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2 October 2026 · 8 min read

Golf injuries: the most common, how they arise and what studies say about prevention

More than half of amateurs are injured in their golfing life. Which places it hits, what helps with golfer's elbow and what studies really show about warming up.

Golf injuries: the most common, how they arise and what studies say about prevention — post image

Golf is regarded as a gentle sport. The numbers say otherwise: more than half of amateurs are injured in the course of their golfing life, and it most often hits the lower back and the elbow. That is not a warning against the sport but an invitation to know the injuries that occur most. Then much can be spotted early and some avoided.

How often golfers are injured

The best figure comes from a meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine from 2024. It evaluates 20 studies with 9,221 golfers, mean age 46.8 years. Lifetime prevalence of an injury is 56.6 per cent for amateurs and 73.5 per cent for professionals. Professionals have a 3.33 times higher risk for hand and wrist and a 3.05 times higher risk for the lower back (meta-analysis, BJSM 2024).

Three further findings from the same paper matter more to you than the prevalence. First: they are mostly soft-tissue injuries, and the diagnoses are typically non-specific. Second: frequency was associated with neither age nor sex. Third: two studies found a higher injury risk in amateurs who play more than three or four rounds a week.

How reliable the numbers are

The prevalence among amateurs, 56.6 percent, has a confidence interval of 47.4 to 65.5 percent, that among professionals, 73.5 percent, one of 47.3 to 93.0 percent. Among professionals the uncertainty is therefore large. The British survey is a retrospective online survey of 303 people recalling the last year. It shows orders of magnitude and patterns, not an exact rate for all golfers in Switzerland. And both papers count injuries, they do not explain a cause: the authors found no single trigger.

What happens in a year

A British survey from 2024 looked at the last year. 303 golfers, mostly amateurs, reported the injuries of the previous twelve months. The overall rate was 41.26 injuries per 1000 hours. The most frequent site was the lower back at 9.94 per 1000 hours, and it took 54 days on average to recover fully, with a wide spread of 89 days. Repetitive-movement injuries were twice as frequent at 22.00 per 1000 hours as acute ones at 10.79 (Epidemiology of injuries in UK based golfers).

That fits the pattern of the meta-analysis: in amateurs back and elbow lead, the diagnoses are mostly muscle strain, joint sprain or tendon irritation, and the authors found no single trigger. Anyone who strikes repeatedly loads the same structures again and again, and that is the kind of injury golfers get most.

Which body region how often

The shares by body region come from an overview by Murray and colleagues in 2017, which I described in more detail in the post Golf and back pain (British Journal of Sports Medicine 2017).

Body regionShare of injuries in amateursTypical
Spine, mainly lower back18.3 to 36.4 per centmuscle strain, irritation from the rotation
Elbow8.0 to 33.0 per centgolfer's elbow, tendon irritation on the inside
Wrist and hand10.0 to 32 per cent3.33 times more frequent in professionals
Shoulder4.0 to 18.6 per centrarer, wide range

Golfer's elbow

Golfer's elbow, medically medial epicondylitis, is golfers' elbow pain. With golfer's elbow the inside of the elbow hurts, mostly on movement or touch and when you bend the wrist. As causes the IQWiG health information names sports such as golf and throwing sports, but also manual work and work at a computer or a supermarket till (gesundheitsinformation.de).

The good news: about 80 per cent of those affected are pain-free within a year. The advice is to avoid the activities that trigger the pain at first and to strengthen the forearm with special exercises. Cortisone injections relieve the pain but can disturb the healing process. Operations are sometimes offered; their benefit has hardly been studied so far (gesundheitsinformation.de).

Golfer's elbow is rarer than its name suggests. About 2 percent of the population have tennis elbow, less than 1 percent golfer's elbow, and the symptoms mostly appear between the ages of 40 and 60. Triggers are often one-sided or heavy loads, and those exist beyond the golf course too ( gesundheitsinformation.de ). How well the treatments are backed is shown in the table:

MeasureState of the evidence according to IQWiG
Special strengthening exercises (eccentric training)effect proven
Physiotherapyeffect proven
Painkillersproven for the short term
Autologous blood injections, Botox, laser therapy, acupuncture, shockwave therapyno established effectiveness so far

The Schulthess Klinik in Zurich calls a home programme the basis of any therapy. First a break or less sporting load, then stretching: with the other hand pull the wrist in both directions for 20 to 30 seconds each. You only start strengthening after the acute pain phase, with light weights such as half-full bottles, two times 25 repetitions. At night a wrist cuff can relax the muscles, by day an elbow band can spread the load on the tendon (Schulthess Klinik).

How to prevent it, as far as the evidence goes

Here honesty is worth more than a long list. That warming up prevents injuries is not shown by the studies I read for this post. Something else is shown: a golf-specific warm-up programme raised club head speed by 12.8 per cent straight afterwards (Fradkin et al., BJSM 2004). It costs five minutes and helps the swing, and that is reason enough. What the five minutes look like is in Golf and back pain.

Three things can be derived from the numbers. First the volume: two studies found a higher risk from three to four rounds a week, and the rate of overuse injuries is twice that of acute ones. Plan rest days and count balls, not minutes, in a bay. Second resilience: strength training for legs, trunk and upper body demonstrably raises speed and distance; what it means for the injury rate is less well established. The exercises are in Golf fitness. Third technique: the load on the back can be distributed differently through posture and hip rotation, and a pro or a video sees that, not you (Filming your own swing).

When you stop and see a doctor

Sore muscles after the first round of the season are normal. Pain that stays for days, grows from shot to shot or radiates into the arm or the leg is a question for the doctor or the physiotherapist, not for the pro. With golfer's elbow: if the complaints last a long time despite rest and exercises, that is the cue for a medical assessment before anyone suggests an injection or an operation.

Anyone returning to golf with complaints can have the technique looked at. 95 of the 126 venues in the directory offer coaching, the training page lists them, and the map shows which is near you. An hour costs a median of CHF 50 per bay, and 80 of the 110 indoor venues publish the price. The first shots after a break are in the winter training plan.

Frequently asked questions

How often are golfers injured?

A 2024 meta-analysis of 20 studies and 9,221 golfers gives a lifetime prevalence of 56.6 per cent for amateurs and 73.5 per cent for professionals. In a British survey the rate was 41.26 injuries per 1000 hours.

Which injuries are most common in golf?

In amateurs the lower back and the elbow. They are mostly soft-tissue injuries such as muscle strain, joint sprain or tendon irritation. Professionals have a 3.33 times higher risk for hand and wrist and a 3.05 times higher risk for the lower back.

What is golfer's elbow and how long does it last?

Tendon irritation on the inside of the elbow, medically medial epicondylitis. About 80 per cent of those affected are pain-free within a year. Rest from the triggering activities and strengthening exercises for the forearm are recommended. Cortisone injections can disturb healing.

How many rounds a week are too many?

There is no fixed limit. Two studies in the meta-analysis found a higher injury risk in amateurs who play more than three or four rounds a week. According to the British study overuse injuries are twice as frequent as acute ones.

When do I see a doctor with golf complaints?

When pain stays for days, grows from shot to shot or radiates into the arm or leg. With golfer's elbow, when the complaints last a long time despite rest and exercises. That is a question for a doctor or a physiotherapist, not for the pro.

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