Purpose Consistently performing at the highest level in golf requires a complex interplay of physiological and psychological attributes, with success often defined by razor-thin margins. Sleep characteristics and cardiac autonomic function, reflected by resting heart rate (RHR) and heart rate variability (HRV), are key indicators of recovery and readiness to perform. Yet, their relevance to elite golf performance remains largely unexplored.

Methods We analyzed wearable-derived longitudinal data from 389 professional tour-level golfers across 521 competitive events (2017-2025), encompassing 35,140 nights of sleep and biometric monitoring. Key metrics included sleep duration (7.2±0.7hrs), sleep consistency (69.1±6.9%), RHR (55.9±7.9bpm), HRV (64.2±28.1ms), and a composite Recovery score (59.1±9.9%). Golf performance (total score, great shots, poor shots, strokes gained) was extracted from a subscription-based database. Linear mixed-effects models assessed both between-person differences and within-person season-to-season changes, adjusting for age (34.1±9.1yrs), height (1.81±0.07m), and weight (83.2±10.6kg).

Results Golfers with superior sleep and biometric profiles consistently performed better, both between and within individuals (Ps<0.05). Between individuals, each additional hour of sleep was associated with a lower score (b=-0.522), as was a 10-percentage point increase in sleep consistency (b=-0.382), a 1bpm lower RHR (b=-0.038), and a 10-percentage point increase in Recovery (b=-0.476). Within athletes, season-to-season improvements in sleep consistency (b=-0.193 per 10-percentage points), HRV (b=-0.016 per 1ms), and Recovery (b=-0.238 per 10 percentage points) were also associated with lower scores (Ps<0.05).

Conclusions Sleep and measures of cardiac autonomic function are associated with performance in elite golf. Both individual differences and within-athlete improvements were linked to success, highlighting the potential role of sleep, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability in optimizing performance at the highest level of sport.

GJG, WvH, FF, JK, CC, and KEH are employees of WHOOP, Inc.

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Participants consented to the use of their anonymized data for research purposes. Because all WHOOP data were confidential and securely stored, this study was deemed exempt from Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight by Salus IRB (6483).

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