Persevering with Parkinson’s
Written by Justin Jarrett
Photographed by Rob Kaufman
The day 10 years ago when Cris Lamdin’s children noticed his hands shaking, leading to a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, wasn’t the beginning of his relationship with Spring Island Club golf pro Billy Sampson, but it was the start of something special.
“I’ve been working with Billy since 2000, really, trying to hit a ball straight down the fairway,” Lamdin says, “and of course as my Parkinson’s got worse, I could hit it straight down the fairway, but it only went about two yards because I didn’t have any strength, so we had to come up with a different way to hit the golf ball.”
Lamdin refused to allow his diagnosis to take away the things he loved, including time spent on the golf course with friends, and Sampson wasn’t keen on giving up one of his favorite pupils, so they worked together to preserve Lamdin’s ability to hit the links — and maintain his quality of life.
“When Mr. Lamdin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, we created a game plan on how he was going to continue to play golf,” Sampson recalls.
But Lamdin was still working as a managing director/portfolio manager with ClearBridge Investments in New York City and maintaining an active lifestyle at the time. As the Parkinson’s progressed, so did the challenge.
Sampson poured himself into research but found little, so he sought out a golf pro in Oregon who had helped a student in a similar situation, as well as neurologists and sports psychologists — anyone who could help him better understand the keys to continuing to play golf with Parkinson’s.
As he cast a wider net, he made an inadvertent catch. A plastic surgeon in Houston doing work with patients with Parkinson’s reached out with a wealth of information gleaned from his own experience helping clients keep playing.
“At first I was scared because I didn’t want him to fall, I didn’t want to hurt him, and I didn’t know what I could and could not do,” Sampson recalls. “I went to doctors, and they basically gave me an open book and said the key is balance and mobility — keep the strength up and he’s going to be fine.”
The trick was finding a way to generate club speed while maintaining balance, and the answer was “the baseball swing,” a flatter, more rotational move that allows Lamdin to swing harder despite limited lateral mobility. Pool workouts have helped Lamdin maintain his strength.
The result?
“I’m hitting it about 102 yards off the tee box,” Lamdin says. “And then I probably hit it about 75 yards off the fairway.”
Lamdin had to retire from his career and give up driving, but he’s still hitting it down the middle 10 years after his diagnosis, a testament to an instructor with “the patience of Job” and a student who is equal parts positivity and determination.
Lamdin, 74, is quick to credit Sampson, who keeps him motivated and in good spirits and reminds him to focus on the process rather than the results, but Sampson marvels at his student’s ability to persevere through the disease’s degenerative effects.
“It shows me that you never give up,” Sampson says. “And it also shows me what kind of person Cris Lamdin is and the respect he has for people and the love he has for the people around him, his family and the people who work with him. I feel really fortunate to be a part of that team.”
Lamdin jokes that his biggest challenge now is getting his friends to swallow their pride and play the forward tees with him.
“We’ve lost a little distance, but for the distance lost we’ve gained accuracy and consistency,” Sampson says. “We just play a shorter golf course than we used to, but his putting and chipping is still very, very solid. If anything, his short game has gotten better.”
Lamdin has taken great measures to ensure Sampson is recognized for his efforts keeping the game in his life, starting with a gushing letter to the Spring Island Club management and progressing through the various levels of the Professional Golfers Association.
Both teacher and pupil want to pass on the insight they’ve gained to others, and they’re planning an event at Old Tabby Links at Spring Island in September to raise funds for Parkinson’s awareness.
“At the end of the day you can sit back and say, ‘I finally got to help someone,’ and it’s not really about swinging a golf club at that point,” Sampson says. “You got to spend time with someone that you love and is a very caring person.
“Mr. Lamdin has a wonderful, wonderful attitude. Nothing’s going to stop him or hold him back. He doesn’t give up, and we’ll never let him give up.”
The Playing for Parkinson’s event is Sept. 24-25. For more information, visit shorturl.at/NYZ15.
