In pain

Yesterday I played in a Tournament. Today my feet are bruised and swollen. What can I do to prevent this from happining in the future? It is so bad that I can barely get my shoes on.

[JeremyRogers]

sounds like you got some soft feet

[Donny Olow]

Make sure your shoes are not on too tight. Dry socks help. At the very least , take a Tylenol tablet.

[Lotto]

buy quality shoes.

[Mike]

I'm guessing it was the tournament at Hudson Mills? I have never had swollen or bruised feet, but I do have a really bad ankle that is a little arthritic and gets swollen when I play. Hudson Mills are fairly long and demanding courses in the snow. My ankle gets pretty swollen during tournaments, especially the two round tourneys. Over the break when I sit and eat lunch it will stiffen up, then when I get back up it hurts until I get it moving again. After every tourney or a long day out at a big course such as Mills, Flip, Ludington, I head home take a few advil and put my foot/ankle in a ice bath until it is numb, then elevate it. Usually by the next day it is feeling as normal as it should considering what it has been thru.

Playing in snow especially 5-6+" is hard on your joints and muscles, not to mention you sweat just to walk through it. Keeping that in mind, you can get dehydrated playing in this environment and need to make sure you drink plenty of water to keep your joints/muscles hydrated, and consume some food that has a good amount of protien and carbs. This is not to say you didn't, but keeping hydrated and your body fueled right can make a big difference on how your body feels when you are done and even the day after.

Lastly, wear the appropriate footwear. Would you go hiking on a mountain in bowling shoes? Of course not, your feet would hurt and be blistered. I have a few pairs of different seasonal dg shoes. Light waterproof hiking boots for this white stuff, and some different hiking shoes for summer. Obviously in our sport we are walking a few miles, in some cases, every round we play. More times than not we are cross country walking and in some cases hill climbing. With the condition of my ankle this has made me really conscious of the footwear I use because it makes a huge differance in the pain I suffer after a round. I know some guys (with 2 good ankles) that play in Converse All-Stars and skate shoes all year round and they say shoes don't matter, but in my case it is the difference between playing every few days or, being able to play everyday without tremendous pain.

Other than these things I think it is just conditioning to get your body ready for tournaments. Be ready to stand on your feet all day and possibly play 48 holes in one day. Most times we just go play 18 with friends we are not experiencing what we will endure in tournament play. For bigger tournaments I also carry a tripod stool to be able to sit when I can and get the weight off of my ankle, feet, legs, that helps a lot on the long days when you are standing around waiting on tee pads where there aren't benches, or the benches are taken.

[mark ellis]

Bruised and swollen from a one day tournament? Did you go barefoot and climb a mountain? Did a band of Pygmys beat on your feet with sticks? Were you wearing your girlfriend's spike heels? How can this be?

There must be more to this story.

[Wicked Dyes]

Thanks Mike. I have played 36 holes in one day before but maybe I do need to work on my conditioning. I've got great boots. I do need a seat to carry around to rest on.

No Mark I didn't get beat up by Pygmys or wear my wife's spike heels ( would be interesting to play a round in though, just kidding).

Since this forum is going anyone got tips on conditioning for tournaments? Any suggested places to pick up a nice tripod seat?

[Lotto]

Cassidy Mayne said:

Thanks Mike. I have played 36 holes in one day before but maybe I do need to work on my conditioning. I've got great boots. I do need a seat to carry around to rest on.

No Mark I didn't get beat up by Pygmys or wear my wife's spike heels ( would be interesting to play a round in though, just kidding).

Since this forum is going anyone got tips on conditioning for tournaments? Any suggested places to pick up a nice tripod seat?

www.huklab.com has the trendy discgolf chair.

[Eric Ritchie]

Huk lab makes a very nice tripod seat, very durable, and light as well..

[eric beich]

you are either in pain in your pic, or are getting a beej.

[Mike]

I use a Camp Time tripod seat with the Huk Lab name on it, it is nice, very light. I would say don't limit yourself to a tripod seat though. Some players (like Mark) use a foldable seat that is just as portable but is not a tripod, they have rectangular supports, some are four legged, wood, or aluminum, with a cloth seat area. These work so much better to set your bag on and are stable on more types of terrain than the tripod stools are (the tripods can be a bit of a balancing act on un-even ground). If I were to buy a new stool, that is what I would get. The tripods are "cool" but lack a little on the useability scale. I don't know how big you are but bigger guys don't find the tripods very comfortable due to the design of the seat area, and they are only rated for like 225lbs or something like that.

[Jack Davis]

yep you need good shoes i would imagine. Also get you some BIO-FREEZE for your aches and pains, I love that stuff.

[Terry "the Pirate" Calhoun]

Feet are my weakness. Keep the information going, folks.