GEOLOGY AND GOLF COURSES: REASONS WHY STRUCTURAL FEATURES CAN CAUSE GOLFERS INJURIES

There are many common sports injuries associated with playing golf. To avoid most of the more common golf injuries which orthopedists and chiropractors treat they often recommend warmup exercises before going out for their round of golf in order to prevent an injury occurrence. Handouts will be available. Golf course layouts resemble things we learned in structural geology class. Specifically mapping. For example, in golf, putting greens exhibit grass angle paths which resemble tight glacial striations. And if you took a compass to measure strike/dip angles on sides of fairways there can be readings similar to ones you get from outcrops, but not always as high a degree angle. Fairway slope angles are kept to lower degree ranges in order to keep the golf ball on or close to the fairway. But best measurements are seen at the bunker lip/surrounding grass junction. Medical geology comes into play specifically by how a golfer might get hurt while playing golf, and where. Injuries are sometimes incurred as a result of the courses natural playing conditions, whereby the golfer does not compensate for the condition. An example of this is when a golfer has to adjust his stance, and the golfer loses his balance. Sand bunkers are also good examples where injuries occur, because different ranges of coarse to fine-grained sands constitute bunkers. In turn, auditing environmental conditions relative to a golf course's structural features is becoming popular whereby a bunkers integrity becomes assessed through sieve samples collected that ID the sand grain size consistency. This in turn gives a geologist an idea as to how the grains could play a part when determining factors involved in safety, based on granule content, the bunkers lip height, dip angle, and the estimated swing mph force a golfer uses to strike his golf shot over the sandtrap bunker lip onto the green.