Golfing, familiar activities can benefit Alzheimer's sufferers

DALLAS — No one's claiming that swinging a golf club is a magic elixir for people suffering from dementia, but no one's denying a connection of some sort between the two. In his younger days, Arnold Radoff had always found that a round of golf let him escape from his day-to-day worries. There was nothing to match the sense of freedom he got from walking the fairways or the satisfaction he felt from sinking a long putt.

Now, those almost-forgotten emotions come rushing back to the 86-year-old retired pharmacist whenever he and other residents from the memory-support wing at the Legacy at Willow Bend in Plano, Texas, visit a nearby driving range.

"It brings back old times," Radoff said as he took a swing on a recent outing. After pausing to watch his 100-yard drive come to a rest, he added, "Even if my shots don't go as far anymore, I still get a kick out of this."

Legacy president Michael Ellentuck, an avid golfer himself, came up with the idea for the outings so that residents with dementia could reconnect with an activity they enjoyed when they were younger.

About half of the Legacy's memory-care residents once played golf, he estimated. And after several trips to the driving range, he's pleased with the results of reintroducing the game to them.

"Some of our residents may not remember what they ate for breakfast, but they do recall playing golf 30 years ago," Ellentuck said. "When they pick up a club, the game comes back to them, and they become their old selves for a while."

They haven't forgotten the mechanics or lost the technique, he said. For them, gripping a golf club is almost instinctive.

Such outings can benefit someone with dementia because they trigger thoughts of long-ago experiences and stimulate the brain, said Bert Hayslip, a psychology professor at the University of North Texas who does memory research.

The rule of thumb with Alzheimer's disease is "first in, last out," he explained. Memories from early in life are the last to fade away.

"Playing golf can have a calming effect on patients," Hayslip said. "Someone with Alzheimer's lives in a world that's turning stranger by the day. But then along comes something familiar. That can be reassuring and comforting."