That drive of yours may be more killer than you think! If you’re one of more than 30 million golf enthusiasts, (almost 10% of the entire population in the U.S.), here’s what you need to know:
According to Worldwatch Institute, the U.S is host to 18,000 golf courses (more than half the 35,000 worldwide), which
occupy more than 1.7 million acres (almost 3 times the size of Rhode Island), and collectively guzzle more than 4 billion gallons of water a day.1 Most courses use more than 50,000 pounds of pesticides a year, and we’re opening up a new one, on average, every day. According to the American Journal Of Industrial Medicine 2, based on a study of 686 golf superintendents, their rates of disease compared to the general population were as follows:
Prostate Cancer- 3 x
Brain Cancer- 2 x
Non - Hodgkin's lymphoma: 2x
Large Intestinal Cancer- 1.75 x Also note:
Skin cancer- About 75,000 golfers a year are diagnosed with various melanomas.
Diabetes risk. Long term exposure to chlorinated pesticides like Trichlorfon increases the risk of diabetes by as much as 200% according to scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science and the National Cancer Institute (NCI)3. Trichlorfon, classified as a general-use pesticide, is used to fight everything from bedbugs to cockroaches and to tame the buggers on the range.
So, what’s a golfer to do? Stop with the mulligans? Eliminate side trips for lost balls? Never! Rather take a good lie I’m like most do but aren’t entitled to ( my team -mates beg me to) here’s some practical advise:
• Tee Time: Get out there as early as you can and avoid the sun at its peak. It’s most brutal from 10-4.
• How Much: Play 9 holes instead of 18. Or, if you’re a lunatic, break it up. 9 holes before 10 am and 9 more after 3 p.m. ( If you do consider doing this, check into a golf asylum and consider crochet). Note: To my friend Mark, call when you’re out.
• Timing is Everything: Avoid slow play. Golf with good golfers, not guys like me. Use cheap balls, liked those mixed bags of used ones sold at Wal- mart. You’’ll spend less time trying to find them on safari, while reducing the stress of your team-mates whose teeth have been ground down watching you.
• Protect Yourself from the Inside Out. Get Anti-Oxidants in your bod before and after each around. Take a great multiple with broad protection, and pycnogenol.
• Drink Plenty of Water. Forget the beer. (Remember, you told your wife this was exercise).
• Go for It - Off Season. Play as much as you can in late summer and fall (less pesticides).
• Gear. Wear a broad brim hat and sunglasses. You won’t see the ball either, but it doesn’t matter.
• All Weather Game? Avoid golfing after a rain if you have a choice.
• Good Housekeeping. Clean your golf shoes regularly. Remove them before entering your home, and avoid dragging this stuff onto the same floor your child or grandchild crawls around on.
• Cover Your Food and Beverage. No need to eat the garbage that drifts into them. If you snack while you're out there, keep a lid on it!
1 Source- Organic Consumers Association
2 Proportionate mortality study of golf course superintendent, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 29(5):501-506, 1996, Kross et al
3 http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jun2008/niehs-04.htm
