The 5 Ways to Promote Summer Golf Safety This Year

Remember Summer Golf Safety Basics

The sun is high in the sky. There’s no wind to mess up your golfers’ drives. You’re busier than any other time of the year. It must be summer.

The summer months are an extremely busy and exciting time for most golf clubs and courses. Weekly tournaments, fun summer holiday parties, and just day-to-day outings can fill up a golf club’s schedule in the blink of an eye. While golf course managers have a lot of different things to worry about in the summer, one thing they can’t overlook is summer golf safety.

5 Ways to Promote Summer Golf Safety at Your Club

1. Stress Stretching

First, we’ll start with the basics. All it takes is one bad swing to ruin a career. If you want to promote summer golf safety at your club, you must remind your members to warm up properly. While this may seem like a no-brainer, many golfers don’t regard the activity for what it is: A sport. While not a contact sport or a high-impact workout, golf still requires both physical activity and skill.

Golfers should have a routine warm-up, especially during the summer months. This should include getting to the course early, warming up on the putting green, and stretching before a full swing warm-up.

Great stretching not only helps prevent injury but can increase a golfer’s range of motion by up to 17%. At least 15 minutes should be devoted to stretching the arms, shoulders, back, hamstrings, and quads. For older golfers, there are plenty of stretches that can be done while seated – so there is no risk of falling.

2. Monitor Wet Bulb Globe Temperature

The second way to promote summer golf safety is to keep golfers cool. After golfers stretch, especially hot days can still pose a threat. Using just the temperature doesn’t give you an accurate reading of what it feels like on the course. Heat index is the next best measurement, but it still is not accurate. This is because it does not take into account key measurements like cloud cover.

The best way to know how hot it is out on the course is to use Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). WBGT takes into account:

• Temperature
• Humidity
• Wind speed
• Sun angle
• Solar radiation
• Cloud cover

WBGT gives people the best idea of how much stress the day’s heat is putting on your body. Golfers should take breaks before the symptoms of heat-related illnesses arise.

3. Help Golfers Hydrate

The third tip is to help golfers hydrate. This is another safety measure that seems like a no-brainer, but drinking water isn’t always on every golfer’s mind. Just like golf course management has a lot of different things to worry about, so do golfers. They are normally more focused on the game than the messages they receive from their own body.

Dehydration happens when your body doesn’t have as much water as it needs. When golfers are sweating in the summer heat, they lose water faster than normal. can help bring on heat-related illnesses. It also can make golfers prone to feeling lightheaded or even passing out.

Help golfers stay hydrated by setting up water stations in strategic places on your course. These places include in between far-away holes and near holes with little or no shade. If you have an employee that drives around selling beverages, it’s also a good idea for them to give water out for free.

Also make sure golfers know the signs of dehydration like dark, yellow pee, headache, muscle cramps, sunken eyes, and rapid breathing.

4. Keep an Eye on the Sky

Even if golfers are educated, limber, and hydrated, there is still another threat that can strike: Lightning. Summer thunderstorms form quickly. On large courses, some areas could be safe while others are in danger. It’s especially hard on large courses and walk-only courses, where players are often far away from shelter. This is one of the many reasons why most lightning strike injuries and fatalities in the U.S. occur during recreational activities – like golf.

This is where a lightning alert system and severe weather tracker come in handy. Lightning alert systems that detect total lightning can sound horns and trigger strobe lights when lightning gets too close to your course. This helps notify all of your golfers and keep them safe. A severe weather tracker, like Sferic Maps, allows you to keep an eye on developing storms and more.

5. Educate Golfers

The only way to pull all of these tips together is to educate golfers. The last way to increase summer golf safety at your course this year is to make sure your golfers are equipped with the right information. It’s not enough to have water stations around your course or a weather alert system. Golfers need to understand the importance of using them and staying safe out there. No round of golf if worth injury or worse.

How do you prepare your golfers for summer golf safety? Let us know in the comments below.