It was really interesting reading all the stories about golfers taking out their frustrations on their clubs and some of the very sad ones were there was injury and death.  This is the last article in the Golf Can Be Dangerous series, and I planned to discuss a few more club issues, but mostly non-club dangers that exist on the golf course.  The only reference I will make concerning golf carts is to always follow the rules on safe driving to the course as well as driving golf carts on the course, especially on side hills.  They can tip over and cause serious injury and worse.

The first club injury warning comes not from anger or carelessness but from incorrect instruction on grip pressure.  The grip pressure mantra to hold the club lightly, like holding a baby bird in your hands, is dangerous.  Hold the club too lightly in the backswing and especially in the forward upswing when the club is moving fast with outward forces pulling on it, it can slip out of the player’s hands and fly quite high and far.

One day while giving a lesson, I heard a golfer, upon looking I could see he was a beginner, getting advice to hold the club lightly in his hands with no pressure and tension.  I mentioned it to my student who also heard it.  I warned that we better keep an eye on this student when he starts swinging as we could have a club come our way.  As predictions may come to pass, the first swing he made to hit a ball, he whiffed it.   And with a big high follow through he lost the club as his hands reached his shoulders going to a finish.  I looked up and saw the club coming our way.  I pushed my student back and jumped sideways and the club landed right between us.

One blog yesterday described a player hitting something and the club shaft snapped in the middle and one end spun around the shaft stabbed the player in the neck and he died.  This is the epitome of danger from a club on the course.  My warning to all golfers is that any time you have a shot near a tree or pole or whatever, and your follow through might have the shaft hit the tree trunk, be extra careful.  Practice swings to stop short of the shaft hitting the tree don’t always work when hitting the real shot.  Remember, this is really dangerous. The safest and surest strategy to keep yourself out of harms way, as well as save your club, is to pitch it out with no chance of contact.

Another situation to be cautious about is hitting a ball in the desert or in a rocky area.  When you have a lot of rocks around your ball, if they are loose impediments, you can remove them.  But if you move your ball moving them, you have a penalty added to your score.  The issue of hitting in rocks is twofold.  For one, you have a good chance of scratching or gouging the sole of your club.  The other more serious issue is hitting or nicking a rock and it bounces up and hits you.

I once had a member who had a great T – Finish, swinging his arms and club up and over the center of his left/forward shoulder.  He only forgot one important point of a good T – Finish. The swing up and over the shoulder is to be a “controlled fold” of the arms.  That is, the club should not touch the shoulder.  Well this guy developed the concept that his checkpoint to a good finish was letting his club bounce off his shoulder in that nice soft meaty spot in the center of the shoulder.  When that happened his shaft would spring up off his shoulder and out in front of his body causing one super “Recoil and Relax.”  He never hurt his shoulder as he had bouncing it off this soft spot down pat.  What he did hurt was his shaft as he was good for a minimum of 1 snapped club per month.  What he also was doing was putting himself at risk for the shaft and head to possibly hitting him or one of the players in his group.

Let’s look at some real non club dangers on golf courses.  I will start with one I just read in Golfweek Magazine.  A player in Arizona was hitting a shot out of the desert and lost his balance and fell backwards into a big cactus.  The article said it took the paramedics 3 hours to pull all the needles out of his back and body before they could take him to the hospital.  I guess that is why when you play courses in the desert you see so many balls left in cactus bushes.

Now to the big issues that are dangers on many southern and desert courses as well.  I am talking about SNAKES, poisonous snakes.  They hang around rocks, in the desert, in the rough and woods and around and in lakes, streams and wetlands.  Here in the south we have water moccasins, rattler snakes and copperheads.  The water moccasins and copperheads tend to be aggressive and will attack without warning.  The rattler shakes its tail to warn you off.  But startle one and it defends itself, striking you before you know what hit you.

The key to safety is not just to make sure you drive it in the fairway.  Heck, one day I was walking right down the middle to my drive, side by side with another player talking to him.  He was carrying a club and with me looking towards him as I talked I saw him raise his club up, push me back with his other hand and slam the club down right in front of me.  I didn’t know if he was joking, angry at me and luckily missed me or what.  The “what” is that he was looking down and saw that in another step or two I was about to step on a copperhead and he nailed it,  saving me from a snake bite.  A few months ago, when the temperature was getting colder but it was a warm and sunny afternoon, I was walking from the green to the next tee.  On the edge of the cart path just barely out from a pampas grass, getting some sun, was a small copperhead.  If I did not notice him I could have easily been hit in the foot or leg and not even know what bit me.

The real point to snake safety is to be aware and on the lookout for snakes.  You must be extra aware in the deep rough near woods, brush and in places where there are a lot of bushes as these are great hiding places for snakes.  Naturally, when you are looking for a ball anywhere in the rough and bushes or near water hazards, lakes and streams, marshes and wetlands you better be on “high alert.”  What you also better do is “always,” and I mean “ALWAYS” carry a club for self defense.  I carry the longest iron in my bag as that gives me a fighting chance to defend myself if running away is not possible.

The real big WARNING is “Never” and I mean “NEVER EVER” put your hand into a bush or the water to retrieve a ball.  Always use a ball retriever or club to reach down and pull it out of a bush or scoop it out of the water.  The last thing you want is to not see a snake in the grass on the edge or in the water and it bites you before you know what hit you.

Lastly, and again only here in the Southeast U.S., the biggest of the big reptiles we need to be aware of and on the lookout for on the golf courses is the ALLIGATOR.  They are not always just lying around on the bank in plain site.  They could be just hiding sliding under the surface as you approach.

An important point to remember is that an alligator can run really fast. The game warden at Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina told me that gators can run a short distance at 10 miles per hour.  So, if you startle one and he or she, and I mean she especially, if she is protecting her babies, and starts coming after you, run.  So, be extra alert when you see baby gators.  Know that MAMA is always close by.

As a side note, one of DJ’s friends told us while playing #9 on the old Sea Marsh course in Sea Pines, he saw a full grown German Sheppard run out of the left woods where there are small lakes, being chased by an alligator.  The Sheppard was running fast but the gator caught him easily and dragged him back to the lake.

The warning about “Never” and I mean Never Ever” putting your hands into the water to retrieve a ball also applies to gators.  This past fall, a man playing a course in the Lowcountry of South Carolina reached down at the edge of a lake to get a ball out of the water.  There was a gator below the surface that jumped up and bit his arm off.  His playing partners saved his life by getting a tourniquet on him.

Golf is great!  Stay awake, and aware of your surrounding on the course.  Play well but more importantly, play safe.

The Surge!

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