|
IT'S 130 DEGREES OUTSIDE---- LET'S PLAY GOLF
"Golf is a good walk spoiled," said Mark Twain. I suspect Mr. Twain
never played golf in the Coachella Valley in summer heat. However, golfers are
strange people, known to defy logic when it comes to extremes of weather.
Multi-color golf balls are ideal Christmas presents for those folks who can't
give up the game. While iridescent orange is difficult to miss in a snow drift,
in summer heat in the valley, the ball could melt!
The Coachella Valley is known as the "Golf Capitol of the World" with
an extensive menu of over 90 courses (and growing), from private, resort,
semi-private, public and municipal to choose from. Millions of people, mainly
golfers, flock to the valley 'in season.' The season is easily described: the
weather is perfect, the mountains snow-capped, the restaurants are open and the
fairways are green. A round of golf, in season, could lighten your wallet by
about $200..... that's per person, not a foursome.
Then there's the summer. If the course is open, you can probably play it for a
fee that will not bankrupt your grandchildren's trust funds. The hottest prize
in town is a 6 am tee time. If you play your cards rights, and don't putt
everything out, you could be back under cover by 8:00 in the morning. Once your
body temperature has cooled, you can then plan your day, preferably inside; a
car, a house, a mall. Mad dogs, Englishmen and golfers go out in the noonday
sun.
The temperature reaches the century mark just about the time my golf score is
hitting 100. Heat stroke is no joke. It is seriously recommended that you drink
eight glasses of water a day. Eight is not enough when you exercise, even if
it's only walking from a golf cart to the green. More water is needed to keep
your body temperature regulated and carry nutrients and oxygen to your cells as
well as cushioning joints and protecting organs and tissues.
Cold water is best, as the body absorbs water immediately. Gatorade or other
sports drinks contain glucose and absorb more slowly. If you have not yet
developed a taste for just plain water, dilute a sports drink with half water.
Eight cups of coffee or tea per day don't count! Water does. Drinking alcohol on
a golf course should be avoided. No need for stationary or roving bar carts
here.
Tony Schieffer is the head pro at the Shadow Mountain Golf Club in Palm Desert.
"We've got members who love to walk," Schieffer noted. "That's
one of the advantages of playing at Shadow Mountain... we allow and encourage
members to walk. However, in summer weather, even the diehards travel the course
by cart."
"In the extreme heat of summer, we start tee times at 6 am," Schieffer
said. Schieffer recommends wearing loose, light-colored clothing and wide
brimmed hats. Dampening clothing whenever possible helps keep the body's
temperature down. Of particular important is drinking more fluids in hot weather
before you feel thirsty. If you feel thirsty, it could be too late. Your body
may already be on its way to heatstroke or sunstroke.
"It's the people from out of town who really need to be cautious,"
Schieffer warned. "If they've come from a more humid climate, you know when
you're hot if your clothes are soaking wet. You don't feel it as quickly in the
dry heat. That's when you could get in serious trouble."
Bill and I love to walk golf courses. After much consideration, we chose Shadow
Mountain when we moved to the desert two years ago. Our main criteria--- we can
walk the golf course, a luxury not permitted on the vast majority of Coachella
Valley golf courses. We get to play a game we love, while getting a decent
amount of exercise. If you play the way I do..... from one side of the fairway
to the other, you get twice as much exercise.
We've been fortunate enough to have visited courses throughout the country.
We've walked most of them. We even got to live our dream trip when we played
golf in Scotland. You have to walk there. We draw the line when it gets too hot,
which it is now. Right now it's about 105. We're about ready to head out to play
golf. We're taking lots of water, ice, bug spray and towels to moisten out there
on the links ---- as we RIDE the course.
Golf in the heat of the desert is doable.... Just be cautious. You've had a
successful day when your blood pressure stays in check, you play to your
handicap and the stock market goes higher than your front nine.
###
|
