Playing golf with blisters is no fun. In fact, most things are less pleasant with blisters on your hands or feet, and I have a blister at the moment of writing this article.
Jokes aside (I do really have a blister though), you are probably wondering how to golf with blisters in the most comfortable, painless way possible. In this article, you will learn all of the methods to comfortably golf with blisters.
What is a Blister in Golf?
A blister is a small accumulation of serum under your skin, caused by friction, rubbing or burning. Blisters are painful when pressed, and the skin over the liquid usually dies. When blisters pop, your flesh is exposed, causing risks of infection. Blisters usually appear on either your hands or your feet.
How To Golf With Blisters?
Add Padding to your Hands
Ideally, to let your blisters heal, you should take a 1-2 week break from golf.
However, you did not come to this article to hear that. If you are going to golf with blisters anyways instead of letting them rest, then the most important thing to do is to add padding.
For example, you should wear gloves on your hands that have blisters to cushion the golf club in your hands. With direct contact against your skin, golf clubs are much more likely to pop your blisters, dig into them, or give you more blisters.
If you do not know how to choose a golf glove size, read our article: How To Size A Golf Glove?.
On top of wearing gloves, you can wear a bandaid directly on your blister to ease pain and prevent infections if your flesh is exposed. Thicker bandaids will reduce the blister pain more than thinner bandaids.
Furthermore, there exist special bandaids that are specifically meant to help with blister pain. Although they are more expensive than regular bandaids, blister bandaids offer the best blister relief money can buy, even if it is not as much as one could hope for.
To avoid the bandaid from moving, you can wear a golf glove over it, or tape it down with some sort of athletic tape.
Add Padding to your Feet
If you are unlucky, and have blisters on your feet, you need to make sure you have the right golf shoe size. Shoes that are too big or too small will give you blisters either because your foot is moving too much in the shoe, or there is too much pressure against your feet.
If you do not know how to choose a golf shoe size, read our article: How To Size A Golf Shoe?.
Furthermore, there exist anti-blister socks that are designed to reduce the chances of having blisters.
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.
Skip Practice Shots
The second way to golf with blisters is to shoot less shots. If you have blisters, you need to give them time to rest, so you should probably avoid practice shots. By skipping practice and only shooting in tournament play, you are giving your blisters at least a little time to heal.
If you are taking more than 300-500 practice golf shots a week, your hands will hurt, your blisters will not heal, and you will likely get more blisters.
Next, don’t pop your blisters if you can help it. Popping your blisters will expose your flesh, setting you up for a risk of infection. If you let your areas affected by blisters rest, the blisters should go away naturally within 1-2 weeks.
If your blister does pop, let it drain. Shortly after, clean it thoroughly with water to make sure there are no contaminants on your exposed flesh. Next, apply disinfectant, and wrap up the blister with a bandaid.
At night, remove your bandaid to let the blister breathe. If you keep your bandaid on overnight, some more of your skin will die, and you will finder your finger all white the next morning. The pain of a popped blister is more intense, but if covered up well, it should hinder your performance less than a bubbled blister.
Final Thoughts
Although the methods outlined and described above will help ease your blister pain, whether on your hands or feet, it is best to prevent blisters from appearing in the first place.
It is important that you give your blisters 1-2 weeks to rest and heal naturally, and to avoid friction, and practice shots as much as you can. Wear padding, such as bandages and gloves, on your body parts that are susceptible to getting blisters.
If you would like to know the best ways to prevent blisters so that you will never experience blister pain again, read our article: How To Prevent Golf Blisters?.
Conclusion
There you go! After reading this article, you have learned that the best way to not feel blister pain is to prevent them from appearing.
You have also learned that blisters should not be popped, and that if they do, you need to disinfect them and wrap them up with bandaids.
Finally, you learned that to reduce blister pain and still be able to play golf, by wearing gloves, anti-blister socks, bandaids, and other types of padding.
How often do you get blisters from playing golf? What do you do to soothe your blisters? Let us know in the comments down below!
