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A quiet round of golf is a popular way to relax for many Australians, but experts warn the sport can be so loud it could leave players deaf.
Doctors in the United Kingdom say modern titanium clubs create a "sonic boom" when they connect with the ball, which is so loud it could shatter golfers' eardrums.
Some believe the risk of going deaf is so great they have advised golfers to wear earplugs to tee off. Experts have identified at least one case of a golfer they believe has hearing damage as a result of using a titanium driver.
But Pete's Golf PGA professional Peter Radford said manufacturers were working on making titanium drivers quieter.
"When titanium first came out they were trying to make a big head so they stretched the metal further and further . . . and the early ones did make a lot of noise," he said. "But every generation of clubs is quieter."
Most golfers associate a satisfying impact noise with a good shot, so manufacturers strive to produce clubs with a sound that is music to a golfer's ears.
"The new Callaway FITQ's big selling point is that it's quieter than the Callaway FIT," Radford said.
Doctors at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the UK conducted tests on titanium and stainless steel drivers after a 55-year-old golfer complained of unexplained ringing and reduced hearing in his right ear.
He'd been playing golf with a King Cobra LD titanium driver three times a week for 18 months and said the noise was "like a gun going off" and had become so unpleasant he had discarded the club.
The doctors could find no other physical explanation for the golfer's hearing loss.
When tested, the titanium drivers made a much louder sound than the steel-headed clubs.
The doctors' report, published in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal, concluded "caution should be exercised by golfers who play regularly with thin-faced titanium drivers".
Report co-author Dr Malcolm Buchanan said the sound from thin-faced titanium drivers could induce temporary or permanent cochlear damage.
"Wearing earplugs is a possibility, although it might be a bit too radical for some," he said.
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