If you have ever had an inconvenient blister while golfing, you know how painful and troublesome this can be.

Golf blisters are common; trust us, you’re not the only one. Even great players have a round or a practice session that results in a blister from time to time.

In our guide featuring the top ways to treat and prevent blisters from golfing, you will learn how to protect yourself before you head out to the golf course again.

Most Common Areas Golfers Get Blisters

There are two main areas where golfers will get blisters when playing golf, and that is on their hands and their feet. The skin friction in these two areas ends up causing blisters that can keep you off the course for several days.

Hands

The number one reason golfers wear golf gloves is to prevent blisters in their hands. Skin friction from one finger to another and between the grip and the fingers will create a blister on the hand. This is why you will see players with adhesive tape on their fingers to try and prevent this rubbing between these areas.

Feet

A typical 18-hole golf course covers about five miles of turf. This is a long time to wear golf shoes. Golf shoes have come a long way in regards to comfort, but a blister on one of your toes or the heel of your foot is a real nuisance. Foot blisters typically happen when golf shoes get wet or if they are not correctly fit to a golfer’s foot.

Best Ways to Treat Blisters Formed From Golfing

Once you get a blister, you must deal with the treatment to be able to enjoy a round of golf again. Here are a few of the best ways to treat blisters formed from golfing.

Wear a Golf Glove Consistently

Once you have a blister, try to keep your golf glove on to prevent it from making the blister worse. The glove provides a layer of protection you likely didn’t have earlier when the blister was created.

Use Golf Tape

Golf tape was made especially for golfers who struggle with two areas of their hand or fingers rubbing together as they swing. Golf tape can be wrapped around fingers or knuckles before the start of a round, and it can prevent a blister from getting worse.

Neosporin or Vaseline

Using Neosporin or vaseline to treat a blister will help ensure that it is adequately protected and healing. Always make sure to keep your blisters clean, so they do not get infected.

Take a Break

Sometimes the best way to treat a blister is to take a bit of a break from golf. It’s hard to accept this because we all want more time on the course. However, if you give a blister a few days, it may heal on its own.

Bandaids & Blister Bandages

There are many bandaids and blister bandages that you can apply to a blister on your hand or your foot. These help to protect as they offer cushioned protection and relief from the pain. Be sure to change them often, so they don’t get dirty.

Keep Hands Clean

The only thing worse than having a blister is having a blister that gets infected. The goal of blister treatment for golfers is to get back out on the golf course as soon as possible.

As soon as you feel comfortable enough to hold a golf club or putting your feet in your shoes, you will want to get out there; just be sure to keep the blister as clean as possible. Blisters will be faster healing if they are kept free from bacteria.

How to Prevent Getting Golf Blisters in The Future

Now that you know why golfers get blisters and how to treat golf blisters, it’s also helpful to know how to prevent them. Here are some of the top ways to prevent a blister from happening, so you never have to deal with this pain.

Keep Your Hands & Feet Dry

Wet conditions will absolutely cause blisters. I once played in a tournament with a very good pair of golf shoes that I assumed were waterproof. By the end of the round, my shoes were soaked; I had thin socks on and a bunch of blisters on my heel.

It was incredibly painful, and it took a lot of extra padding in my shoes the next day to even convince me to go on the course. If anybody tries to convince you rain gloves or waterproof golf shoes aren’t worth it, they are wrong!

Purchase Good Socks

Some companies sell anti-blister socks or acrylic socks with extra padding. The soft texture can help decrease some of the friction in the shoe. However, ensuring that your shoe fits are also an essential step in this process.

Make Sure Your Shoes Fit

Find a golf shoe that fits. If you are in any kind of pain when you get off the golf course, chances are your shoes are not a good match. With all the different brands and styles available on the market, it should not be hard to find a shoe that fits.

Remember that each golf shoe manufacturer will have slightly different sizing, so you have to be careful when switching from one brand to the next.

Use Foot Powder

A good foot powder can help create an environment in your shoes where a blister is less likely to occur. In addition, golfers that can find a great orthotic and wear that in their shoes will also experience fewer blisters on their feet.

Wear a Glove

Wearing a glove is one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent blisters. When you wear a glove, you won’t have to worry about grip pressure as much, and many gloves are moisture-wicking to help keep your hands dry.

For beginners trying to keep blisters away, the idea of wearing winter gloves or rain gloves during a long practice session can help. Try to be realistic about the amount of time you spend practicing, so it doesn’t end up hurting you.

