June 13, 2012|By Buzz McClain | Special to The Baltimore Sun
"You want to keep a consistent level of water in you, so all the time, sip water," Plecker says. "You're out there for 41/2 hours for an 18-hole round; you don't want to wait until you're hungry to eat, and you don't want to wait until you're thirsty to drink."
Plecker says hydrating at the course is too late. "With the high heat we get around here, you better start drinking water the evening prior to getting to the golf course. Getting your hydration up before you start exerting yourself is critical, then it's a constant, steady dose of water during the round."
As for hydrating with beer, the pro says don't. "There's nothing wrong with celebrating when the round is over with, but save the toast for the 19th hole."
Be like Ferebee
And then there's J. Smith Ferebee. The Virginia-born Ferebee was a Chicago stockbroker who made a $100,000 bet in 1938 (more than $1.5 million in today's money) that he could walk 600 holes of golf in four consecutive days in eight different cities, starting in Los Angeles and ending in New York.
"A plane was rented for him to get from city to city, but the fact is that Ferebee walked or ran 182 miles in addition to the golf he played," says James P. Ducibella, who recounts the tale in his book, "King of Clubs: The Great Golf Marathon of 1938." Ferebee did it on a bum leg and survived a gambler's sabotage attempt in Philadelphia. He never lost a ball.
"He was 32 at the time," says Ducibella, "but people who knew him later in his life — he died in 1988 — say he never took a cart, hated anything but walking his rounds of golf, and generally played 18 holes in barely more than two hours."
