‘Golf Saved My Life'

Recovering drug addict Kevin Perry credits golf with bringing him back from the brink. He tells Michael Weston his remarkable story...

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A biting wind whips through the valley, cold enough to make your teeth chatter. Down on the tee, a roll-up is about to get underway. Even from a distance, you can see shoulders moving up and down and hear the guffaws as pleasantries are exchanged. It might be more comfortable in the warmth of the clubhouse, but Kevin Perry would do anything to be outside facing the elements and sharing a joke with his fellow members. For the recovering drug addict, this is what the game is all about. Surrey National is his sanctuary. If only he could play more often.

When Kevin was three years old, he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a debilitative condition that causes muscle weakness and fatigue. It went into remission when he was 11, but school – and later, college – were a constant challenge. “You want to be doing all the things that the other kids are doing, and I couldn’t do that,” he says. “I couldn’t run. I’d go 20 metres and start panting. Things were taking me three times as long to learn. I couldn’t walk upstairs, or open a car door. It created a problem that I didn’t really know how to deal with.”

DOWNWARD SPIRAL

After breaking up with his girlfriend, Kevin found himself out of control. He was determined to instigate his own downward spiral. Nothing was going to stop him. When he was 17, he started taking heroin and crack cocaine. At first, he clung to the hope he could drag himself back, because he knew that what he was doing was wrong – but he soon became addicted. His medical condition is tough to explain, although speaking about the next period of his life causes greater anguish.