I want to talk about something really important as we know golf is fantastic sport gives us loads of pleasure happiness joy that might be the first time you absolutely rip a driver down the middle of the fairway. Or hit your first crisp iron shot into the middle of the green your first par put your first birdie put might be the fact you've broken a score you've always wanted to break comes with lots of positives i mean sometimes obviously comes with some lows as well the bad shots that we hit they're part of the game one thing that golf also gives us in abundance is time to talk we're out on the golf course. For you know four hours 18 holes of golf and we talk to our plane partners we chat we talk about work relationships finance you know we talk about what's coming up in the future what's happened in the past we chat and that's great that's what a lot i absolutely love that about golf it's a lot of people social life revolves around golf and that's a positive a huge positive and it's also got health benefits going out playing 18 holes. And if you're walking it's roughly like four miles if it's a 7000 yard golf course it's roughly four miles so it's got benefits in in that sense as well now at the moment obviously the world is a crazy place. And here in england and wales and ireland currently right now start of february golf courses are closed. And i'm sure there are probably places around the world where courses are closed as well. And a lot of people who normally get that escape get that time to chat to their friends maybe to play with family members maybe they play with strangers but they talk they talk about all sorts of different things that opportunity's been taken away from a lot of people and it has done for a long time and who knows when it's going to return again hopefully you know hopefully soon. But it's not good because all those people who were talking to other people all those conversations we were having out on the golf course. Or in the clubhouse afterwards or at the driving range at the weekend those conversations now are no longer happening. And that's a shame and it could be a massive problem in fact it is a massive problem there's big mental health implications when us as humans we don't talk we don't talk about our problems our issues what's bothering us what's making us happy what's making us sad. And as i mentioned none of that's happening right now and something needs to be done about it so as a community i want us to try and raise awareness and raise money the charity here in england and wales called mind which is a mental health charity. And i was on their website yesterday there's a really scary stat on there saying that one in four people are going to encounter mental health issues. Or having counter mental health issues i think worryingly. And sadly that number's going to go up with the number that we had last year. And you know the year we have 2020 in the year we're gonna have in 2021 it kind of worries me a little bit so i think it's good to talk i think it's good to raise awareness that there is help. And support out there mind charity allows you to ring them up and if you've got issues you can chat you can talk about your problems it's important really important. And again as golfers there might be those conversations you might have been having out in the golf course and now you're not so through the month of february i'm going to uh embark on a little bit of a of a challenge um because people aren't getting out on the golf course. And playing golf what i thought i'm gonna do is every day through the month of february this being the first of february today.
I'm gonna take my golf clubs i've got my full bag on my back here you might have been hearing it rattle in the background. And every day i'm gonna walk four miles four miles being the length normally it would take to play around the golf the benefit i'm gonna play the best golf in my life because i'm hopefully not gonna lose any golf balls and i'm also gonna go into while i'm on these walks try and set up opportunities where i can talk to people one being i already have just walked to my local kind of park here. And three or four people have looked at me and i've smiled back at them and one person asked me why have you got your golf clubs and i talked to him i explained why i said you know i'm a golfer i miss playing golf i miss talking to people. And it was nice we had a little two minute exchange that was really nice hopefully i could have many more of those throughout the month of february. So i'm going to try. And set up some level of communication where i'm going to share it on my facebook. Or my twitter or youtube or instagram wherever it may be to say jump let's jump on a call as a community and let's chat if you're missing talking to people let's not miss that opportunity but i'm also going to put a link down below in the description to the just giving page i've set up to raise money. For mine charity i'd love you to donate in it if you could it'd be amazing you know even if it was just one pound five pound whatever it may be you know with the amount of people that watch the video hopefully we can raise a decent amount. And if it's not mind charity i'm gonna take a seat for a minute if it's not mine charity or it's a mental health charity near you donate to them that's fine also but let's try and do something together let's try. And raise awareness if you're watching this video and you are struggling you find it hard i don't completely understand it don't be scared to pick up the phone. And ring somebody and chat chat about it might be like say it might be a plane partner they're probably feeling similar everyone's feeling a bit down and not great at the moment right so let's try to do something about it um i might tag a few people to try. And do this journey with me if you want to do this as well you'd have to do it every day obviously if you want to go. And walk four miles you might not want to take your golf clubs out with you because i've had a few funny looks just walk around with one golf club or your glove on your hand or your golf shoes on whatever it may be and tag let's call it walk 18 and stick it on social media and we'll try and get something happening so let's raise awareness let's raise money let's uh think about those people who are struggling obviously. And uh let's try and do something good all right guys stay safe stay strong. And uh stay tuned to my social media to see me try and do this every single day through the month of february we'll see you soon.
