Playing golf with blisters is no fun, but can you prevent them? The short answer is yes, but the long answer is more nuanced.
In this article, you will learn how to prevent golf blisters in order to play golf comfortably and pain-free as much as possible.
Why Do I Get Blisters When I Play Golf?
Blisters arise from excessive friction or rubbing of your skin, usually on your hands, or your feet.
On top of friction, excessive sweat & moisture on your hands or feet will increase the chances of you getting painful blisters.
If you have a bad golfing grip, or you hold your club too tightly, you are setting yourself up for more blisters than you need to have. To learn the correct golfing grip, read our article: How To Hold A Golf Club Correctly?.
Furthermore, by training your golf shooting too hard, your hands will get overused, and you will get blistered. Your hands can only take so much beatings in a week. For example, if you take 500 practice shots in a single week, your hands will get sore, as well as show redness.
On top of those symptoms, you will possibly get blisters as well, which will prevent you from getting good practice in for the next 1-2 weeks. Try to keep your practice sessions at the driving range in the 50-80 total shots range.
If you do not wear golf gloves, then you playing golf without an extra layer of cushion that can absorb the pressure of the club in your hand. Not wearing golf gloves makes you more likely to get blisters. If you do not know how to choose a golf glove, read our article: How To Size A Golf Glove?.
Finally, you can get blisters on your feet as well.
If you wear golf shoes that are too big, your feet will move in the shoes, and will scratch against the shoe material, producing blisters.
If you wear golf shoes that are too small, the shoe material will put too much pressure on your feet skin, which will produce blisters as you move around and walk.
If you do not know if you have the correct golf shoe size, read our article: How To Size Golf Shoes?.
How To Prevent Golf Blisters?
To prevent golf blisters, you need to avoid the habits that increase the likelihood of getting blisters.
Wear Extra Padding
For example, you should wear a golf glove on your hands that commonly get blisters. Try to remember the last time you got a blister on your hand after playing golf. Which hand was it on? To prevent blisters, you should make it a habit to wear a golf glove on that hand.
Next, if you get blisters on specific parts of your hand, say your index finger, you should add padding to it before playing golf. Different padding options include Golfer’s Tape, bandages, athletic wrap, bandaids, etc.. One of our favorite padding solutions among those mentioned is Golfer’s Tape.
If those previous padding options do not satisfy you, there is one more solution called Athletic Cloth Finger Sleeves. These are cute little sleeves…for your fingers! These finger sleeves offer the advantage of being fully reusable, and they do not require adhesion, so they will not fall off once you sweat. If your blisters only ever appear on your fingers, then Athletic Cloth Finger Sleeves are the option for you.
Look for the Precursor Signs of Blisters
Before blisters actually appear, you kind of know that they are coming. Before blisters get materialize, your hands or fingers generally get red and sensitive. You might also see your skin start to bunch up, as if your skin had been pinched.
When these precursor signs of blisters appear, you should cease to use the affected skin areas, and let them rest. If you are in the middle of a practice session at the driving range, you need to end your session if you do not want blisters.
If you are going to keep using the affected areas anyways, at least wear some type of padding, as recommended in the previous section of this article. Any type of padding should help cushion your golf club in your hands.
If the blister is starting to appear, but not full blown yet, you should buy Blister Bandages. Although expensive for bandages, these Blister Bandages are designed to protect your blisters as much as possible from getting worse, and from letting you feel pain.
Keep Your Skin Dry
Moisture and sweat are a huge catalyst for getting new blisters, so it is important to keep your hands dry.
Dry your hands with a cloth regularly; take out your hand of your golf gloves if you have to.
In addition, your hands are not the only place where moisture lies. If you think out of the box, you will realize your golf clubs grips also accumulate moisture. Therefore, to minimize the chances of getting blisters, regularly wipe down your golf club grips during play.
Avoid playing in extremely warm weather if you wish to minimize moisture, and thus, your chances of getting blisters.
Also, consider wearing socks with breathable material rather than thick socks. Favor socks in which you will sweat less. Moisture in your shoes is a great way to get painful foot blisters.
Hold your Golf Club Correctly
You need to be holding your golf club with the correct technique if you wish to limit the amount of blisters you will get. Resting your golf club on the wrong part of your hands will create painful pressures that will bunch up your skin and cause blisters.
If you do not know how to hold a golf club with the right technique, read our article: How To Hold A Golf Club Correctly?.
In addition, you should not grip your golf club too firmly. The more pressure you exert on your golf club, the more your hand skin will tend to bunch up and create blisters.
In fact, your top hand should have the most pressure on the golf club grip, and your bottom hand, a little less pressure. Do not grip down on your golf club the hardest you can. Grip your golf club firmly, but do not get excessively tense in your arms & shoulders.
Maintain your Golf Club Grips
If your golf club grips are used up, the will be less comfortable, more irritating in your hand, and can dig into it. A golf club grip that is irritating and digging into your skin will cause blisters.
If you have an old or worn out golf grip, make sure to buy a new grip right away to replace the old one, and you will have less blisters.
Wear Golf Shoes and Socks that Fit
If your golf shoe is too big for you, your foot will move in it, and get irritated by the movement against the shoe fabric. This will cause painful blisters.
If your golf shoe is too small, your foot will be excessively pressed against the shoe fabric, and you will get irritations and excess friction when you walk or move even a little. This will cause painful blisters.
To avoid blisters on your feet, you mainly need to wear golf shoes that fit your foot right. If you do not know how to choose the right size of golf shoes for you, read our guide: How To Size Golf Shoes?.
Furthermore, you need to be mindful of your sock selection when you are playing golf. Ideally, you should avoid socks that do not go up your ankle. Without fabric on your ankle, the shoe material can dig into your skin when your ankle joint rotates, causing irritation and blisters.
To get added protection from blisters, you should buy Anti-Blister Socks.
Anti-blister socks add extra layers in key areas on your foot, and use moisture-wicking material to remove sweat and moisture from your skin. The breathable material and the other factors allow to prevent blisters and reduce pain if you already have them. We highly recommend Anti-Blister Socks.
How To Treat Golf Blisters?
There are not many ways to quickly treat golf blisters if they do arise. Unfortunately, it usually takes 1 to 2 weeks of rest and zero friction to heal blisters.
The only other thing you can consider besides rest is to add padding to your blisters in order to ease the pain and not worsen the blisters.
One great padding solution is dedicated Blister Bandages, relatively expensive bandages that protect your blisters well from pain, but will not really speed up the healing process.
Whatever you do, do not pop the blisters because that will expose your flesh to contaminants. If your blister pops, clean the flesh abundantly with water and then disinfect it.
Add a bandaid or Blister Bandage on top of your blister, and take it off while you sleep. Add another bandaid or Blister Bandage the next morning, and keep doing so until your blister heals.
If you would like to learn more in depth about playing golf with blisters, as well how to treat them, read our article: How To Golf With Blisters?.
Conclusion
There you go! After reading this article, you have learned why you get golf blisters, how to prevent blisters, and discovered many padding products that can ease your pain and recovery.
You have also learned how to treat golf blisters on your hands and feet.
Have you had blisters before from playing golf? What are your home tricks to prevent blisters? Let us know in the comments down below!
