Marlene Summers

Golf Marlene Summers

IN EIGHTEEN HOLES OF COMPETITIVE GOLF, I often experienced every season all in the same round. The game could start off in torrential rain and end in blazing-hot sunshine. Sometimes, it would get so cold I could not feel my hands on the club. Almost every single tournament seemed to consistently reveal the same enormously varied conditions, as if the weather continued to test my focus, to see if I was strong enough to endure the elements. That's what happened when I was diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease. Life was sunny, then dark and cold in a flash. In the beat of my heart, rain poured down. But just like in a round of golf, I told myself to keep going-even though I could not move, or get out of bed some days-I told myself to have faith; if I could just get to the eighteenth hole, I'd spy the sun through the clouds. But I had one grand obstacle in my way. I had the mindset of an athlete all my life, since I was four and in gymnastics, even before my father introduced me to golf. And now I was left to rely on my heart, my mind, my wits, for I had no energy, I was in pain, and my legs and arms no longer worked. And so my journey began. Life Lesson To successfully tap into all that you are blessed with, you have to let go of all that you know.