Scot leading DP World Tour's work helping players with mental health
Hero Dubai Desert Classic Player Wellness Centre hailed as ‘best in class’ by Dr Andrew Murray
Life as a professional golfer at the top level in the game may deliver fame and richness beyond belief, but it also entails lengthy spells away from loved ones and periods of loneliness away from the golf course.
In an enlightening interview this time last year, Scot Ian Peek revealed that, for his PHD in social psychology at the University of Birmingham, he had discovered that depression was evident in golf even though it had been rarely talked about.
That, of course, was then hammered home to everyone in the game when American Grayson Murray, a two-time PGA Tour winner, took his own life last May at the age of 30 before mental health issues led Frenchman Mike Lorenza Vera to take an enforced break from the DP World Tour.
Those who know Lorenza Vera, a colourful and charismatic character, would have probably been surprised such a thing happened to him, but it did and it left him in a dark place. “I was the first person to be surprised,” he admitted. “I would never expect that to arrive to me.”
A question probably asked by some is ‘whether or not enough support is provided for professional golf when it comes to the mental side of the sport?’ Well, the answer is most certainly ‘yes’ on the DP World Tour, where a comprehensive support programme is being delivered with a Scot at the helm.
Dr Andrew Murray, an Edinburgh-based Aberdonian, is the circuit’s chief medical officer and, admittedly helped by the fact he stands well over six feet tall, can often be seen going about his business at tournaments around the world.
“When they're at tournaments, they can count on us,” said Murray of the mental support provided by him and his team, as Lorenza Vera, for example, was quick to acknowledge when making his return to action earlier this year and admitting he had cried on the tee.
“But, even away from tournaments, they can get in touch with me or we can put them in touch with experts. We also have a confidential hotline. So 24/7, 365 days a year, if there is an issue that a player or a caddie or their family have, it's no obligation. They don't need to speak to anyone that they know. So they can phone me or they can phone our confidential hotline and reach out and speak with someone from Cognacity that can help who are extremely well qualified.”
Has Murray himself received phone calls from players or caddies in the last year or so? “Yes,” he added. “I'm quite often phoning back players that have got issues with their wrists or backs. Quite often with anxiety or depression or ADHD. The three things that affect professional sports people most are physical musculoskeletal conditions, mental health and well-being conditions and other illnesses like, for example, allergies, hay fever, respiratory illnesses, diarrhoea and vomiting. So we spend probably 20-30 per cent of our consultations assisting with mental health.”
At the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, the spa at Emirates Golf Club had been transformed into a Mental Fitness & Recovery Zone for players, caddies and entourages. Driven by Simon Corkill, the tournament’s executive director, it had been introduced last year and was looked at by the IOC ahead of the Paris Olympics but, having been further enhanced, this year’s facility was described by Murray as the “best in class” in terms of providing a full support package for players.
“Our golfers have always said that, in addition to a technical component for the driving range and for putting and a physical component, there's also a significant mental component to golf,” said Murray. “And, when you speak to our leading players, be that at our own events or be that at the Open Championship etc, they'll all tell us that we're trying to work out what we can do next. And a big thing that they wanted two years ago were recovery facilities. So, the likes of the Genesis Scottish Open or The Open Championship, we provide ice baths that are enormously popular.
“But what are the next things that are most important to sport? Mental fitness. It's the big show in town by far. So, over the course of the last ten years, the tour has put in place training for our player relations directors, for our tournament staff, for our physiotherapists, for our own mental health first aid.
“Our doctors have been through the IOC and Cognacity training on mental fitness and have some expertise on it. But what we've also been required to do over the last few years is to bring in that input to our specific tournaments. And that's now business as usual in our tournaments.
“We've got our articulated trucks. There's the physio truck, the health and performance truck, where you've got your doctors, your physios, your scanning, and then you've got your physical fitness and mental fitness facilities which has a big gym, heavy stuff to lift, some mobility areas, and kit to help with mental fitness as well.”
By his own admission, Connor Syme used to leave for tournaments and not think twice about it, but, after getting married last year, he is now finding it more difficult to be on the road and, therefore, is appreciative of what is now on offer at events in terms of mental support.
“They are definitely welcome,” he said. “Doc Andrew Murray does such a good job of trying to get the off-course stuff as good as it can be for us. It is so important. I am lucky to have a lot of good friends out here, but it is still an individual sport and can be quite isolating at times.
“So that sort of stuff, being able to decompress after a round, for example, by using the ice baths and recovery stations is so helpful for getting you ready for the next day in the first instance.
“As you probably get older, I think it gets harder to leave home and I think all that stuff contributes to it when you are trying to get your mental game the best it can be. I think I saw something from Padraig Harrington recently about it being 90 per cent of what we do and I tend to agree with that.”
Hence why reading books and even colouring books were available to players in that excellent area in Dubai that was probably just as important to some as either the driving range or putting green.
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