Cooling vest: useful for golf?

[squaddie]

I was out at the range this afternoon in 95F+ temperature in Houston. I had a covered stall but it was so hot that after an hour I could barely hold onto my clubs due to the sweat. It was even hotter on the putting green, though I was not exerting myself as much. Afterwards I developed a mild headache and some dizziness, which is a symptom of heat exhaustion.

To combat the Texas heat so I can enjoy golfing better, and avoid heat exhaustion or worse, I was considering a cooling vest. I see for sale a variety of cooling vests, some passive (based on evaporation) and more expensive ones that are more active (ice-pack inserts).

Here's an example of the evaporative cooling vest on Amazon: Techniche Standard Cooling Sport Vest

Has anyone tried these vests for golf? The passive vests seem to be in use by many motorcycle riders since they have a great wind source, but I haven't seen anyone use them for golf.

A passive vest would be easy to recharge at a golf course, just douse the vest in water and you are ready to hit the fairways again.

If the vests won't work on the course I can always try to get very early morning tee-times.

[WUTiger]

When I saw the vests on the web site, one thing came to mind: Won't the vests bind up on your torso and get in the way of a smooth swing?

I appreciate your situation in Houston. I lived in Dallas, and later on in Lawton, OK., just north of Wichita Falls. Some Lawton summers gave us ninety-day stretches of peak temperature above 100*

Houston has a worse problem: high heat and high humidity.

For play in dry regions, I would suggest you douse your shirt in cold water, wring it out, and put it on before you tee off. You can repeat this at the end of nine. In desert operations, Marines and soldiers wet down their tee shirts for cooling, then put their camo shirt back over the top.

In Houston, I'm not sure you would want a wet shirt with the humidity. Would a wet shirt help or hurt in your area?
I had a debate about this with a HS athletic trainer - from Houston area no less. On game day, the trainers would remove the players' shoulder pads at halftime, and give them dry tee shirts under their net jerseys. Trainer said wet shirts was a no-go for humidity, in her view.

A wet kerchief around your neck might work - that would be directly over one of the body's major cooling points.

For golf tournaments, I have a cooling suggestion: Contact local football coaches, and have them put a sideline water mister at a couple of crossroads on the course. The golfers can walk through the misty water and cool off. Make sure the water is potable (drinkable) so no one gets sick.

None of the Okie tournament directors, however, wanted to try my idea.

[squaddie]

Those are all good questions and points. On the vest being restrictive, I figured I would just loosen it or take it off when making a shot.

The humidity here in Houston isn't too bad so far, as it's been pretty dry, except for moderate rainfall once a week.

One strike against a purely wet shirt is that wet clothes can act as a insulator for body temperature, which is bad if one if prone to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. That's probably why the HS athletic trainer was against the t-shirt idea.

I thought about a wet t-shirt but I was reading that some of these vests have "evaporative crystals", so wonder if they work a little differently than a plain wet shirt (not sure how, or if a marketing gimick).

EDIT: turns out the crystals are called Polyacrylamide crystals, and are basically the same absorption material found in disposable diapers.

[retexan599]

Living in Houston area myself, I have great empathy for this topic. The only way I have been able to play this summer is to tee off about 5:00 or 5:30 and play until dark. Same for practicing, only practice at the range in the evenings. I tried getting up real early and teeing off by 6 a.m.(some courses allow this), but by 7:30 a.m. I am wrung out already. So I play in the evenings when you are playing into the cool of the evening; mentally it helps to know it will be getting cooler rather than hotter!

[jdjanda]

I am pretty much sticking to 9 holes during the summer, this has been one long hot summer in Austin.