Gut Health and Golf- Strange Bedfellows

I am not a golfer.

But there are some fantastic comparisons between gut health and the game of golf.

After returning home from some recent travel, I found myself taking a brief respite in the supine position on a rather large, upholstered bench.

In a less eloquent way- I was laying on the couch watching golf.

Now this may seem like a complete waste of time, but during this couple of hours I found myself drawing comparisons between playing the game of golf and gut health.

Let me paint a picture for you

If you’ve ever played the game of golf, or watched it on television, the image of a golf course is beautiful. Manicured fairways and greens are where the game is supposed to be played. The tall grass of the “rough” or treacherous white sands of the bunkers is not.

In the world of gut health, the ideal course is a GI tract that has an optimal balance between good and bad bacteria. Properly fueling your body, functioning as a second brain to your body, and assisting the immune system in defending your body against disease and infection, are just some of the tasks made easier by having a well-manicured GI tract. Dysbiosis in the GI tract, or an imbalance where bad bacteria outnumber the good microbes is the “rough” we need to avoid.

Good golfers devote time to their craft. They consistently practice. They create good habits. They enjoy the process.

Most importantly, when they make a bad shot, they limit the damage. This is called a “good miss”. What’s bad in the game of golf? The “two-way” miss.

Two examples of poor shots are “slices” and “hooks”. Depending on which hand is your dominant hand, the ball travels to the same side or the opposite side on an errant shot. If you are a good golfer, you generally only have one miss. You can easily correct this by aiming more to the opposite side. You control the damage.

Pretty easy, right?

If you’re not a good golfer and enjoy a “two-way” miss, you have no earthly idea where the ball is going when you swing the club.

As a member of the “bad golfer” constituency, indulge me for a second.

Some years ago, while reluctantly accepting a golf game invitation from my father-in-law and his elderly friends, I showcased the first installment of my “two-way miss” on the very first hole.

My rather explosive tee shot sliced from right to left, on a lazy but certain trajectory, like a guided missile homed in on its target.

The target? An unsuspecting Coca-Cola delivery driver in the parking lot, just trying to feed his family. He was merely on his mission of resupplying the concession stand on a hot and humid summer morning.

The driver had just rolled down the wooden door with the painted “oc” in “Coca” as my ball ricocheted off the trailer and shot back into the middle of the fairway. The golf ball was now two-toned, white and Coca-Cola red.

Remember, the other way to miss a golf shot is to “hook” your ball. On a hook, the ball flies dramatically to one side, the same side you’re swinging from.

A few holes later on a subsequent tee shot, the three members of our foursome instinctively lined up to my back, having witnessed my wicked slice earlier.

Little did they know, I had a “two-way” miss.

I swung as hard as I could and the ball was struck, rather cleanly I might add, with the heel of the club sending my ball damn near backwards! The three septuagenarians scattered in sheer terror as the ball screamed at them from a seemingly impossible angle.

That’s how bad I can be at the game of golf.

Good gut pilots devote time to their craft. They consistently practice with a good diet, exercise, good sleep, and good stress management. They create good habits. We learn to enjoy the process.

If we’re using the golf “two-way” miss as a comparison, gut health can be exceedingly more difficult since we have more ways to miss.

Diet, exercise, good sleep, and good stress management gives us the potential for a “four-way miss”.

On a Par-4 hole (four shots to complete the hole), fueling our bodies with a whole foods diet, complete with plenty of fiber and fermented foods is like a tee shot to the center of a manicured fairway. Exercising is the second shot to the green. Sleeping is the third shot, but the putt barely “lips out” of the cup. (maybe we binge-watched on Netflix and stayed up too late)

Since we limited our damage to the one errant putt (sleep) and we managed stress with a par-saving putt, we dropped the fourth shot in the cup.

Limiting your misses is key to good gut health. There will be plenty of errant shots along the way. Often times, allowing yourself to enjoy the company of family and friends will take you away from the good habits you’ve developed. Occasionally, we’ll need to play from the “rough” or sand traps.

Enjoy your life and eat that birthday cake.

Then make the next shot the best shot you’ve ever hit. Mine is a tall glass of kefir with chia seeds.

It’s like hitting a hole-in-one.

And that’s a golf shot this golfer will never hit.

A “Greatest Hits” edition, where I will attempt to tame the technology of creating an archive for all the new folks to catch up on previous issues. Success will be the likes of a Neil Diamond double album.

Failure will be akin to the one-hit-wonder Tommy Tutone, belting out 867-5309 / Jenny.

Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading,

Jeff