No offseason in golf? There is if you're nursing an injury

If an Olympic skier had to break a leg, I suppose he’d rather do it on the last run before the snow melts. Plenty of time to mend before the powder falls again.

B.J. Upton, star center fielder for the Tampa Bay Rays, waited until after the World Series and underwent surgery this week for a torn labrum in his shoulder. He’ll be back at full strength when spring training camp opens.

Sorry, but there is no offseason in golf, which I’m painfully aware of as the tourists flock to Florida and play on our perfect Fall greens amid the year’s best weather while I nurse an injury.

I’m not mad because golfers are clicking through turnstiles and crowding Florida’s golf courses. In this economy, clubs around the country will need all the snowbirds they can cram on the tee boxes in the coming months.

No, I’m furious at myself for pulling some tendons and muscles in my right forearm thanks to a wildly off balance swing a few weeks back. The thing turned four shades of purple, two shades of black mixed with red, and I even noticed a hint of orange as the bruising heals. It still feels like a bunch of taut piano wires in there. The doctor said he couldn’t estimate all the little micro tears, and speculated things might be a little loose at the elbow.

Has anybody dealt with an injury like this? Any advice? Is there a right forearm specialist in the house?

If you have, you know I’m climbing the walls and strangling the couch pillow (with my good arm) and wandering aimlessly around the neighborhood. Even worse, I live on a golf course, and have had to close the blinds to keep from shouting obnoxious things at golfers with two good arms.

So much for gripping it and ripping it. Literally. I guess it’s true … you don’t know how much you miss something until you can’t do it anymore. Even if it’s for a month or so.

I guess golf can have an offseason after all.