Introduction
Most good golfers at the grass roots level have the dream and desire to be successful at either amateur or professional level. However the majority of this golf group do not make a long term plan on how to be successful. It is recognised that to make a top level golfer consistently successful takes 7-10 years. This chapter covers periodisation and its importance to the golfer in achieving maximum success in golf.

The term periodisation has been used with most Olympic sports for a number of years. Its application to golf has been virtually non-existent. Or has it?

'Periodisation is a process of dividing the annual plan into small phases of training in order to allow a programme to be set into more manageable segments and to ensure a correct peaking for the main competition(s) of the year". (Bompa, 1983).

These phases are called:

A simple plan would have one competition period per year with all preparation geared toward that period. For most competitive golfers there is only one competitive period per year. It lasts 12 months! So what then is the best format for golf when the competition period is not clearly defined?