ANY TOUGHER THEY’D RUST

The widely held notion by non-golfers that our sport is an “old person’s game”, as we know, is so far from the truth it’s not funny. Sure, a vast majority of players at club level (and the readers of golf magazines) come from the 40 to 65 years demographic but that hardly means we’re all packing walking sticks in the golf bag.

In my experience, golfers are as tough as nails. I’m not suggesting for one minute we’re all finely tuned athletes, but when it comes to playing with an injury or ailment golfers tend to grit their teeth and battle on regardless.

When I was a teenager I recall playing a weekend competition round with one of the club’s senior members – a knockabout bloke who played as many as five games a week and always seemed to be off a 27-handicap, despite winning more than his fair share of chooks in the Friday ‘chicken run’. On this particular day he started with an even mix of three pointers and wipes and in between shots he was knocking down Quik-Eze tablets like they were lollies to quell a supposed bout of indigestion. At the end of the round he signed for 38 points, saying “that might be good enough for a ball” and headed off home. En route he stopped at the doctor and discovered he had been having a heart attack for the past four hours out on the course. He underwent triple by-pass surgery the next day and was back the following month playing the monthly medal. It may not surprise you to learn he lived for another 10 years before the schooners and smokes eventually caught up with him. He suffered another heart attack, a fatal one, whilst on the golf course.

On another occasion I was involved in an incident that still brings tears to my eyes. I smashed a drive low out of the heel off the 7th tee at the local course and hit a guy, standing beside the 6th green about 40 metres away. The ball didn’t hit him just anywhere; it smacked him right in the testicles. As you can imagine, he went down like the proverbial bag of poo but after a few minutes he was bravely on his feet. Someone offered to drive him back to the clubhouse but he soldiered on and finished the round.

Now that is tough.

While we probably all know someone at our club or in a social club that has battled on to complete a round despite injury, the feat of Tiger Woods at the US Open to play, against doctor’s orders, with a fractured tibia and ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee took tough to a new level.

Ben Hogan was the tough guy of his era, having overcome near fatal injuries to his legs in a car accident to come back and play career-best golf. He went on to win a further five major championships.

It has been documented in recent times that as many as 40 per cent of players on the US PGA Tour continue playing with some sort of injury. The most common problems are back and shoulder pain but these guys keep playing … it’s their job and the rewards for playing and succeeding are great.

Again, Tiger is a great example. He confessed after his latest round of surgery that he had been playing with pain in his left knee “for 10 or 12 years”. Forget that he has won 14 majors in that time; he has toughed out every round with a dicky knee for his entire professional career. That’s tough!

However, it seems only when a golfer suffers an out-of-the-ordinary injury, like Tiger, that people (nongolfers specifically) start to understand that golf is not simply a stroll in the park and a certain amount of athleticism is required. Tiger is not the first, nor will he be the last, to succumb to the tremendous strains the golf swing can put on your body. Years of intense practice and playing at the highest level have meant some of the game’s biggest names like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman have had to go under the surgeon’s knife to fix their broken bodies.

Yes, all golfers, generally, are made from pretty tough stuff. But if, like me, you tweak a muscle or wrench your back during a round and keep playing, don’t expect any sympathy when you get home.

Do you have a story of a golfer who has overcome injury to fi nish or win a round of golf? Have you ever played through the pain just to get your weekly round of golf in? Let me know you story at golf@wolseleymedia.com.au