Living Near a Golf Course Nearly Doubles Your Risk of This Devastating Disease

LIVING NEXT to a golf course is peak convenience, allowing you to sink 18 holes whenever the mood strikes and still walk home for dinner. But disturbing new research suggests that living on or near a golf course increases your risk of developing Parkinson’s disease—and doctors aren’t shocked by the findings.

It’s important to get this out of the way upfront: The study didn’t find that living on or near a golf course will give you Parkinson’s disease. Instead, it detected a link between living around a golf course and developing the devastating condition.

An estimated 1 million Americans have Parkinson’s disease, a central nervous system disease that causes tremors, stiffness, and trouble with balance, per the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Men are 1.4 times more likely to develop the disease than women, and rates of Parkinson’s disease are increasing around the world. So, these findings are worth a look.

Still, there are a few things to consider before you start packing your bags. Here’s what the research found, plus what doctors want you to keep in mind.

What did the study find?THE STUDY, which was published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from 419 people with Parkinson’s disease and matched them against 5,113 people who didn’t have a Parkinson’s diagnosis. The researchers also looked at how far the participants lived from golf courses, the water service areas around the golf courses (where the drinking water came from), along with groundwater information, and whether their tap water was serviced by wells.

The researchers discovered that people who lived within a mile of a golf course had a 126 percent higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to people who lived more than six miles away from a golf course.

People who lived within water service areas that included a golf course had nearly twice the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those whose water service areas didn’t include a golf course. People who lived in water service areas with a golf course in “vulnerable” groundwater areas also had an 82 percent higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those who didn’t live in vulnerable areas. (Vulnerable groundwater means it’s relatively easy for contaminated water on the land to reach an aquifer, where it could get into drinking water.)

“The greatest risk of Parkinson’s disease was found within one to three miles of a golf course and risk generally decreased with distance,” the researchers wrote in the conclusion.

“We were inspired by previous reports,” says Brittany Krzyzanowski, PhD, lead study author and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute. “In the past, pesticides applied to golf courses have leached into the groundwater and contaminated drinking water supplies. One study found that the groundwater under four different golf courses in Cape Cod was contaminated with seven different pesticides. In the Cape Cod instance, one pesticide was present in the drinking water at levels more than 200 times greater than the health guidance level.” (Pesticide exposure has been linked to the development of Parkinson’s disease.)

Doctors aren’t shocked by the link.THERE IS some research linking the use of pesticides and similar chemicals with Parkinson’s disease. That includes preliminary research by the same scientists released last year that found a connection between the use of certain pesticides and herbicides in farming and an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

A previous scientific report also found that 19 of 26 Parkinson’s disease patients in a study group lived within two miles of a golf course.

“It is well established that living in regions with increased pesticide use has an increased incidence of Parkinson’s disease. Therefore, a study choosing to focus on this disease and its proximity to large green golf courses seems very reasonable,” says Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA.

Herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides are often used at high levels on golf courses to help maintain those pristine-looking greens, points out Jian Feng, PhD, a Parkinson’s disease researcher and professor at the University at Buffalo. “The amount used on a golf course is seven to 10 times higher than what is used on your lawn,” he says. “It needs to be much higher because of the aesthetics.”

Those pesticides can be picked up by people on their shoes, as well as through groundwater. “Pesticides applied to grass or crops can more readily move into the groundwater supply after a rain,” Krzyzanowski says.

With that, Feng says there is “biological plausibility” that living around golf courses and being exposed to contaminated groundwater could lead to a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. “A golf course is basically like a farm, but it’s likely more severe in its use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides,” he says. “It’s very plausible that this will increase Parkinson’s disease risk.”

There are a few caveats to consider, though.WHILE THE study found a greater risk of developing Parkinson’s disease if you live near a golf course, the overall risk is still low, Feng says. “The increase in incidence is not that tremendously high, but it’s definitely significant,” he says.

It’s also possible that people who are more likely to live around golf courses are older adults and, as a result, are already at a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, Segil says. “This population is usually older and therefore the increased risk of Parkinson’s may be due to their advanced age more than then their proximity to the chemicals used to maintain golf course greens,” he says. “The article did not note this possible age bias.”

You’re not totally screwed if you grew up on a golf course or currently live on one.“THE EXTENT of this risk is far from clear,” Segil says. “This paper would cause me to have a pause in dreaming of retiring to a home on a golf course but, again, the risk not clear.”

If you already live on a golf course, Feng recommends considering having a pair of shoes that you just keep outside to avoid the possibility of tracking pesticides and other lawn treatments into your home. You also may want to consider investing in a water filter to remove the possible presence of pesticides from your drinking water.

But Krzyzanowski stresses that more work needs to be done, given that her study simply found an association—not that living near golf courses causes Parkinson’s disease. “At this point, there is no need to consider moving if you live next to a golf course,” she says. “Instead, our results suggest that you should be aware of the potential for exposure. Nevertheless, future studies are needed to understand what is driving this link.”

All of this said, it’s important to point out that Parkinson’s disease is likely caused by several factors—not just one. While exact causes haven’t been identified yet, many researchers think that Parkinson’s disease happens from a combination of genetic and environmental factors (like exposure to toxins), per the National Institute on Aging (NIA).

Korin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Glamour, and more. She has a master’s degree from American University, lives by the beach, and hopes to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.