When memories slip, play golf

Glenmore Jones

Last week my column dwelt on the subject that if you play golf you will live longer.

I just read an article last week of another good benefit derived from the great game of golf. My sister, Jane Hall, (who resides in Princeton, Ky.) sent me an article which appeared in the local newspaper, The Times-Leader. It was written by Matthew Futterman. Here are some of the highlights of his article.

A lot of golf enthusiasts have waxed endlessly about the games mystical power and its hold on the human mind. A handful of people no longer able to dress or nourish themselves without assistance are proving them right.

A good example was Wardell Johnson who was an 87-year-old Alzheimer’s patient at the Silverado senior living home in Belmont, Calif. Confused and annoyed by the activities and tasks confronting him at 9 a.m., he declared he wanted to be left alone and shut his door.

Just a few hours later, he was measuring the uphill right to left break of a 12-foot putt and knocking his ball into the hole. Then, the former civil engineer, who played the game regularly as a younger man, ambled over to the driving range. He grabbed a six-iron and practiced chipping with the sort of easy, stress-free swing duffers half his age could learn from.

“I quit,” he said with a cocky grin after each successful shot. Then he deftly cradled another ball with his club, moving it into position for the next stroke. “I haven’t played a lot lately,” he added. “I should, though, I’ve still got the strokes.”

Anyone who has dealt with people suffering from mid- to late-stage Alzheimer’s know how difficult it can be to transport someone from fear and confusion to contentment and lucidity. But at Silverado, caregivers have stumbled onto a technique that works nearly every time — a golf outing.

They run through a series of putting drills, knocking the ball around with the wonder of small children playing the game for the first time. For those who played the game before when they were younger, swinging a club often sparks a startling transformation, however fleeting, that can make them seem like regular folks again.

“This is motor memory for these people, and usually you don’t lose that,” said Carl Cotman, a professor of Neurology at the University of California at Irvine.

The golf swing, however, shows staying power in the human mind.

“Golf is all about memory, and just not the motion of the swing, but your score and the club you hit and how many yards you were from the hole,” said Bert Hayslip Jr., a psychology professor at the University of Texas, who has studied Alzheimer’s sufferers. “There is something about that game that imprints itself on people’s minds.”

The rule for memory among brain specialists is “First in, last out”. The things we learn first — our names, for instance, swinging a golf club or playing a musical instrument are part of what is referred to as implicit memory, which is centered in the cerebellum and other areas of the brain. These are often the last memories Alzheimer’s patients lose.

What you had for breakfast or even the current appearance of a spouse or a child — are stored in the cerebral cortex and called explicit memories. This is the first part of the brain that is affected the most.

Not only the game of golf but other activities like dancing and playing music have proven helpful in making people with dementia feel competent again.

In summary, I urge all you kind golfers or musicians who know a golfer or musician affected by Alzheimer’s disease to give them a big boost by inviting them out to the links for a game of golf or join you in strumming on the old guitar or banging on the piano. Mahalo!



Rambling

The other morning, Susan Boyle with the lilting Irish voice sang on the Today Show and I got out my handkerchief. If she had sung “Danny Boy” I would have needed a towel. Wow! What a voice.



Humor

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.



Final thought

Do your best every day, and your life will gradually expand into satisfying fullness. Horatio W. Dresser

Until next time…live, love, laugh and learn, Glenmore.

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