Everyone at your club has mental health. The captain, the Saturday regulars, the new junior, the member who's been rebuilding his swing since 2019.
What we mean by mental health
Mental health covers our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. It's how we think, feel and act, how we cope with pressure, and how we get on with the people around us. It's a lot like physical health: everyone has it, all the time, and it can be looked after. Looking after it regularly, rather than only when something's gone wrong, is what we call mental fitness.
When our mental health is in good shape, it helps us:
cope with the ups and downs of everyday life
enjoy the things we care about
get on with the people around us
make decisions, from the big ones to which club to hit into the 7th
It moves about
Mental health isn't a switch between "fine" and "not fine". It sits on a spectrum from good to poor, and most of us move up and down it throughout our lives, depending on what's going on at home, at work and everywhere else.
In good shape
Sleeping well enough, coping with stress, enjoying things. Small annoyances stay small.
Getting through
Still showing up, but it takes more effort. A bit flat, sleep slightly off, small things feel harder.
Struggling
Things feel heavy. Pulling back from people, sleep and appetite off. Still functioning, just about.
Need support now
Everyday life feels unmanageable. Time for professional help, and urgently if anyone's safety is at risk.
When someone spends a stretch at the poorer end, and it starts to affect their sleep, work, relationships or the things they'd normally enjoy, that's what we mean by a mental health problem. Anyone can have one, whatever their life looks like from the outside.
It doesn't always show, either. Someone can be having a really hard time and still turn up for the Tuesday roll-up every week.
Why it can be hard to talk about
Plenty of people will describe their knee operation in detail over lunch, then keep a rough few months entirely to themselves.
Mental health can feel too personal or too complicated to bring up, and there's still a worry about being judged or treated differently. We look at that more closely later in the toolkit.
Where your club comes in
Your club can help create an environment where good mental health is easier to look after. It can help stop problems building up unnoticed, and make sure anyone who's struggling can manage things better or find the right support.
No club can stop everyone having a hard time, and nobody expects it to. But the way a club feels, and what it has in place, can make a real difference to the people in it.
Let's explore why this matters to your golf club.
