Claire Kane: How to play golf with a hangover
We’ve all done it – enjoyed a great night out and ended up having one too many glasses of our favourite tipple.
All hangovers are bad news but when you’re playing golf the next morning, you know it’s going to be a tough game, as golf and hangovers are not good companions.
You can start the damage limitation by drinking lots of water to revive your parched mouth and dried-up bodily fluids. You can also raid the fridge for superfoods and whizz up a smoothie for breakfast or at least tuck into a dry piece of toast to settle your stomach.
By the time you’ve reached the 1st tee, the painkillers you took as soon as your eyes opened for that thumping headache should have kicked in and you’ve probably convinced yourself a good dose of fresh air and a decent walk will do you good.
With luck, your energy reserves will soon kick in and if you remember to pack a decent energy bar, you’ll avoid having to crawl up the 18th.
However, if things are still looking grim then here are a few extra pointers to help you survive:
- When you tee up, don’t be surprised if ’the world moves’ as you bend over, so take it slowly.
- Don’t overswing with your driver, as your balance won’t be at its best and you could end up hitting the ground before your ball does.
- Sunglasses are great at hiding bloodshot eyes but bear in mind dark lenses and blurred vision (a consequence of low blood sugar) will be similar to playing in fog at dusk so don’t expect to ï¬nd many balls.
- Your hand-eye co-ordination won’t be at its best so don’t expect to rattle up 40 points.
- Your ability to count and record scores accurately will be sketchy as your brain struggles to multi-task, so don’t volunteer to score for the group.
- Don’t rely on muscle memory as your dehydrated body will struggle to even ï¬nd your muscles let alone remember what they’ve done.
- If things are looking bad, remember it could be worse as you could be playing a medal competition!
One consolation of a hangover is you’re very unlikely to start overthinking on the course as your foggy brain will be totally focused on survival rather than your golï¬ng technique.
Play well.
