“A good diet can not make an average athlete great, but a poor diet can make a great athlete average.” -David Costill, Ball State University, Indiana

Golf is a lifetime sport that both men and women of all ages enjoy participating in. However, for competitive golfer, it is a test of athlete’s physical and mental endurance. While equipment and physical fitness are important to game, a balanced diet is often most overlooked aspect that all serious golfers must consider.

DEFINING A BALANCED DIET

For golfers, a balanced diet begins with eating at least 50% of your total caloric intake from carbohydrates such as whole grains, breads, pastas, rice, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. Carbohydrates are body’s preferred energy source during activity. It fuels brain and nervous system, preserves protein while helping to burn fat. Consuming carbohydrates during activity helps maintain blood glucose levels, allowing golfer to have improved concentration.

Protein is another important macronutrient to incorporate into balanced diet. Have 6 to 8 ounces of protein daily, and choose lean protein sources such as chicken, fish, round or loin cuts of beef, beans or legumes. Protein is needed for growth and repair of muscles, and helps regulate body processes as enzymes and hormones.

What is it to be used for:

The first thought when selecting a fly rod, is it’s most often intended use. Are you casting for Tarpon or small trout on a creek? Most likely somewhere in between, and maybe even several uses. You first need to think about size of water you are mostly going to be fishing, and then size of fly you intend to cast. After that you need to consider size of fish you intend to catch. The rod size effects both casting and playing of fish. The nice thing is if you are both a smallmouth bass and a rainbow trout fisher, you can probably get by with one rod. The same for Largemouth and Steelhead and Salmon. You might not get ultimate choice for either, but depending on your budget you can get a very nice choice for a variety of fishing conditions.

THE #’s:

Fly rod sizes are categorized by number’s. Unlike flies, where smaller number, larger fly. Rods go by larger number larger fly rod. A number 3 rod is a very light rod, used for small trout in small streams. A 12 wt. rod is used for Tarpon, Stripers and other fish that need long distance casting, big flies. The most popular all-around rods are in 5-6 category, here you can cover whole gamut of trout fishing and a good chunk of bass fishing as well. A number 6 rod can also tackle small steelhead and other sea-run fish, if angler is skilled. Most steelhead angler’s will choose a bigger rod however, in 7-9 range, and they can also fish salmon with that range as well.

The other number to consider is length. 9’ is by far most popular length right now. You can cast a 9’ long distances without getting tired, and have good control of drift. If fishing smaller streams and or bushy areas, 9’ will frustrate you, as there isn’t enough room to maneuver it. Rods commonly go down to 7’ and even shorter ones can be found. If doing a lot of fishing out of a float tube, longer rods are common place, as one can get more distance with a longer rod, and extra length helps to keep fly off water on backcast.

Action:

Here it gets even more complicated, as different manufacturers call action of their rod different things. But basically action can be broken down into slow, moderate and fast. Many manufacturers have 4 classification, but they all are based on same concept. And that is how much of rod will bend, when casting.