Kenny B

Golf is one of the sports that doesn’t figure for a lot of injuries, and that’s great for us older (over 40) golfers. Well, maybe except me… For the last few years, I’ve had some sort of ailment or injury and I continue to fight through them. One year I had a hamstring issue, and it lingered for quite some time. Last year I was playing with the kids and wasn’t paying attention. I stepped right into a sprinkler hole and gave myself a high ankle sprain. I immediately went hit the ground, so fast that my daughter thought I was having a heart attack. This year it’s the dreaded golfer’s elbow. (Tennis doesn’t own this elbow ailment.) Each of these injuries has hampered my golf game, and it’s very frustrating. Just when I am about to hit peak performance my body fails me.
I know some injuries, like the ankle sprain happen, but the ailments should be avoidable right? BUUUTTTT if you’re like me, broken from years of military service and have abused your body, what’s the answer? I am not, and I repeat, NOT eating bananas. Bananas are fruit of the devil!!! (Disclaimer: “Bananas are fruit of the devil” comment is only the view and opinion of this author. No bananas were otherwise hurt or smashed in this production.) Diet does have nutritional values to help alleviate some of these ailments and there are modern medical ways to help guard from them as well, but who wants to pop anti-inflammatories or wear that compression sleeve and forearm band? I like my golfer’s tan and those compression sleeves get in the way of that. Right now, I have one arm that is lighter than the other.
As I get older, I’ve found that most ailments are just unavoidable. It’s just a fact of life that as we age our bodies go through changes. Our muscles change, tendons change, bones change. It’s how we’re built. But I can prepare better, stretching and hydrating help. I can add vitamins and potassium (not bananas!!!). Cut out the “adult beverages” which is no fun, and no smoking (that’s actually a good idea). There’s so much information on the “stuperweb” that a person can become well versed in how to avoid injuries. I am not one of those persons. I don’t know if I am just lazy, or I just don’t think about GTS. (We all should know by now that GTS=Google that S**T) I may have to investigate Yoga, (Yogurt as we like to call it in our family), but I am afraid of farting throughout the whole session. I am an old fart anyway, and that’s enough for me.
I’m not gonna lie, I probably won’t do anything except fight through the injuries. Ask my wife and she’ll tell you; I am as stubborn as they come and just as dumb to boot. She is the type to make the changes necessary to avoid the above mentioned. I am not. I won’t stop playing the game I absolutely cannot live without just for a dumb injury. I would rather forgo my golfer’s tan and wear the compression sleeve and forearm band. Medicated pads fit well under a compression sleeve too. I must come to terms with it. Like we all must come to terms with the declining swing speeds and distance loss as we age. It’s golf, and I can’t or won’t sit on the sidelines, I will be involved and play every chance I get.