THINK six packs in golf and you’d probably think of the post-round refreshments.

But the times are a changing at the highest level of the game and now the term is more likely to refer to Rory McIlory’s torso than to the old-school golfer’s drinking habits.

McIlroy has followed in the likes of Tiger Woods’ path and realised keeping in tip-top condition is vital to reach and then stay at the top of the world game.

And now Basildon’s own European Tour professional, Daniel Brooks, is following a similar path.

The 27-year-old is hitting the gym in a bid to build on what he admits was an up and down year, but one which included the highlight of his career so far, a maiden win on Europe’s elite tour.

“Ninety per cent of people are doing it now,” he said. “And if you are not doing it, you are falling behind.

“It’s a long season on tour. You can play up to 25, 30 times a year, so you need to be in good physical condition.”

Gym-goers at Club Kingswood in Basildon may have spotted Brooks putting the hard work in during the past few weeks.

The former Woodlands School pupil is being supported in his bid to improve his fitness by his local club which is just a stone’s throw from his home.

“My goal is just to get fitter and stronger really,” he said. “I’ve never really done anything like this before, but I’m lucky I’m reasonably fit, but that comes from playing golf every day of my life!

Echo:

Daniel Brooks on the weights

“But I know I can improve. Playing on tour is not all glamour. You might arrive somewhere late on a Monday, play 18 holes on the Tuesday, have a pro-am on the Wednesday and then play the first two rounds of the tournament on the Thursday and Friday.

“By the time the weekend arrives you have walked about 30 miles. The adrenaline keeps you going when you are out on the course but you really feel it when you are back at the hotel!”

Brooks, who turned pro in 2007, is hoping to get a good block of fitness work completed by the time his new season begins in South Africa at the start of December.

And he will be hoping to start the campaign in a similar manner to how he began his 2014 season.

“I started really well for the first six months of so,” said Brooks, who is a pro at the Mill Hill club in North London. “I don’t think I missed a cut in about 15 events, then I got my first win and all of a sudden it went downhill.”

Brooks’ landmark win came at the Madeira Open in May.

But, in an unfortuante twist of fate, his exploits on that weekend ended up being overshadowed in most sections of the media by the death of caddie Iain McGregor who had a heart attack while out on the course.

European Tour officials were criticised at the time for allowing the competition to continue.

And even though Brooks was obviously delighted from a personal perspective that the tournament did reach its conclusion (he held his nerve to beat Scotland’s Scott Henry in a play-off), he does admit it was a strange situation.

“It wasn’t nice,” he recalled. “He (McGregor) had been on the tour for 20 years or so, but it was down to the officials on the day (whether play carried on or not).

“It was a funny feeling because you really want to celebrate. It was my first tour win, but you know it wasn’t really the time or the place to do it.”

Echo:

Daniel Brooks playing at Wentworth earlier this season

That win capped a period that Brooks says was the most consistent of his life.

What followed was his most consistently bad period of form of his life.

“I went from one extreme to the other,” he said. “I got my first win and then all of a sudden my form went downhill.

“I can’t really explain what happened. Golf is about your bad shots. And for the first six months of the year, my bad shots were only just missing the green or only just going into the rough. Then afterwards, my swing changes slightly, and I started missing a lot of things.”

Brooks reckons he didn’t make a cut for about four months until his final event on the calendar, the Portugal Open three weeks ago, when he finally got to play the weekend... well sort of.

Just like in Madeira, where the weather forced the tournament to be reduced to two rounds, the conditions in Portugal were not favourable with heavy rain ruining all but the first day’s play.

After an encouraging opening round, Brooks went out in the first game of the Friday but was unable to finish his round.

He went to bed that night knowing he had to go out and play one hole the next morning – the hardest hole on the course – and play it well if he was to make the cut.

“I have never been so nervous,” he said. “Not even when I won in Madeira, just because I had not made a cut for four months or so and I knew I had to make a par on the hardest hole on the course.”

Brooks got the job done and made the cut and even if he didn’t pick up a club in anger for the rest of the weekend because of the atrocious weather conditions, he was pleased to end his season on a high.

“It was nice to make the cut in my last event of the year, it showed I was getting back to the form I had at the start of the year,” said Brooks who ended up finishing 141st in the European Tour Race to Dubai rankings with a prize pot of 138, 641 euros.

“It was a bit disappointing to have that run after my win, but if you had said at the start of the year that I would win a European Tour event I would have torn your arm off.”

After two years playing on the European Tour, Brooks admits he is now at home in the company of people he had only previously watched on the television – and he now believes he can now mix it with the best.

“You soon realise that there’s not a lot of difference between you and the guys you have grown up watching on the telly,” he said.

“I know if I play well I can beat them. I haven’t really set any big objectives for the season to come. I take it week by week. I just want to go out there and do the best I can and if I do that, things will come with that. I know I’ve got the game to win out there now.”

In the meantime, Brooks is enjoying being back at home, spending time with family and friends.

His dad, Mick, was the one who introduced him to golf when he was aged eight and he has a group of golf-mad friends who he has grown up with.

“It’s nice to be back home,” he said. “My mates always say ‘oh, you’ve got the best job’, but they don’t see all the early starts and the travelling. It’s not as glamourous as everyone thinks!

“It’s nice to be able to be at home on a Sunday, have a roast dinner and watch the football, though I’m a Manchester United fan and that hasn’t been great viewing lately!”

That time back in England will be over all too shortly though, as he prepares for life back on the road.

“I go to South Africa at the start of December, then I’m back for Christmas and then back out to South Africa and from there it’s the Middle East and then Asia.

“It’s possible I’ll be away for seven or eight weeks.”

Chasing the sun while the rest of us are all stuck back in the drab, cold English winter can’t be that bad though?

“Oh, you get bored of the sun, too!”