Golfing is fast becoming the quintessential sport – whether for business, sport, or recreation. Golfing presents a complex environment where playing conditions are affected by colors, lighting, and textures. The visual requirement is also variable: whether assessing the drive distance at several hundred yards, addressing the ball at 5-6 feet, or keeping score or reviewing the course layout at arm’s length. Choosing the right eyewear is essential whether you play for leisure or are a pro-athlete.
How to Choose the right golf wear?
Frames: Good athletic/sports frames are flexible, lightweight and conform well to the face curvature. A flexible frame withstands the rigors of the sport – in some cases, nylon or plastic frames may be preferred to flexible metal frames. Lightweight frames are more comfortably worn for extended periods and also resists slipping in down-gaze for e.g. when addressing the ball. Frames that closely follow the rounded contour of the face provide more complete protection from harmful UV, HEV blue light, distracting stray light entering from the side or behind. They also increases peripheral vision since the frame is not in your field of view.
Lenses: Advances in lens design technology allow curved lenses to match curved frames without creating distortion, or increasing edge thickness. A digital (high definition) lens design will eliminate peripheral distortion. An adequately sized lens provides wider fields of eye to combat the constant eye movements from the sky to the green without losing sight of the ball. Presbyopic golfers need help for distance (the drive), intermediate(addressing the ball), near (scoring or menu reading) as well as unrestricted peripheral vision. In general, by design normal progressive lenses tend to make these distances blurry and/or exhibit peripheral distortion. However, recent PALs designed specifically for golfing, such as the Shamir Golf, optimizes all three distances.
Lens options: such as tints should enhance both definition and color resulting in increased contrast (enhances ball pop against the variable colors and hues of grass on the greens) and depth of field. Newer forms of gray tints provide more uniform transmission and color enhancement, and better contrast for more ball visibility. Photo-chromatic lenses are a great option due to their adaptability to changing light conditions.
Polarization, while useful for reducing glare especially from lawn or water, makes assessing surface contour and wind direction more difficult. So, while they may be useful for an occasional golfer, polarization would be best avoided for an avid golfer.
Lastly, an appointment with your eye doctor will also assess contrast sensitivity (helps with tracking objects such as a ball in flight), eye dominance (essential to increase accuracy in lining up a shot), and eye alignment and coordination (how well both eyes are working together to judge distance and depth).
For the avid golfer seeking peak performance in their game, individually fitted prescription glasses guarantee perfect vision at all distances. Schedule a visit with our eye doctor today to stay on top of your game.
