When golfers and injuries play match play

GOLFERS ARE STRANGE creatures.

- Rahil Gangjee

We can read a green from 40 feet away but completely fail to read the warning signs in our own bodies. Pain? Tightness? Swelling? Must be a “small niggle.” Golfer translation: “I’ll worry about it after the round... or after the season... or never.”My ankle, however, does not speak golfer. It speaks very clear, very fluent “STOP.”

It first staged a full-blown strike in 2022 after months of hopping across time zones like a golf-playing migratory bird. Eight months of rest followed—an eternity for any pro.

Back then, I thought life as I knew it was over. What was I going to do without tournaments? What would my clubs think of this betrayal?

But rest, apparently, is nature’s steroids. When I returned, I played some of my best golf—stronger, calmer, and actually sleeping at normal human hours. Turns out, love, family, and proper food do wonders when you’re not living out of a suitcase.

Fast-forward to 2025, and the ankle has resurfaced again. The good news? This time, I caught it early. No dramatic collapse, no eight-month exile, no existential crisis about becoming a full-time couch philosopher. Just a clear message from the universe: “Son, pause. Not stop.”

The golfer-injury club (lifetime membership, no annual fee)

If it makes me feel any better—and it does—golf history is basically one long injury-comeback highlight reel.