Is Golf Driving You Deaf? Maybe!

Regular visitors may know I’m no fan of golf. It’s dangerous, if you ride instead of walking. And even if you walk, it can still have ill effects. For instance, it can make you deaf. In their Christmas issue last year, the British Medical Journal carried a short article on this topic.

A group of otorhinolaryngologists and audiological scientists from Norfolk, UK, described a patient who presented with tinnitus and reduced hearing in his right ear. He had been playing golf with a King Cobra LD titanium club, 3 times a week for 18 months, and he said the noise from the club hitting the ball was like a gun going off. After excluding other possible causes, the experts concluded the unilateral hearing loss, confirmed by audiograms, was due to the noise made by the golf club.

The next step was to examine the sound levels produced by different drivers – 6 thin-faced titanium drivers and 6 standard thicker-faced stainless steel drivers. The thin-faced titanium clubs all produced louder sound levels than the stainless steel clubs. The experts concluded that thin-faced titanium clubs can produce sufficient noise to produce temporary, or even permanent cochlear damage in susceptible individuals.

One golfer commenting on the article claimed that the reported damage occurred on one side because the player held his head incorrectly during the stroke. Others pointed out that during a round of golf, a player will probably only use their driver once every 10 minutes; even during a practice session, few players will hit more than 20-30 shots with their driver. In other words, the risk of deafness is very slight.

Be that as it may, I still think golf can be a dangerous sport, and I shall delay taking it up until I’m over 80, and reckless.