Tom Tucker is the current Teaching Professional at the Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility, located at 5141 Batavia Elba Townline Rd, Batavia, NY . Mr. Tucker was formerly the GM at Fifty Four Flags in Akron, NY, the Teaching Professional at the Batavia Country Club , Batavia NY and was the Head Golf Coach for Genesee Community College from 2009 – 2011. Coach Tucker was named 2011 NJCAA Division 3 Region 3 Coach of The Year.
Two weeks ago, during a putting lesson on one of our hot summer days, an
older student suffered from heat exhaustion symptoms. Disorientation, clammy
skin, dizziness, and general discomfort. After a short amount of time the symptoms
subsided and a few minutes in our air conditioned shop and some hydration got him
back into good shape.
Last Wednesday, I found out firsthand how debilitating this is.
I had done a couple of putting lessons on our putting green, which is in an area that
doesn’t get much breeze. At the end of the lesson, all of a sudden I felt so dizzy that
I had to make my way to shade and lay down.
While I was lying prostate in the shade, my student asked me if I was OK, I replied yes,
and he pressed payment for the lesson into my sweaty palm.
Actually, even in my semi delirious state, that struck me as humorous.
Anyway, it was about ten minutes before I could get up and walk 10 paces to
my car and turn on the air conditioning, and another 15 minutes of that before I had the
energy to put my clubs in my truck and drive 50 yards to our pro shop.
Then I worked a four shift in our air conditioned shop, cancelled my evening lessons,
and called it quits for the day.
It took about a day to recover from what I’m sure was heat exhaustion.
My message is very simple: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate if you are going to play
or practice on these hot steamy days, and the minute you start to feel dizzy
or queasy, get into some air conditioning or some shade and hydrate some more.
While playing and practicing outdoors in warm weather should not necessarily
be avoided, it has to be respected. Hydrate and wear a hat, and a cool, wet hand towel
draped around your neck also helps.
Enjoy this beautiful golf weather, but please be careful.
Tom
