How ADHD Can Affect Your Golf Game

Women are busy for so many reasons. It’s the way we like to be and we are damn good at managing our lives. But my efficiency in getting a long list of stuff done has often been sketchy with newer tasks and immediate deadlines often taking priority. As a child I struggled with confidence, was a high achiever and the tiniest bit of criticism floored me. My mind was messy and social situations often saw me panic and say something quirky. I was labeled a weirdo and bullied.

Golf was my safe place. I could be me. I loved pressure situations and would always perform well when challenged in the moment. I loved proving people wrong. But if I had to plan for a big competition I’d find myself trying to ignore it, or find a way to pull out. I was a capable player but I often lost focus on what I was doing. I’d be in a fog on the practice ground, wafting from one area of ​​my game to another. The repetition of hitting the same shot over and over didn’t stimulate me. I was happier playing a few holes or doing inventive short game practice. Each individual and different challenge kept my attention and as my short game improved I flourished winning multiple junior events and awards.

(Image credit: Katie Dawkins)

As I headed into adulthood and started working, getting busier and busier, then becoming a mum, I found myself getting frustrated, as I felt that I was moving sideways rather than forwards with tasks. I became overwhelmed. I’d have a fuzzy head and unable to focus on one task for long enough to complete it. It was like having 50 TV channels in my mind and someone else had the remote.

It was only recently, when working with business advisor and mentor Beverley Poole, that a massive light bulb was switched on. During a session she asked, “Have you ever been tested for ADHD?” I replied, “Pah, no! ADHD is something little boys have who can’t sit still, right?”

(Image credit: Beverley Poole)

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) can affect anyone – adults, children, men and women. It’s thought that 5-8% of the global population have ADHD and it presents itself differently in everyone. It doesn’t show up in the same way in girls as in boys. Boys are 5 times more likely to be diagnosed in childhood. (Even in adulthood a diagnosis is far faster if you are a man.) For girls it’s far subtler. Imagine all that frenetic energy associated with boys, then imagine it inside your mind. Girls internalize chaos and, in my case, nobody would have guessed that I was affected by ADHD. It was only in the late 1990s that women and girls even appeared in any research and studies.