Mytime Active Stories - Amy

Being out in the fresh air is really good for my mental wellbeing!

Amy Brittain is centre manager at Mytime Active’s Pype Hayes Golf Course in Birmingham. She took up golf last year and has been surprised by how much she now loves it.

“I’ve always been very active, I used to swim 50 lengths before work every morning as party of my routine. Then last year I started to struggle with an autoimmune condition which causes me to suffer from reactive arthritis. My joint pain was getting worse and worse, and I stopped being able to swim – I'd just end up in too much pain afterwards. This coincided with me taking over as centre manager here at Pype Hayes Golf Course, so I decided to give golf a try for the first time in my life".

“I’ve worked at Mytime Active since 2016 and, despite getting free access to our golf courses, I must confess I’d never had much interest in playing golf. It just never really appealed to me. Taking over Pype Hayes spurred me on to have a go – I figured our members weren’t going to have much time for me if I didn't know one end of a golf club from the other! I played my first ever round of golf on the 27th of October 2024 and, to my utter surprise, I actually loved it".

“Over the last year I have really got into the golf vibe, although I'm still not very good! I'm trying very hard though and I really do enjoy it. Because of my joint pain I tend to use a buggy, rather than carrying my clubs, but I still get in a lot of walking – certainly more than I’d do if I wasn’t playing golf – and it’s gentler on my joints. I find being out in the fresh air is really good for my mental wellbeing. I tend to play nine holes, which takes about two hours. I can start out on the course feeling really, really stressed and I always feel so much more chilled afterwards".

“When I had to give up swimming I could go days without really moving. Now I’m outside, getting some air and I feel better as a result. Plus I’m spending time with friends and it stops me constantly being on my phone; it's very good for that. I’ve had a couple of lessons with Cameron Edmonds, our golf pro at Hatchford Brook, to help improve my technique. I play with a friend who is also the operations manager here at Pype Hayes, so he gives me tips on the way round but in a less formally structured way, too – let’s just say I’m a work in progress!"

“I never expected to grow to like golf as much as I now do, it’s become a regular part of my week that I really look forward to. Golf can seem daunting if you’ve never played before but it’s really not, it’s great fun and I feel so much better for taking it up”.