Does caffeine and golf make a good pairing?

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The following is an excerpt from Postmedia’s weekly golf newsletter Monday Morning Golf, you can subscribe for free here:

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Golf and coffee: Two of life’s great pleasures.

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Professional golfers (and golf nuts in general) have a lot of early mornings, which unless you enjoy punishing yourself must include a daily grind of beans before you get on with the daily grind of golf.

Phil Mickelson drew the attention of coffee-loving golfers a few years ago by taking his travel mug out on the course during morning rounds. Of course, with Mickelson it wasn’t long before it became a branding exercise and his “wellness coffee” hit the market. For the most part, though, tour pros are just like the rest of us when it comes to staying caffeinated.

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“At home I’m like four or five a day,” Webb Simpson said on Friday at the Valspar Championship. “Typically three before lunch, one post-lunch and one right before dinner. On the road I’ve got to scale back a little bit. A lot of caffeine’s not good for the short putts. So yeah, it’s a couple in the morning and then I’ll always have one after the round no matter how late I finish.”

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Rumours of top players travelling with espresso machines has seen a few enterprising golf writers nosing around for quality coffee (and quality stories, of course) in the hours before the leaders tee off on weekends. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler recently let the world in on his rather strange coffee schedule.

“When I’m at home, not out here,” Scheffler said at the Players Champsionship. “Sometimes for practice rounds, but yeah.”

No jitter juice before a tournament round for the Masters champ, proving he is a stronger man than the rest of us. Will Simpson join Scheffler’s Thursday-Sunday coffee boycott?

“No, no, that’s a whole other level of commitment,” Simpson said. “Probably why he’s No. 1 in the world. But I’m willing to trade those moments of happiness in the morning for a couple shots a year it might cost me.”