reference)
Total energy is the basis of all sports nutrition. If your body requires a certain number of calories to get through a tough day of training and you don’t get that number, your game will suffer. Playing golf with an empty tank leads to poor decision-making on the course, weaker swings that don’t hit the distances you want and a much slower recovery time.
A lot of players are complaining that they are always tired and not ready for their next practice session, a classic symptom of an empty energy tank.
Vedashree put the idea into practice by giving them a quick choice between two options for the morning. Option A was just a banana, some dry fruits and water. Option B was a peanut butter sandwich, banana, eggs, and water. She pointed out that although everyone in the room knew that Option B would give them far better stamina, many players still chose the bare minimum of Option A on their tournament charts. You have to eat enough, actually, to fuel your body to win.
The Big 3: Macronutrients
When you’re eating enough total energy, you need to look at your macronutrients, the major building blocks your body needs in large amounts. Vedashree distilled these into three simple groups:
- Carbohydrates: They are your main source of quick energy. Interestingly, over 50% of the carbs you eat go directly towards fuelling your brain. Young athletes need carbs to make smart tactical decisions on the golf course and then head back to classrooms to study, so skipping carbs is a recipe for mental fatigue. Rice, roti, oats and bananas are excellent sources.
- Proteins: Protein is your body’s repair team. When you swing hard in golf, your muscles naturally break down, and protein helps rebuild that tissue. It also boosts your immune system’s strength. Players can choose their protein: eggs, chicken, fish, paneer, tofu or tempeh (a very nutritious fermented soybean product).
- Fats: You walk a lot in golf, sometimes for four to five hours. During these long, lower-intensity periods, your body actually burns fat to keep you moving. Healthy fats, particularly Omega-3s, are also important for ongoing brain development and for reducing inflammation.
She also reminded the players that you cannot put food into strict, isolated boxes. Staples like dals, pulses and nuts are great because they naturally provide a mix of carbs, protein and healthy fats.
Hydration and Micronutrients: The Buddy System
Then the conversation turned to two things young athletes always forget to do: drink enough water and eat their vegetables. It doesn’t take much loss of body weight through sweat to make you freeze up, lose focus or feel dizzy out on the course. In an effort to prevent this, Vedashree passed on two simple rules:
- First, drink 50-150ml of water every 2-3 holes. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty, because by the time you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.
- Second, look at the colour of your urine to see how hydrated you are. You should always be looking for a pale straw yellow, not a dark colour like apple juice.
Vegetables, in contrast, are a source of vitamins and minerals (micronutrients). Micronutrients are like the ultimate best friends of your proteins and carbs. Without these little guys, your body cannot even use the energy that comes from your main meals.
To help your body run like a well-oiled machine, Vedashree advised the players to remember one simple rule: Eat a rainbow. Make sure your plate always has three or four bright colours of different fruits and vegetables. Colourful plates ensure you get the four most important things for a growing athlete:
- Iron: You need this to get oxygen to your muscles when you’re doing those long walks on the course.
- Calcium: Builds strong bones and stops painful muscle cramps.
- Vitamin D: It boosts your immunity and helps your body process protein effectively.
- B Vitamins: The catalyst that helps convert your food into usable energy.
Timing of Meals
“What you eat is important, but so is when you eat. For instance, if you have a heavy, greasy meal just before you tee off, you’ll feel sluggish and uncomfortable.
Vedashree suggested a simple timing strategy to the players. Pre-round meal: One and a half to two hours before you play, eat something easy to digest, high in carbs and a little protein, like an egg roll, cereal with milk or toast with peanut butter. In fact, this is one time you want to skip high-fibre vegetables so your stomach can digest the food more quickly.
Pack simple, quick-acting snacks like bananas, energy bars, dates, dry fruits and electrolyte drinks or coconut water during your round to keep your energy from dropping. Finally, it’s important to get a recovery meal with protein and carbs into your system within 30 to 60 minutes after your practice session ends. This is the “golden window” for recovery that helps ensure your muscles bounce back by the next day.
Supplements (the last 5%)
Supplements sit at the very top of the priority list. Here, Vedashree gives the players a strong reality check, stating that supplements provide only a meagre 5% improvement in overall performance.
There are a lot of young athletes who want to go the shakes and pills route, but the truth is you can’t out-supplement a bad diet. They are designed to complement the small gaps in an already healthy and balanced diet. The strategy should always be food first.
Small Habits, Big Performance Gains
The session was wrapped up on a note of how the players must follow daily menus using regular academy meals to balance their plates from breakfast to post-round snacks.
The biggest takeaway from the day was that elite athletic performance is built on small, consistent daily habits. Missing breakfast, drinking water only when you feel thirsty or pushing vegetables to the side of your plate will work against you on the course. Follow these simple, fundamental rules of sports nutrition, and your body will always be ready to perform at its very best.
