My name is Pádraig (Patrick) and I am a keen amateur golfer from Galway, Ireland (my name gives it away). I’ve been playing golf since I was a boy, starting out with one of my dad’s cut down five irons and I’ve been playing more since I retired. I’ve never been good enough to turn professional, but I’ve a good handicap and enjoy the challenge of the game, meeting up with friends on the green and in the clubhouse to discuss the best hybrid to improve my game, or just to put the world to rights. Golf also helps to keep me fit and active since I’m on the course for about four hours each round I play.
The problem with cataracts
For some time I realised that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t track the ball I had just hit. This made for a miserable round of golf as I constantly had to ask for help to find my ball. I didn’t play golf so much and missed the game. On the advice of my beloved wife (I think I was getting under her feet at home!) I went to my optometrist to check if my cataracts had got worse. I already knew that I had cataracts as I’d seen my optometrist when I experienced difficulties moving from shade to sunlit areas on the golf course, a symptom of cataracts I didn’t know about until then. At that time I was given glasses to help me. This visit, my optometrist said my cataracts could no longer be improved by changing my glasses. I was referred to an eye specialist for surgery to remove the cloudy lens and replace it with a clear plastic one.
High-Tech Lens
Technology is advancing all the time and instead of my cataract being replaced with a conventional single focus intraocular lens implant which provides good distance vision, but usually requires the use of reading glasses or bifocals for reading. I was given a high-tech lens implants that not only helps me track the golf ball, but also allows me to read my score card without reading glasses, which was something I hoped for, but isn’t guaranteed to happen for everyone.
Read more ›
Did you know that golf helped save the life of rock legend Alice Cooper? Cooper picked up golf to help him battle his alcoholism. Instead of 12 steps, he took the 18 holes approach to sobriety, a story documented in his book ‘Golf Monster: My 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict’
Quaid started playing golf at the age of 36, struggling until the day he hit a drive so clean and crisp that he was hooked. Golf is Dennis’ way to escape from the rest of the world.
Singer Celine Dion may have sold in excess of 200 million records, but that’s not her only passion. When Australian Karrie Webb won the Nabisco Golf Championship in California by 10 strokes in 2000, Celine jumped into the pond to congratulate her.
