Naperville man says daily golf keeps Parkinson's at bay

Gary Smith of Naperville didn't want to end up like his father - and for good reason.

The elder Smith suffered a long decline from Parkinson's disease, the final seven years spent in a wheelchair, debilitated by depression as well as the progressive brain disorder that affects movement and emotion.

So when Smith was diagnosed with Parkinson's at age 52 - three years younger than his father was at diagnosis - he was quick to try anything science indicated could help.

"I was scared. I didn't like what was happening," said Smith, now a 62-year-old retired psychotherapist and mortgage broker. "I didn't know how fast I was going to go downhill."

He tried running a marathon, but shuffled his way through three pairs of shoes because his right foot dragged and tore through treads.

He tried triathlons, tai chi, dance, boxing, biking, swimming, aerobics - all of which were recommended in studies connected with improvements in Parkinson's patients.

A baseball and basketball player through college, Smith said he enjoyed the athletics and felt a bit better after each workout. But he noticed no lasting effects, no slowing of the disease that sneakily caused him to move slower, to tremble, to turn inward.

"Nothing changed until, by accident, I started golfing a lot," said Smith, who first hit the links as a sixth-grader in Peoria. "I could definitely notice a difference."

Although unproven, golfing consistently for the past two years has given Smith the health benefits he sought, and now, a new motivation.

Smith, who golfs each day at Topgolf in Naperville using a free membership the company gave him about a year ago, now wants to launch a scientific study of the benefits of golf for the estimated 10 million people worldwide with Parkinson's disease.

"I'm trying to get half of one of these floors filled up with people with Parkinson's three or four times a week," Smith said from the top level of the three-story facility that opened in September 2015. "My goal is to use Topgolf to experiment and see if people find changes."

Golf improvements

Smith's golfing "by accident" began where the sport itself began - in Scotland, on the historic course at St. Andrews, where he played while visiting his wife's relatives in February 2015. He waited nearly four hours to get on the course, but after completing a round, felt remarkably better.

"I could tell something was going on," he said.

Back home in Naperville, Smith said he started golfing again. First three times a week, then four, then five as he began to notice improvements in his movements, the emotion he could show on his face, his ability to type with his right hand, even the tricky letters P and L.

"Suddenly, I'm back to being fluid," Smith said.

His doctor noticed the changes, too - improvements in balance, walking, movement, control and concentration.

"We know that exercise helps on a physiological level," said Dr. Martha McGraw, a movement disorders specialist at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield. "High frequency and regular repetition of highly tuned motor movements has really improved his motor control."

Moving for good

It's not just golf that can bring benefits for people with Parkinson's, McGraw says. The National Parkinson Foundation agrees. The organization encourages any type of exercise as a way for patients to gain some control over their condition, said Leilani Pearl, vice president of communications.

"This is a disease that affects your movement, but you need to keep moving to control the disease and to keep the symptoms at bay," Pearl said. "The sooner you start moving, the better."

Golf does have its perks, though, McGraw says. It combines balance, movement, stability, large and fine motor skills and coordination into a complex activity that stimulates body and mind. Even better, it creates a social environment that helps people with the disorder counter the depression and anxiety they frequently face as the body weakens.

Indeed, as Smith walks up to his hitting bay at Topgolf one summer morning, every employee knows his name and greets him warmly. The golf entertainment facility, which offers a sport described as "golf meets bowling meets darts" on a heated and roofed driving range, says Topgolf can be a "mental cleanser" for people like Smith.

"The family he has at Topgolf and the relationships he's built really helped his attitude and helped his spirit," said Morgan Wallace, a senior communications specialist for Texas-based Topgolf, which gave a $10,000 donation to the Parkinson's Foundation in his honor. "That mental stability is going to help the physical side as well."

Seeking proof

Aside from Smith's free Topgolf membership, the company also afforded him guest privileges to encourage others with Parkinson's to give golf a shot.

Smith says he's found five men and one woman with the disease who are trying golf as part of their regimen. But he wants to do more. He wants to set off a study that can prove whether the positive changes he's seeing are a fluke or the norm. "The biggest factors in a study would be getting patients to participate and getting funding," McGraw said. "I know he'd be enthusiastic about it."

McGraw and Pearl say scientific studies are expensive and time-consuming. Each study must follow protocol and be approved for safety and ethics. These experiments often are done in labs - not at open-air hitting ranges. Although Wallace says Topgolf is open to collaborating on a study, none of the neurologists Smith has spoken with in Hinsdale, Chicago, Dallas, New York and St. Louis have jumped on board.

"People don't want to get their hopes up," he said.

Smith, too, says he's careful to manage his hopes - though his Topgolf friends say his outlook is positive and bright.

"I do wake up and wonder if I'll slide back," he said.

Whenever that worry arises, he pushes it from his mind by starting his morning routine: A half-hour of stretching, a half-hour of lifting weights, then a quick drive to Topgolf. Every day. No matter the season, the weather or the surprises life may bring.

Smith said he took three days off from golfing last August and soon felt stiff and grumpy. That cemented the activity as a daily must and a true part of his treatment.

His doctor said she sees him only once about every six months, when a visit every three months is typical for Parkinson's patients. She says his need for medication has remained stable for about the past four years, despite the fact most patients need increasing doses as the disease progresses.

Smith calls golf his daily "par-scription" for a life with as few Parkinson's symptoms as possible.

"The frequency of it is part of why he sees such benefit," McGraw said. "He's very committed."

Golf: Man hoping for study to determine if his reaction is a fluke