WHOOP | GOLF | SLEEP | RECOVERY

It was late summer 2020 and a lot of things in the world of golf were going on. 

The PGA tour was playing with no fans, players were testing positive for COVID-19 and detecting it via their WHOOP bands. 

And in the Connors’ household, two things were happening.

1. My 3-year old daughter was coming into our bed in the middle of the night and constantly kicking me in the back.
2. When that wasn’t happening my 4-year old son was having some nightmares and waking us in the middle of the night. 

But back to golf talk. 

By coincidence (as kids often do) this would ALWAYS happen the night before I was playing golf. 

For reference, I only get to play once a week because of obligations with running an online gym as well as a golf fitness business, taking and picking the kids up from school, etc. 

(I’m trying to get that up to 2x a week but don’t tell my wife…shhh)

Anyways, I started to notice that I would play like crap on nights when I slept like crap.

• I was making poor club selections.
• Trying to hit shots out of lies that are just too difficult.
• I was falling apart on the back 9.
• My tempo started to get off around hole 11. When this starts to happen, the good old snap hook = OB & re-tee is prevalent.
• And by hole 15 I felt exhausted. 

For reference, I am a 6 handicap which basically means I can shoot anywhere from a 75 to a 95 (you get the deal)!

The Whoop Band was making waves in the golfing community at this time. And I had been hearing about it from some of my CrossFit friends who use it to track their recovery.

I wasn’t really paying it much attention. 

But with COVID and the PGA tour, it was instrumental in detecting COVID with Nick Watney. 

After shooting a frustrating +8 over par, 80 at my home course, with a 37 on the front followed by an absolute collapse on the back 9, I was driving home listening to THIS EPISODE Barstool Sports, Foreplay Pod.

(IF YOU ARENT LISTENING TO THIS PODCAST ON THE REGULAR THEN WE CAN’T BE FRIENDS!)

Anyways the boys on the pod had Will Ahmed, the founder of Whoop as a guest. It seems he is friends with one of the hosts, Riggs. 

He was talking about his company and the impact it has had on the PGA Tour. 

But what I found interesting is:

• Yes, players were using it to detect COVID (Ahmed claims it has an 80% detention rate of COVID-19)
• BUT players like JT, Rory, etc, were using it more to analyze their sleep and performance!

I tell my clients all the time, “if you aren’t getting quality sleep and proper nutrition then working out can be a fruitless endeavor”. 

I believe the same goes true in every sport! Golf included. 

So for my 39th birthday, my wife purchased me a Whoop band. 

To keep me accountable, I decided to track my sleep and recovery the night before I play and in turn my performance on the course.

I intend to update this post until we get enough data to form some conclusions (if there are some?)

So I just opened my band a couple days before playing my first round with it. 

I downloaded the app and synced it up. 

I am one that has never worn a watch. I only really wear my wedding band and that is a silicone band. 

So wearing the Whoop band was an adjustment for me. 

Regardless, my first night of sleep was AWFUL!!!!

• My 3-year old daughter, Reese, came into our bed and decided to kick me in the back all night. 
• By the end of the night, I was hanging off the with my face wedged against the night stand. 

I got up at my usual time of 4:30am (yes I am an early rising psychopath)

I open up my Whoop app and Boom!

I got just under 6 hours of sleep, and had 21 disturbances!

From the data above, I got just under 7 hours of sleep with only 39 minutes in REM and 57 minutes in deep sleep. That’s when the body really repairs and the good stuff happens. 

My disturbances were through the roof! And my recovery rate was 47%

So I headed out to the course that day. 

The picture below is interesting.