With the man himself not ruling out competing in The Masters and having informed the Twitteratti of ‘making a game time decision’, one cannot rule out the fact that the Five time Masters winner was injured seriously in a single car accident in 2019 which fractured his tibia and fibula bones, among other injuries and left him at crossroads of his golfing career. The once upon a time winner of back-to back titles was reportedly showing enthusiasm for the game yet feeling unsure of being able to ‘walk and entire course’. This not only leaves his fans and the patrons of the game disappointed, but also has the fitness world once again in the history of sports reiterate the fact that - your fitness level really determines how successful you are.

Physical fitness and its components

Golf FitnessLet’s try and dive a little deeper into what physical health and fitness is and what is it that is important for an overall wellbeing.

Simply put, physical fitness is a state of physical well being in which one is able to carry out normal day-to-day activities without facing any problems.

The fitness world has widely put these five components that can be used as a benchmark to determine what level of physical fitness you are on –

Muscular strength – is the strength that is used to lift and carry objects, the absence or lack of which renders a person weak or incapable of keeping up with the demands placed upon it. In other words, muscular strength refers to the amount of force a muscle can produce with a single maximal effort. Building muscle strength greatly helps with body alignment and enables performing actions easily; they also help in increasing metabolism.

Muscular Endurance – According to the American Council of Exercise ACE, muscular endurance is the ability to produce and sustain muscle force over a certain period of time. While both the above terms are often used interchangeably, they so have some key differences. While muscular strength is determined by how much force you can exert or how much weight you can lift, muscular endurance refers to the ability of a muscle to sustain repeated contractions against resistance for an extended period of time. Long distance running, cycling or swimming are activities that can help build muscular endurance.

Cardiovascular endurance - Any activity that forces our cardiovascular system (lungs, heart and blood vessels) to work for extended periods of time tantamounts to cardiovascular endurance. For instance, activities like running, jogging, swimming or cycling. Step tests or Cooper run are common tests to assess cardiovascular endurance.

Flexibility – Often overlooked or neglected, this is the most important component of physical fitness, so much so that without this, the muscle joints would go stiff, and movement would be very limited. Flexibility training helps your body move through its entire range of motion without pain or stiffness. Do this to test your flexibility - lean forward and try to touch your toes. Those with good flexibility will usually be able to touch their toes, while those with limited flexibility will not. The sit and reach test (sitting on the floor and reaching toward your toes) is another good way to assess your flexibility. The more flexible you are, the closer you will come to touching your toes and beyond.

Body Fat Composition - Refers to the amount of fat in your body. For example, a 100-pound person with a 25% body fat composition will have a lean body mass of 75 pounds. To qualify as fit, men must have a body fat composition lower than 17 percent and women must have a body fat composition lower than 24 percent. The average man tends to have about 18 to 24 percent body fat, while the average woman has 25 to 31 percent body fat.

So, if you are keen on taking up golf as a sport, you may have to work on the above-mentioned components to maintain a good level of physical fitness and achieve the following:

Injury prevention
Achieve more control over your swing
Adding speed and power to your swing
Reducing fatigue on the course