Congratulations to Australian Golfer Jason Day on his triumph in the US PGA Championship overnight. After coming so close on a number of occasions in previous Majors tournaments Jason triumphed in emphatic fashion, posting the best ever score LOWEST EVER score in Golfing majors history.

In light of Jason’s victory we felt it was prudent to discuss golf at Eastern Foot Care. Our sports podiatrists see a large number of golfers with some high quality public courses nearby (Ringwood Golf Course, Dorset Golf Course) and world-class member-based clubs in the area also (Heritage, Yering Meadows).

In fact Eastern Foot Care principal podiatrist Mr Tony Massarotti was previously employed at Huntingdale Golf Course! Not sure about his golfing ability these days however…

In any case our golfers typically present with the standard range of overuse injuries seen in much of the athletic population, including:

• – Plantar fasciitis
• – Metatarsalgia-type conditions including plantar plate tears, intermetatarsal bursitis/Morton’s neuroma etc…
• – Achilles tendinopathy
• – Etc…

What many golfers don’t consider is the high number of kilometers they will typically walk over 18 holes of golf. Of course this depends on how well one is hitting the ball on the day… One problem we find is that many golfers do not consider the shoes they are using for golf, and quite often have the same pair on the go from 15 years ago.

Golf footwear should essentially fulfill the requirements of a comfortable walking shoe, whilst maintaining a level of waterproofness and provide increased traction for playing shots. The vast majority of existing golf shoes that we see at Eastern Foot Care do not fulfill those criteria.

When purchasing new golf shoes we recommend:

• – Waterproof upper
• – A cushioned midsole, EVA or PU
• – A heel pitch of around 10-14mm
• – Be torsionally stable

There is increasingly a shift amongst professional golfers to wear a running-shoe inspired golf shoe, and we would encourage our patients to follow this trend.

Some key brands to look our for include FootJoy, Ecco and Nike. As a general rule we recommend discussing your specific requirements with the Sports Podiatrists at Eastern Foot Care who can direct you to an appropriate golf shoe.