This week much of the County will experience extreme temperatures and for many of us we have not become acclimatised during the past few months so must be aware how to continue to enjoy our round of golf.

When the temperature rises we generally loose out appetite but we must still continue with our chosen form of nutrition before, during and after our round of golf.

When I used to play on the Asian and Australian Tours the perfect and healthy on course option is a plastic container of frozen fruit! which I would prepare the previous night. My favourites were grapes, melon balls and frozen strawberries which is absolutely ideal right now to coincide with Wimbledon, so why head off to the pick your own fields and freeze your fruits!! your playing partners will certainly enjoy the snack too!

I still don’t believe as golfers we consume enough water amounting to the “recommended” fluid intake during a round of golf. All to often we get to a point and feel thirsty, if this happens we have already started to become dehydrated which can be critical from a health perspective, our golf will most definitely suffer in terms of concentration levels, decision- making skills and fatigue. so avoid this by sipping at regular intervals.

I would recommend a healthy sip every hole approximately every 10-15 minutes marking this on your water bottle with a sharpie pen will help you to remember. This is a good routine to get into and is a real indicator as to how much fluid is being consumed during 18 holes.

If you meet your playing partners before the round for a coffee, consider changing to a large glass of water. The caffeine content according to the experts acts a mild diuretic but some consider it to be negligible but either way water prior to 18 holes is preferable in the heat.

Baseball caps are suitable but not the most ideal headwear, in these temperatures a nice wide brim hat will keep the sun off your neck and face. This combined with the collared shirt will certainly help also try to use a moisture control shirt or dry fit shirt which is cooler and more comfortable. A nice light coloured shirt will help too rather than a dark one, save those for the cooler days!

Remember the sun screen keep a tube in my favourite zip lock bag but remember to apply prior to playing on the golf course to avoid ruining your new glove…

Many of us now use an electric trolley so make use of the brolly holder which will really make a difference, in Asia I used a special sun umbrella which reflected the heat but our rain brolly will do perfectly.

If you have prior warning of extreme temperatures why not try to bring your tee time forward instead of playing in the heat of the day, remember some rounds can take up to 4 hours so why not treat yourself to a buggy just the once!

Hopefully this has been helpful and reminded you about a few basics if you follow this advice your golf will be hotter than the weather.