When you mention Bernhard Langer, a few different things may come to mind. Maybe it’s his two wins at the masters or his 11 appearances at the Ryder Cup. But one thing that avid golfers can undoubtedly agree on is his amazing longevity in the sport.
He’s amassed over 100 wins in his lucrative 50 years playing as a professional and he’s still going. Let’s just say, if we were betting on golf, he’d be someone we’d keep an eye on.
So how exactly does he do it? well, At the recent Berenberg Invitational charity golf event that’s been set up to help raise money to fight pancreatic cancer, Langer revealed some of his secrets to his astounding run in the game that older golfers can use to keep sharp.
Langer was keen to emphasise that you should always take good care of yourself. Whilst this advice for staying on top of your game may seem redundant, it’s often overlooked. Whilst we’re going to dive into a bit more detail, this can be summarised extremely succinctly by keeping the following things in mind: Make sure you eat right with a healthy and balanced diet, stay active with light exercise when you can and keep your body flexible by doing some form of stretching every day.
Langer commented that people often think that golf is a less strenuous sport – but it’s still a sport, meaning it can take its toll on the body as it’s more demanding than you think. Getting older can cause you to lose both your strength and your flexibility – it’s an inevitable part of aging.
But there is a silver lining to this sombre news – it’s never too late to get started and reap the benefits of looking after yourself. Getting some light exercise and cleaning up your diet can work wonders at any age.
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Another important part of staying on top of your game is to make sure you keep flexible. Langer commented that you can have somebody help you with a few stretches, but to not let the fact you may not have someone there to help you all the time stop you – you can find a basic stretching routine on the internet or Youtube and follow along.
Stretching for even just a few minutes a day can be done anywhere. In the morning or evening, at work or at home. No matter where you do it, it is going to work wonders for you and your flexibility, helping you to stay on top of your game.
One of the pleasures of partaking in Golf is that it’s a sport where you don’t have to live your life in the gym like football or soccer. But it would serve you well to look after your core and the muscles around your middle – Langer says it’s these muscles that have been an integral part of his success.
He states that these muscles are incredibly important – the glutes and your abdominals. When you strengthen these two, it will help you with making a bigger turn.
Speaking about your turn, Langer views turning as power and as you get older, you need more of this power. As you age, your turn is most likely going to get weaker, meaning you’re going to hit the ball shorter.
Whilst this may not sound like the end of the world, you may start to compensate for this lack of power by making up for it in ways that can damage your game. Things like your arms collapsing will make you think you’re turning fully, when in reality you aren’t and you’re just making up for a short turn. This can lead to a lot of miss hits (and countless frustration on the course!)
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The solution to this? Making sure you aren’t skimping and cheating on your turn. Arms straight and make sure you turn that torso. This is where keeping on top of your flexibility pays dividends.
Last but definitely not least is a golden rule that Langer lives by – getting better at the fundamentals. They’re the fundamentals for a reason – they hold your game together and they never go out of fashion. You can have the best clubs around but if your fundamentals aren’t dialled in, that gear won’t count for squat.
Langer was focused on driving the point home about the fundamentals and making sure you stay on top of them. Getting a great foundation is vital for every swing you take and there’s a mental checklist you should take before every shot – make sure your grip is on point, your stance is correct and you’ve got good posture are all part of the base a good game of golf is built on – who knows, maybe we’ll be seeing you at Augusta some day!
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