Regrip Often

New golf grips make it easier to release some grip pressure and get a better handle on the golf club. You won’t be as inclined to hold onto the club with the index finger or the right hand nearly as strongly as you do with an old grip.

In addition, old grips can hold on to dirt, sand, and bacteria making it even worse to heal a blister should you get one. For avid golfers, regripping a few times a year is expected.

Don’t Practice For Too Long

Golf practice is important and something that you should be doing. However, there is absolutely a thing as too much practice. If you spend too much time practicing, expect to get blisters that will make your next rounds of golf even more painful.

One way to avoid blisters is to break up how you are practicing. Hit a few drivers, some iron shots, and then head over to the putting green for ten minutes. Once you are done there, go to the chipping green and then back to the driving range.

This type of practice routine takes some of the stress off your hands, and it will also help you bring what you have learned to the golf course.

Brittany Olizarowicz

Britt O has been playing golf since the age of 7. Almost 30 years later, she still loves the game, has played competitively on every level, and spent a good portion of her life as a Class A PGA Professional. Britt currently resides in Savannah, GA, with her husband and two young children. Current Handicap: 1

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As part of an exclusive new series focusing on the next generation of young talent in the south-east, Golf News introduces James Herne, a three-year-old from West Sussex who is already attracting national attention for both his precocious talent and his sheer love of the game

While golf has seen its fair share of prodigies – Tiger Woods shot 48 on a 9-hole course aged three, and Rory McIlroy was filmed chipping balls into his mum’s washing machine on a TV show as a nine-year-old schoolboy – it is still pretty rare to find someone who has only just learned to walk demonstrating a preternatural talent for a sport as technically demanding as golf.

That is what makes James Herne’s story so compelling. The youngster from Worthing in West Sussex has only just celebrated his third birthday, but he is not only already able to swing a golf club with impressive consistency, but he’s already driving balls 40 yards down the fairway and registering ball speeds of more than 45mph on a simulator.

INSPIRED BY WATCHING THE PROS ON TV

The spark that ignited James’s love of the game was first lit watching golf on television while visiting his grandparents. James’s dad, who is also called James, remembers the moment clearly. “One day we were round my in-laws and they had the golf on the telly,” explains James Snr. “He was immediately drawn to the TV and started to mirror the swing of the golfers.”

From there, his interest only deepened. James’s grandfather, John Black, a keen golfer himself, first took him down to the putting green at the local club shortly after his first birthday and bought the youngster his first set of clubs.

“He was hitting the ball properly, even at that young age,” Black recalls. “Every time we ask him what he wants to do, he says he wants to play golf.”

Now a junior member at Worthing Golf Club in West Sussex – where he could well be the youngest member in the country – James practices three or four times a week on the range and out on the club’s par-3 course, where he regularly plays alongside kids two or three times his age.

KEEPING IT FUN

To help guide this early promise, James is being coached by former tour player, and Worthing Golf Club’s resident PGA Head Professional, Peter Tarver-Jones, who has introduced many young players to the game, but has never taught anyone quite so young.

Tarver-Jones, who joined Worthing when he was just 12, is unequivocal in his praise for his youngest ever pupil. “James’s enthusiasm and his understanding of the game are great,” he says. “Difficult things like his putting pace control – he’s got it. For such a young age, his co-ordination is exceptional. I’ve never heard of anyone as young as James doing this well. It’s really impressive.”

Despite the attention, both coach and family are determined to keep things in perspective. Tarver-Jones emphasises that the priority is enjoyment: “You just want to make sure he has fun and enjoys it at the moment. It’s not all about golf, we also working on his balance, jumping, agility, even throwing and catching. It all helps develop the physical skills and the co-ordination required to swing a club.”

James’s father echoes that sentiment. “There is no ‘Project Tiger Woods’ at work here – we’re just supporting a child doing what he loves. Initially, my wife and I thought his ability was normal, but then every time someone would see him, they would say ‘wow’.

“With kids these days everything now is with a mobile phone or a games console – but I’d like to keep him away from that for as long as possible. The main thing is that he enjoys it, it keeps him outside, and it keeps him loving golf.”

Whether James becomes a household name to rank alongside Tiger or Rory, or even matches the talents of home-grown Worthing Golf Club stars such as Marco Penge and Gary Evans, remains to be seen, but for now, his story encapsulates exactly what the Next Generation series hopes to celebrate: a genuine passion for the game, fostered in the right environment, and grounded in fun, family and fresh air.

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