The word is out. Skin cancer is bad for you, and too much sunshine causes it. (Did anyone really not know this?)

Read this article about it, now appearing Golf Digest. Really! Read it!

I’m a redhead, and I keep covered up from head to toe on the course. I wear a hat with a 5″ brim, a sun-protective jacket (both pictured below) from Solumbra, long pants, and gloves on both hands most of the time.

The photo below was taken at the Thunderbird Golf Course at Mt. Carmel Junction in southern Utah in 2011, on the way back from having hiked across the Grand Canyon from the North Rim to Phantom Ranch and back out to the South Rim.

The glove I wear aren’t golf gloves, they are running gloves I get at a sporting goods store. Off the tee and off the fairway, I do not wear them. While walking from tee to fairway, one hand is in my pocket and the other hand pulls the cart behind me so it is in the shade of my body.

Once I have hit into the the green, both gloves go on. All short shots and all putting is done with them on.

I ain’t kidding, folks, and the article ain’t kidding, either. Stay covered up. I have spent a lot of time in the Southwest. You know what the Navajo wear outside? Enough to cover their arms and legs and face.

If you wear light, loose-fitting clothing made of cotton that covers your arms and legs, you will actually stay cooler in hot weather, so don’t let the heat prevent you from keeping out of the sun.

Sunscreen? O.K., but you have to remember to apply it every few hours, and apply it correctly. I don’t recommend relying on it.

Stay covered is the best option.