Yes, we’ve found another set of studies on golf violence, and yes, most of them have ‘cute’ names because they involve children:

Let’s cover each of these in turn:

The “swing-ding”: a golf-related head injury in children

Apparently, golf violence harms so many children that doctors have invented a ‘cute’ name for golf club injuries - the ‘swing-ding’. From the study: “This golf club-inflicted injury occurs when a child stands too close to a swinging golfer and is struck in the head.”

Our most important takeaways from this study are that “all but one injury occurred in the child’s own backyard” and “there was no direct supervision by an adult in any of the cases.” Think about that - children were left around unsupervised around unsecured golf clubs, and ended up with skull fractures.

Children’s misadventures with golfing equipment

Again, another ‘cute’ name, and again, injuries were caused by unsecured golf clubs. From the study:

  • Children aged 5-9 years made up most of the cohort (53.1%).
  • Head injuries were the most common reason for presentation (84.4%)
  • Being struck by an object (96.8%) was the most frequent cause of injury

We assume that “being struck by an object” isn’t the random coincidence of a golf club falling off a shelf, but rather the violent act of someone using the club to strike these children’s heads.

Importantly, “cases occurring during golf play or practice or at a golf course were excluded from the analysis.” That means all of these cases are once again occurring off the golf course, likely due to children left unsupervised with unsecured golf equipment.

Fore! A 10-year Analysis of Golf-related Facial Fractures

Another golf joke attempting to make light of a serious topic. Our takeaways:

  • “Although accounting for about 10% of total players, patients under 18, commonly referred to as “junior golfers,” comprised 55.3% of the cohort.”
  • “[injuries] most commonly result from clubs (63.2%), balls (23.7%), and falls (11.4%).”

We’ll just quote the entire conclusion here:

” Facial fractures resulting from golf clubs and balls may not be as common as in other traditionally identified “high-impact sports,” but they affect pediatric patients disproportionately and with a greater morbidity. Parents and children engaging the sport should be aware of the risk of head trauma, especially with any form of off-course participation.”

Once again, the study mentions “off-course participation”. Noticing a trend here? Perhaps we need laws requiring parents to lock up their clubs when not in use?

We are only able to see this trend in the mechanisms behind golf violence because we have this data to look at. These are the studies we found from doctors and institutions who had a passing interest in golf-related injuries.

This data is not by any means comprehensive. To quote the last study: “Limitations of this study relate to the NEISS database, […] the NEISS may underestimate the number of golf-related injuries.” Who knows what other trends we might find if the CDC actually studied golf violence.