Golf Offers a Positive Mentoring Environment with Minimal Risk of Injury

The golf course is a safe place and facilitates mentoring relationships for youngsters. From when I was 12, every summer my parents dropped me off at the golf club on their way to work at eight in the morning and then picked me on their way home in the evening. Occasionally, I caught a ride about 10 at night with a member going my way. My parents never had to worry where I was or who I was with.

 

Golf is the world’s best baby-sitter.
As well as being friendly with a small group of junior members, I had mentor-like relationships with many people three or four decades older than myself; Ernie Moore, Billy McKeach Peter Thomson, Mick Price, ‘Keep Your Head Down’ Henry and many others. They were cops, lumber salesman, small business owners and entrepreneurs; in other words, an amazing slice of real life. While the language on course was often a bit raw for my young ears, the counsel from these ordinary folks was sound.

 

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Unlike many other popular sports like baseball, soccer and football, the chances of injury, especially serious injury, are negligible. Golf is a non-contact sport so you won’t see many players with a cast or hobbling on crutches. If you do, the chances are they picked up the injury doing something other than golf.

 

Yes, of course there is always a chance of a bad back, sore shoulder or knee injury but most of these problems are self-inflicted. Doctors claim over 80 per cent of them can be avoided by a simple warm-up routine.

 

Poor flexibility is a key risk factor. One survey showed that more than 80 percent of golfers spent less than 10 minutes warming up before
a round. Those who warm up sustain fewer than half the injuries of those who don’t. In any case, the minimal risks are more than off-set by the huge health benefits.

 

Reprinted with permission from “The Joy of Golf: 72 Reasons Why Golf is the Greatest Game Ever!”
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