Living in my brain can be difficult. I read, I study and I learn. In school, I learned that a tan is actually skin damage. Too much sun exposure can lead to melanoma and wrinkles — bad if you want to live, bad if you want to look good at 40. Think Nicole Kidman crossed with Madonna crossed with Steve Nash. That’s great skin.

When I moved to Arizona to pursue professional golf after seven pale years in New England, I was concerned about sun safety. Habitually, I applied sunscreen before every exposure and never went outside without a hat or a visor until one night I dreamed that my cheeks were aflame. The next morning I wore a wide-brimmed hat and have never gone back to mainstream headwear. The only exception is for wind. At over 25mph, my most wind-resistant hat, the Reversible Resort from Wallaroo Hat Company (my hat sponsor), flaps in my face. On those days I have to “go small” and I hate it.

With each golf season, I become more vigilant about the sun. Now, I don’t like to expose all four limbs on the same day. I wear long pants or long sleeves and prefer both. Rarely will you find me in shorts and short sleeves — never sleeveless. This season I got really crazy and treated my clothes with an agent in the wash to make them more SPF protective. A regular shirt only has an SPF of five. I don’t get tan lines through my clothes anymore.

Wanna talk web sites? Find out more for yourself at www.cdc.gov, www.skincancer.org and www.nci.nih.gov. If I get famous one day, my charity tournament will benefit the SHADE Foundation of America, Shonda Schilling’s charity (wife of Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling,) which provides sun coverings for elementary school playgrounds, among other things. I love that. Their mission is “to eradicate melanoma through the education of children and the community in the prevention and detection of skin cancer and the promotion of sun safety.” That’s like music to my ears.

I’m not the hippest Duramed FUTURES Tour player and certainly wouldn’t make “the band” on our tour, but I can’t be any other way. I know too much. We’re outside more than 40 hours per week and I don’t want to look like worn leather.

At times I feel like the child in the fairy tale Emperor’s New Clothes. No hat, SPF 4, lay out? Are you crazy? I’m about to buy a pair of Sun Sleeves!