How PGA Tour pros recover from travel and golf fatigue — and what you can do, too

USA Today

4 days ago

It's a long way from Royal Portrush to Minneapolis. Discover the recovery tools PGA Tour pros use to bounce back from majors and long flights.
Sam Burns and Wyndham Clark both made the cut last week at the British Open and are scheduled to play this week in the PGA Tour's 3M Open in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. To get there, they first have to drive about an hour from Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland, to Belfast International Airport. From there, it's a nearly nine-hour flight across six time zones to Minneapolis-St. Paul. So if they left on an 8 p.m. flight Sunday, they'd land around 11 p.m. local time on the same day in Minnesota. But after playing 72 holes of major championship golf and spending the last two weeks on British Summer Time, it would still feel like 5 a.m. to their bodies.
That long flight, the time change and the physical toll a major championship can take on a player will make even the fittest golfers exhausted. It's why so many top pros not chasing FedEx Cup points are skipping the 3M Open — they need time to recover.
You weren't chasing the Claret Jug, but if you've played 36 holes in a day, tackled a buddy trip to somewhere like Bandon Dunes or Pinehurst or survived a weekend member-guest marathon, you've felt that same heavy-legged fatigue.
So, how do the best players in the world bounce back — and what can you learn from their routines to speed up your recovery and help you feel refreshed and ready to play again?
Compression therapy: Squeeze out the waste
Step inside the physio trailers at PGA Tour events and you'll see several pairs of long, black zip-up leggings with hoses coming out of the top of each legging. These are Normatec 3 leggings ($899), also known as compression boots, which are a favorite tool among players for flushing the legs after long rounds or workouts.
After zipping their legs into the boots and attaching the hoses to a small base unit, the Normatec device alternately inflates and deflates the boots, much like a blood pressure cuff around a player's feet, ankles, knees and thighs.
'What the Normatec does is like squeezing toothpaste from the bottom of a tube, squeezing it all out,' said Corey Hug, a PGA Tour physical therapist who travels to numerous events a year to help players. 'It squeezes fluid back in your system, goes back to your heart through your kidneys, and you get it out. So things like lactic acid, which is build up from working out, along with other metabolic waste, it squeezes all that heaviness out of the legs. And when the legs are done, they feel lighter, fluids circulating, you're ready to go again.'
Many players will even use Normatec boots before workouts if their legs feel tired, helping them get circulation moving before hitting the gym or the course.
Hyperice, the company that manufactures Normatec boots, also offers tubeless Normatec Elite boots ($1,099). This version, which is more portable and packable, utilizes rechargeable units in each boot instead of relying on a base unit to supply the pressure for both leggings.
Percussive therapy: Thumping out the tension
In 2020, the PGA Tour formed a partnership with Hyperice, maker of popular percussive therapy devices often called therapy guns. These handheld, battery-operated tools deliver rapid, targeted pulses to areas of the body that feel tight or sore.
The rapid percussion helps increase blood flow to specific muscles, reduces stiffness and aids in recovery by loosening up tissue that can become rigid after repeated swings, travel or extended practice sessions.
These devices are small enough to pack in a carry-on, easy to use and come with interchangeable tips to target different muscle groups. At many PGA Tour stops, players can grab a therapy gun from carts stationed near the driving range to use as part of their warm-up.
Hydration and nutrition: In with the good, out with the bad
Flying is brutal on the body, largely because airplane cabins are low in humidity to prevent condensation and corrosion. The air pressure is lower at altitude, which, combined with drier air and increased respiration rates, causes the body to lose moisture faster than usual. Add in the typical snacks — processed meats, salty chips, sugary drinks — and it's easy to see why a flight can leave you feeling stiff and inflamed.
Some top-tier golfers travel with personal chefs, but a valuable resource available to all PGA Tour players is the on-site nutritionist, provided at many tournaments.
'We do discuss nutrition a lot,' Hug said. 'Like, what are good things to eat before or good things to eat after you play? What are good things to do for hydration? The PGA Tour does have a nutritionist that actually travels to quite a few tournaments, and aside from just picking what foods are going to be in the player dining, they actually will consult with any player at any time about their nutrition needs.'
While most recreational golfers don't have a nutritionist on speed dial, focusing on anti-inflammatory foods can help the body bounce back faster. According to Harvard Medical School, eating leafy greens like spinach and kale, as well as fatty fish such as salmon and tuna, berries and nuts like almonds and walnuts, can help reduce inflammation and support your body's recovery after a long day on the course — or a long flight.
Hit the gym: Move to feel better
Jon Rahm is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, but his schedule on the LIV Golf tour and his participation in major championships have him flying all over the world. After a long trip, you might assume the first thing the two-time major winner wants to do is take a nap. That wouldn't be terrible, but Rahm does the exact opposite.
'If you have time and [access to] a gym or whatever it may be, get a little bit of exercise in,' Rahm said recently. 'It doesn't need to be crazy. It could be 30, 40 minutes of just some kind of stretching or whatever to get the blood flowing a little bit more so your body can just naturally recover and get things moving.'
Many hotels and golf resorts offer fitness facilities, but even a brisk 20-minute walk upon arrival can help improve circulation and ease stiffness.
'I found that being very beneficial when I go across the Atlantic, when you go to Europe, Dubai flights like that,' Rahm said. 'But landing and going straight to the gym, and actually if it's mid-afternoon trying to get a hard workout in, has helped me by far the most get over jet lag and things like that. It's like a reset to the body.'
The takeaway
You may not have a fitness trailer, a physio team or a nutritionist traveling with you, but the blueprint for recovery is the same: keep your body moving, stay hydrated, eat smart and give your muscles a little help when they're tight or sore.
Whether it's a therapy gun in your golf bag, compression sleeves in your suitcase or a gym session after your next flight, these are simple ways to help you feel fresher and play better — even if the only thing on the line is the weekend game with your buddies.