Green giant: Top amateur golfer Peter O'Keeffe on why he loves his food
IT’S no surprise to hear that top amateur golfer Peter O’Keeffe loves his food. For starters he’s a skyscraper, 6ft 5in and weighs in at 110kg. Then, he not only competes at home and internationally, he’s also a partner in a gym, Dennehy Health and Fitness, and is involved in projects in and around his native Cork, including CIT and UCC.
All this takes a lot of fuel and water.
“With long days at work, I need to keep my energy up which means eating correctly. I hydrate myself a lot and am very conscious of this.
“I try to get in between three and four litres of water a day. I always have a 1.5lt bottle of water with me. I just keep refilling it.
“If I’m playing a golf tournament — you’re burning calories all day long. [You need] to keep your brain alert and not to have mental lapses. Playing at the level we’re playing at you have to be as aware and as sharp as you can. It takes a lot of fuelling.”
From Douglas and now living in Ballinlough, he got a scholarship to study in the University of South Eastern Louisiana, where he studied exercise science. He went on to qualify as a personal trainer and is one of a handful of people in the country certified by the golf development centre Titleist Performance Institute.
Aged 36, he’s still a competitive golfer. He won the Irish Amateur Open Championship last year and is a member of the Irish senior team.
To keep on top of his game, he trains daily. “Mainly, it’s to keep myself as injury free as I can for golf,” he says. “I’m not getting any younger.”
Good shape. I really enjoy the strength and power aspect of training. To try and keep performing at the highest level for golf, I do a basic blend of strength, power and mobility. I train at the gym every day at work. It varies — if I’m training on my own I’ll be in and out in 45 minutes. I break it into a little cardio warm-up, a mobility session and then I’ll work on strength and power.
I like to make sure I have a good start. My usual breakfast would be a wholegrain bap, three to four rashers and five scrambled eggs. I like to graze during the day rather than having heavy meals. Sometimes I have to remind myself to eat — my days get quite busy.
Two guys — one is Ben and the other is Jerry.
My golf swing. My wife thinks I am obsessed, and she would be right. And business ideas — I have a very busy mind which makes relaxing a challenge for me sometimes.
I love the sea. Any time I play a tournament on a seaside course, I will go to the beach and do my warm-ups, get my legs in the water. The sea can be a really good way to revive tired muscles during an enduring golf tournament.
Tiger Woods, his former coach Butch Harmon — I like to get them around a table — Roy Orbison, Bobby and John Kennedy, and my four grandparents.
The smell of the grass after a green is freshly cut. And I wear Hugo Boss cologne.
I would place a special order for 10 new toes — they are only for me and my wife’s eyes. For example, if we’re on holidays and I’m trying to wear flip-flops, she’ll have an issue. Golfers have notoriously bad feet.
My wife kills me for never showing emotion. But there were tears shed last year— it was nothing major. It was the first time she saw me crying. We got married last October. I nearly cried on the day.
I cannot get my head around young players with a very strong game with a poor attitude. Making it to the top will never happen unless they can embrace an unflappable attitude to whatever adversity comes their way. I think this builds resilience which is crucial for success, certainly in individual sports.
I have a lot going on in my life which is the way I want it but sometimes it leads to a very busy mind.
No.
I love going home to my wife Mary-Claire and our dog Riley — a chocolate labrador, aged nine. He came with the package.
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