We all know that the golfing gods can dish out more dodgy deals than a Tory minister. Wallace Booth, for instance, has been so bedevilled by injuries since turning professional 12 years ago, his career of aches and pains could just about command a special case study in The Lancet medical journal.
“In that 12 years, I’ve had maybe five-and-a-half seasons as a pro and the rest has been spent injured,” he said of a prolonged, stop-start period of frustration and futility that has featured two major operations on a bothersome shoulder. “When I turned pro in 2009, I never envisaged sitting on the sidelines for most of 2010 and all of 2011. I had a wee run at it then I was out again for another two years. I’ve been injured for half my career. It’s not great is it?”
Just for good measure, Booth is currently nursing yet another sapping affliction. “I had a bulging disc at the bottom of my neck which was pressing on the nerve that feeds into the arms,” reported the former Walker Cup player of another setback in his comeback. “I’ve not had any feeling in my right index finger and around the back of my palm for about 16 weeks now.”
At 36, Booth, who turned pro with a big reputation and big ambitions after a stellar amateur career, could be tempted to toss in the towel. But the Perthshire man is made of stern stuff, even if his body occasionally betrays that hardy resolve.
“I just still love golf, even after all this” he said of a passion that refuses to be doused by relentless torrents of rotten fortune. “I feel I have been unlucky and, in a sense, that drives me. There’s still a light that burns somewhere inside me and keeps me thinking that I can still do something.
“After my second operation at the end of 2018, the surgeon said there was always a chance that I might not play again but I had half-a-dozen events in 2019 and it was ok. I was all set to give it a go in 2020. And then Covid hit.
“Every year that goes by it gets harder and harder and I’ve accepted that. But, after all the rehab and the work I’ve put in, I feel I owe it to myself to give it one last go.”
In this fickle old game, Booth, who was part of Scotland’s historic World Amateur Team Championship-winning side in 2008, does not have much time to dwell on the what-ifs, maybes and might-have-beens of golf.
With great multi-tasking gusto, he has taken over the running of the family farm and holiday cottage on the outskirts of Comrie, he has completed a Master of Business Administration degree at Stirling University and he is in the throes of developing his own dog exercise and training park.
Nothing, of course, is plain sailing. “I was topping the field in the tractor and got it stuck in a ditch,” he said of this farming faff which was probably still less embarrassing than topping a drive off the tee in front of an expectant gallery. “It was just an inexperienced young pup trying to do his best on the farm,” he added with a wry chuckle.
Away from the day-to-day duties, Booth continues to find soothing escapism in his quest to bag all of Scotland’s Munros. He now has less than 50 peaks to conquer although a recent ascent of the remote Maoile Lunndaidh ended up leaving him with some extra work to do.
“I stopped in to see a friend on the way back and he said ‘did you go to the official summit because they have changed it?’,” Booth explained of this 1000 metre clamber which has, apparently, caused a bit of debate and controversy among the Munro-bagging fraternity.
“There are three summit cairns and according to the OS map the middle cairn is officially the tallest point. I didn’t actually touch that one so I’m going to do it again.
“I’m a purist and maybe it is the golfer in me. I could easily say I completed it as technically we were at the top. I just didn’t touch the official cairn. I couldn’t live with myself saying I’ve completed all the Munros so I’m going to go back.”
In Booth’s professional career of injury-plagued toil, another mountain to climb is just par for the course.
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