Paul is not a swing coach (although playing off +2 he knows a thing or three) He is a Scottish Golf Seniors Order of Merit Winner and on multiple occasions a runner up. He is also a Scottish Golf Senior Men’s Internationalist and has represented Scotland both home and abroad on many occasions. Paul’s personal story is also fascinating and inspiring (but we will get into that later)

I have written about Paul’s impact on my game at certain points, but in this issue I’m going to lay out everything we have done, what we have discussed and how we have put it into play, but before I get to that I’m going to document my journey and how I got into the game. Hopefully this part helps others who have maybe found themselves in a similar position to the one i was in before i started playing the game.

Now, if you are the average club golfer with little or no time to practice the technical side of the game, but you want to maybe improve or even gain a few shots on the course, the next part is for you.

Due to poor health over a number of years my HCI went from 13 all the way up to 22. I would like to talk about my health for a wee minute here. At the time of writing this I’m 46 years of age.

At 33 I was diagnosed with Type1 Diabetes. I knew of the condition, but I knew pretty much nothing about it. This was quite a shock to the system at the time and it was quite overwhelming the day I had to go into hospital. From a phone call with my doctor at 10:30am in the morning to injecting insulin two hours later, I had no idea what the future looked like. I was asking questions like “how long will i have to inject insulin” right through to “how much alcohol can i drink” – priorities eh?

So 13 years ago I wasn’t a “golfer” . I had no inclination to play the game, and it was never on my radar. Things changed when I worked out the effects that intense exercise would have on my body. Causing Hypos, struggling to manage glucose before, during and after any form of exercise. This caused me to suffer from depression for the first time in my life. And it was bad. I had never felt so low, and in my head I couldn’t figure out why. I couldn’t see a life where I could enjoy things, be happy or have anything to look forward to. This mental state continued for over a year. At this point I was researching the condition and the effect on people’s mental state, and apparently it was quite common in people with T1D.

This is where the fighter in me started to appear again. For the first time in years I had something that challenged me.

I think it’s good to be challenged in life, it makes you a stronger person, and also changes your perspective on the “small stuff” , the things you worry about that are beyond your control.

Your mental capacity to identify only the things you can control is a skillset anyone can learn, some get it quite quickly, some persevere until the understanding is there, but when you finally get there the world seems a bit brighter and the weight you feel seems so much lighter.

I got the help I needed. I spoke with a professional who helped me understand why I felt the way I did. He pointed out some techniques and some resources. From there I never looked back. I actually enjoyed learning the techniques, identifiers, and warning signs for the future. And although I have dips, I can get myself back out of the dip by recognising it, and applying the techniques i learned.

Being able to do this was a process, it took a couple of years, but day by day then week by week things got easier. Then it was months before I had a brief dip and i was able to apply my understanding of the dip and how to get out of it that continues to pull me through to this day.

Golf helped my mental health massively, I owe a lot to discovering this game. Maybe even more than I can possibly write about, that’s a story for another day.

So, I started playing golf, and I was bitten by the bug from the very first shot I hit on a driving range. We all know that feeling. I think i totally fluked contact with an old 3 wood off the deck and it flew, the experienced golfer I was with could not believe it. I wasn’t sure if he was taking the piss or not, so I hit another…the same thing happened. I can still see that bright summer day, I can still hear the club hitting the ball, I can still visualise that feeling, the camaraderie before, during and after the session. It felt amazing, I was buzzing. Now I’m not Rain Man, I did hit a lot of really bad shots that day too, but it was by no means a disaster, in fact it was the opposite. Ignorance is bliss, they say. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

So I started going to the range a few times per week, bought a season ticket for my local Muni, and played on my own for 6 months. The reason I did that was because I wanted to learn the game, etiquette, the rules etc before joining a club and embarrassing myself or anyone else for that matter.

The season of 2014 was when I officially joined Auchenharvie88 Golf Club who were based out of the local muni I had a season ticket for. I knew 3 people in the club at the time. My father in law, and his 2 brothers.

Now I had a preconceived notion of what being a member of a golf club looked like. Stuffy blazers, loads of rules and an environment that just didn’t sound conducive to my personality and nature.

I was welcomed with open arms by the members of the club. Partly because they are all really cool guys, and partly because my father in law is well regarded within the club.

I go out,I play the initial 3 rounds for my handicap. My first handicap award under the old CONGU system was 16. I was over the moon with that!

So now I have something to work towards.

For 4 seasons I was slowly improving. Just small increments, but definite improvement. No lessons, just range sessions and playing as much golf as I could, and that was a lot of golf at the time. I managed to get down to 14, and I was (still am) obsessed!

Then disaster struck. It started with small joint pains. I just thought it was because of the amount of golf I played. Then it gradually got worse. Ankle and knee joints were inflamed and excruciating for days, then it would ease off. Then the same type of pain in my hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders. That would ease off, but then go back to hips, knees, ankles, feet. It was a never ending cycle of pain. There were days where I couldn’t even get out of bed, go to work, go anywhere with the family, I even had to cancel trips and holidays.

Sleepless nights due to the pain, doped up on seriously strong painkillers 24/7, it was rough. This was probably the worst I had felt from a physical perspective in my whole life. I spoke with docs and consultants, the amount of appointments, scans, medications i received was unreal. For 4 years there was no relief.

Eventually I was diagnosed with “Strongly seropositive and anti-ccp antibody positive asymetrical inflamatory arthritis” cut to 2 years down the line after this and I finally got medication that has relieved the arthritis to some extent.

I feel I have to point this out for a few reasons. It will explain the HCI increase, and also the mental strength needed to get through this part of my life.

I was still “trying” to play golf, I probably shouldn’t have been anywhere near a course from a golf improvement perspective, but I loved the game, the banter on a Saturday with the guys in the club and just trying to get out the house. My Handicap index went up to 22.3 (jeez!)

Then in December 2023 I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel disease. Just another chronic illness to add to the list. Caused some hassles for a few months, but again medication is now controlling it.

When i got that diagnosis in the December i jokingly said to my wife “See next year…i think ill go for mild asthma”

Fast forward 3 months to March 2024…5 Heart Attacks!

Yes you read that correctly…after joking about picking up another chronic illness for 2024 i go and have a heart attack. I ended up in hospital for 14 days and eventually got fitted with 3 stents. Normally you only get 2 but one of my arteries was so bad they had to put a wider one in first before fitting the regular sized stent.

Now by this time you have probably added them all up, I have a few chronic illnesses that I’m managing. Type 1 Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Bowel Disease, Heart Disease and also Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. How can you even think about golf with all this going on might be a question. Well my answer is simple “If i step on a golf course and hit bad shots and have a bad round it could be worse”

Reading the list of Chronic Illnesses you would think I led a sedentary lifestyle, but the truth is i dont. I would consider myself fairly active, i eat pretty clean, i dont drink as much alcohol as i did up to my thirties, maybe every couple of months if there is an event, gathering etc. Most people when they learn of what I’ve went through will say one of two things “But you look really healthy” or “Jeez, your too young for arthritis and heart attacks”

Both of these things could be considered to be true, but I suppose it’s the luck of the draw!

So back to post heart attack Bryan.

The anxiety over golf shots is gone completely. If these illnesses cant beat me, then surely a game cant beat me either, after-all…life is just another game.

So…fast forward to being healthy again. It’s 2025 and I need to do some serious work on my game, serious work!