Hi All,
I am new to the Forum, but I was wondering if there is a golf society within the Parkinsons group and if so what is it all about. I am a keen golfer and a member of of a great club but it would be good to connect with other people with PD and get some ideas on how to cope with playing golf with PD.
I would welcome any feedback from others in the Forum
My husband was always a keen golfer and still plays using a buggy.
Bit of a nuisance when the weather is or has been wet as the buggies can't go out.
Sorry I can't be more use but I was born without the sport gene!
Good Golfing!
GG
I have just searched the forum for the subject of Golf with PD and unfortunately there seems to be no activity on the subject for quite a while. I was diagnosed just over 2 years ago and will try to continue with my golf for as long as i can .
Ideally i would love to reopen debate with other golfers , share there stories , support each other and who knows ,subject to geography etc maybe meet up for a game .
I am not completely forum savvy , so i may have posted this up in the wrong place but if anybody reads this and can suggest putting it somewhere more suitable or even open a golfers group page so we can all read and contribute in a dedicated area of the forum
hi there - i don’t know if i am using the forum correctly but here goes. My name is Ken and this year i will be 65. i have had PD for a decade or so and have payed golf for about 50 of these years. i have been a member of my local club for all of this time. my local club is Auchterarder about 2 miles from Gleneagles. I have played at county level and spent most of my life playing off 2, I now play off 16. now that may be down to PD or it may be down to my age. However i live in the hope that one day it will all flood back and i will once again be making winning speeches. Enough of me - how do you cope? All i can say is that i have found mates who play off all sorts of handicap and when we play for a £1.00 we mean it - your past abilities mean nothing. All i can say is keep it semi serious and keep your spirits up. If you want to meet up there are a number of ways of doing this. Skype might be a good start. we are all in it together so we might as well get to know each other. your life has changed but try a spell on the putting green and ii will give you a match for a £1.00 any time
Ken
Hi I have P/D for 13 years and play golf 3 times a week my handicap is 17.3 and also my putting I cant walkso far now so I got myself a little golf buggie I play in Essex and love it never give it up
We should have a golf catch-up
Can we have a Parkinson’s golf Forum Please
Colin R
Has anybody made any progress with the golf forum ? it would be good to share tips/experiences etc. I personally am coming up 3 years diagnosed and my golf is definitely suffering but hell will freeze over before i give it up. It would be great to meet up for a round with fellow sufferers , geography permitting obviously. Would love to get this going if anybody agrees ??
Has anyone come across ‘Golf In Society’?Transforming The Lives Of People With Chronic Illnesses Through Golf
I haven’t had any involvement with them but might be worthwhile having a look at what they offer. They appear to support people with Parkinson’s specifically
Does Parkinsons Disease adversely affect golf? My swing has deteriorated as the Parkinsons symptoms emerged. I have early disease and take no treatment. It might just be that I have become incompetent.
Hi golfers.
I read an article saying golf is good for Parkinson’s so rejoined my local course last year and am thoroughly enjoying it. I actually won the mixed Stableford 9holes on 2nd January! I say do what you enjoy and golf combines fresh air and exercise.
My club is Bridge of Allan in Scotland…not far from Auchterarder.
However I have to say after playing in Portugal last year it is lovely playing in the sunshine rather than the drizzle!
Hi Ken
My name is Karen and I play at Bridge of Allan. I was diagnosed in 2017. How is your golf? And Parkinson’s?
Regards Karen
Hi,
I was diagnosed last year. My golf suffered badly and helped me get the diagnosis. I then took 3-4 months off to get used to the medication. Initially after some time I was back to normal…82-85 and feeling ok but recently have struggled to hit a ball!
I have tinkered with dosages and timings of medication and am getting incredibly frustrated. I am a English dude living in Singapore.
Feel free to keep in touch and pass on any tips to improve my current shocking golf
My name is Tony. I am 81 and started to play golf about 3 years ago. I made good progress.
However a year ago was diagnosed with pd albeit with hardly any obvious symptoms. But now my swing has become very unreliable and not as good as it was a year ago it’s ok wheni have. Lesson.
Is it because pd affects my concentration?
Hi Tony, thank you so much for your comment. We’re sorry to hear about the difficulties you’ve been having with your golf.
It’s important when you have Parkinson’s to get regular exercise, so we understand how important your golf must be to you and we hope you find this thread helpful. Parkinson’s can definitely affect concentration, coordination, and fine motor control, which could explain why your swing feels less consistent. Even if your symptoms are mild, tasks that require precision, like golf, can sometimes be impacted. For further support, we’d recommend speaking to your GP or Parkinson’s nurse, as they will be able to advise on what may help and what you can do to manage your symptoms, including exercises to support coordination.
We also have information and advice on our website for managing motor symptoms that might be useful: Motor symptoms of Parkinson's | Parkinson's UK
We hope this helps but please do reach out if we can help further.
All the best,
Parkinson’s UK Moderation Team 
As with Tony my swing is inconsistent but things I have done to try and improve that has helped.
Senior flex shafts
Hybrids instead of longer irons
Tweak the rules to suit (for eg, free drops from tricky lies, longer holes allowed to tee a driver for 2nd shot).
Half and 3 quarter swings
The biggie, refresher lessons… these were invaluable as 3 quarter swing does not always mean taking 25% off of a full swing, the set up is different. I only had 5 lessons and what I learned has been invaluable… like (based on a RH golfer) I now have my right foot pointing at around 2 o’clock as that naturally helps the back swing.
The biggest downside is I need a buggy, even for a nine hole, but with most ranges being Toptracer now a round can be had at a driving range minus putting. My local club is also very understanding and have no problems letting me play the first and the ninth on times I can manage to walk a little.
Golf + on Meta Quest VR is surprisingly satisfying too when you cannot go out.