3.The Fewer Strokes, The Better. When improving your score in golf, you want to take fewer strokes to get ball in hole. To improve your swim (especially open water), you want to take fewer strokes per length, in order to utilize your energy for entire swim or triathlon.

4.Follow Through is Important. When you hit ball, it is important that you follow through all way with your club. In freestyle swimming, to get most out of your stroke, you must extend your arm and glide.

5.Power Comes from Core. Your arms and legs themselves do not need to be incredibly powerful to have success in either sport. With both sports, power comes from core- abdominal muscles, lower back, and hips. Legs are used more for stabilization than to propel you forward in swimming. Legs in golf are also used more for stabilization, rather than for more powerful strokes.

Both sports can also be frustrating, but with practice, patience, and persistence, swimming and golf can both present you with a meditative-like form of exercise that I have found to be both fulfilling and fun!

50+100+150+200+200+150+100+50 -Take 10-30 seconds between swims -Count your strokes each length on way up. -Try to maintain or lower your stroke count on way down while keeping same pace.

Another fun set that you can play with is free golf. For example: 6x50’s Free on 1:05. For each 50, count your strokes AND check your time. Add these 2 numbers together to get your golf score. Try to lower this score through set. The tricky part is, trying to add speed without adding strokes, or subtracting strokes without sacrificing speed.

Consistently incorporating stroke counting into your workouts will, over time, help you to swim longer (or “taller”) in water, and use less energy to go same speed or even faster. And for those that don’t consider swimming to be their strength in a triathlon, this saved energy is sure to translate into a better bike and run!