Bernhard Langer had just won the Cologuard Classic – his 41st PGA Tour Champions victory – when the coronavirus pandemic hit and all tournament golf was suspended indefinitely. In this blog for NationalClubGolfer.com, the German legend discusses life at home in Baco Raton and whether or not he sees golf returning at all this year…
We have one bit of exciting news. Our daughter Jackie has just given birth to our first grandchild, so we are excited to become grandparents.
The lockdown restrictions in Florida have come in gradually. A week ago the golf courses, beaches and parks were shut down. Social distancing is being encouraged and people are being asked to stay indoors, and we are being asked to only leave the house if need groceries or for a medical emergency.People are being asked to work from home and not to congregate in large groups.
But so far my family is all healthy and no one has the virus.
I’ve had to be a little creative. I live on a golf course and we have a wonderful fitness centre about 300 yards from my home, which I usually use every day when I am at home, but they have had to close that down for social distancing.
I have a treadmill and exercise bike in my fitness room in the house and some weights and bands and ropes and the heavy club. I have mats to stretch on and do body-weight exercises and I have the pool outside. I have actually been enjoying the pool lately because it gets me outside in the sun and I am learning to do some workouts in the pool which is actually better for my knees and my shoulders.
You need to be creative and use what you have and everyone has that opportunity. You can do sit-ups and push-ups and pull-ups and benching just using your body weight. You don’t need a lot of other stuff. I cycled yesterday for an hour and I enjoyed that. It was beautiful and good exercise.
I do swing a little bit indoors. I have a heavy club – a 7-iron with lead down the shaft and it is very heavy and I swing that indoors. I also have a little putting green in our back yard and I can chip around that too. For the first few days at home I did not do much but now I am itching to do something. I am contemplating driving over to stay with a friend in Naples, where the golf courses are still open. The restrictions vary in the different regions within Florida.
I have been trying to do the things I normally don’t have time to do. I am always tidying bits and pieces in the garage but a total overhaul would be a good thing. The problem is we have a large garage!
I have a list of immediate jobs and a list of not-so-urgent jobs and right now I am tackling the not-so-urgent items now that I have some time, but I try to get out of the house when I can. We are very fortunate because we have gorgeous weather here right now, just brilliant over the past few weeks, so I get out and ride my bike or go for walks. I can do some exercises in the pool and I try to keep moving because I have been sitting around more than I usual, as we are obviously not playing golf.
I do my Bible studies too remotely with our Champions Tour Fellowship. We have a chaplain and there were about 15 of us doing a Bible study online. We also watch our local church service online as we can’t gather in church.
Life is different but you have got to be creative and make the best of it.
As for getting back playing I was hoping to play two weeks in a row in the UK this summer. But the Open has been cancelled and I have not heard about the Senior Open at Sunningdale.
If they play the Masters, I will be there.
Bernhard Langer was talking to NCG as an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz.
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