I promise you this is a true story and I tell it as it is important to all golfers’ safety on the golf course.  I got a call from one of my regular local student’s who was calling to tell me he had been injured playing a round of golf the other day.  We were scheduled for a lesson and he was informing me that his face was not going to look too good, not that it ever did.  But tomorrow, he warned me it was going to look real bad as he broke his nose.  More correctly he admitted that his driver broke his nose.

He told me that yesterday he was playing despite the cold and wind, and on the 16th tee he hit a power block right.  It was in play but a really lousy shot.  He said he wasn’t mad, just frustrated.  As he walked back to the cart, the driver head cover was laying on top of his other woods.  He decided to toss the driver toward its head cover.  Now this is where it gets interesting.

He maintains it was not thrown in anger or thrown with speed or force as it was his fairly new $700.00 driver.  He remembers the last thing he saw it was going right at the head cover, maybe a little high and he thinks the driver head may have hit the roof of the cart.  To quote him, “That was the last thing I saw until I woke up at least 5 minutes later.”

When he woke up, he was flat on the ground and his two golfing buddies were kneeling over him, with one holding a towel over his nose.  He could see blood all over his shirt, the towel and his friend’s hands.  He said it was a mess, his nose hurt like heck and his friends were somewhere between shock and worried sick.  He said there was so much blood, he had to be at least a quart low.

He told me he knew it was broken as it had happened many times playing football and with other youthful situations where boys are being boys, introducing their fists to another’s face.  I asked him if he went to the hospital and he said heck no.  Just went home and iced it down.  The worst part he said was getting it to stop bleeding and he had to sleep sitting up.

He promised me he did not throw it in anger.  He just tossed it.  I said he must have had a little speed in the pitch to bounce off fast enough where he could not see it and protect himself by knocking it down or trying to catch it.  He just came back with he felt it was a “soft toss” and really has no clue as the lights went out in a blink of his eye.

That is when I could not help myself.  I had to ask him the super important question.  How was the driver?  Not dented or scratched I hope.  Did the blood come off?  Is it still in 1 piece?

He laughed and said the driver was fine.  He added that one of the guys had just bought a new towel and it was the one used to stop the bleeding.  When it was stopped, he said the towel was soaked with blood and was given to him as a keepsake reminder of the day his driver attacked him for using it to hit a bad shot.

This is definitely one of those situations that was caused by a slip of poor judgment and could have ended in serious injury or death.  Thankfully the club was not injured and he is OK except for a red and swollen nose bigger than an apple.  He didn’t mention black eyes, but that will likely be coming soon to add contrast to his red nose.

Golf, like life, can be dangerous if we let our anger get out of control.  It can also throw accidents at us that can cause injuries from mild to serious and even death in a split second if we don’t pay attention or get careless out on the course.

Tomorrow I will cover some good decisions gone bad and some careless as well as not clear or conscious thinking that have caused injuries from mild to serious and even death.  Hopefully these points will keep us all aware that although we play golf for fun, relaxation, sport or even a job, we need to always be vigilant and careful and think things through and be in control to remain safe and healthy.

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