Hi my name is Cullen Murray, Golf has been a part of my life forever. One of the most underrated aspects of this insanely difficult sport is the mental focus and strength. Golf is so different because it’s just as frustrating for the average person as it is for the best player in the world, although pros go through some different scenarios. From public scrutiny to plain underperforming, The highs are high and the lows are low. As this is becoming a bigger issue pro golfer are beginning to speak up and come out about their struggles. On Mind over Matter, Im looking forward to informing you and talking about mental health advocates in the game of golf and golfers who struggled with mental health on the course.
May 12 2025 – A Tribute to Grayson Murray
With the first post of Mind over Matter, Being that May is Mental Health Awareness month, I think it’s only right to talk about Grayson Murray and his story. Grayson was a PGA Tour member, he had won two tournaments in his young career, The Barbasol Championship in 2017 and The Sony Open in 2024.
Grayson was humble, always spoke kind words, he cared for others and would always love answering questions to younger players.
He was intense, his longtime friend said that his sobriety had found a way of using his intenseness to bring others closer instead of pushing them away.
Although Grayson was a very talented golfer and a great person, He was battling behind closed doors. In 2021 he attended rehab to fight his alcohol dependency and get help with his anxiety and depression.
Everything was looking better, Grayson had gotten engaged in December of 2023 to his future wife, Christiana Ritchie. Christina was a new spark in Graysons life bringing him joy like he hadn’t felt before.
It was May 23 2024, the first day of The Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. After the second round of the tournament Grayson withdrew, citing illness.
That following day Grayson took his own life.
The golf world was in shock. No one had really understood the battles Grayson was fighting behind closed doors besides those closest to him. There was an immediate outcry of support for Grayson’s family, friends and fiance. The day after his passing, everyone playing in the tournament wore a red and black ribbon to honor Grayson. Grayson would wear black and red often as he was a huge fan of the Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL.
His parents started the Grayson Murray Foundation which is dedicated to raise awareness and support for mental health and addiction.
His family later released their mission statement.
“To raise awareness of mental health and addiction challenges faced by individuals from all walks of life, while advancing innovative services and research.”
May 16 2025 – Golf’s Benefits on Wellbeing
Although golf can be known as the world’s most frustrating sport it has lots of benefits including reducing stress and improving mental health.
In a quote from professor Jenny Roe a environmental psychologist and director of the center for Design and Health at the University of Virginia.
“Golf is one way of benefiting from a regular ‘dose’ of green space to boost psychological wellbeing and physical health.”
She also goes on to talk about how the natural setting of being outdoors for your exercise is much better for your brain and natural serotonin levels.
Roe also goes on to talk about how being in a green space is much better for managing stress.
“When you step into a green space, there’s a number of things that happen with both your physiology and your psychology. Your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in – the system that’s associated with relaxation – and your stress physiology actually changes. You literally manage stress more efficiently when you are in a green space.”
In Roe’s final quote from the article she explained how golf is one of the most natural stress relievers.
“I think to get out and play golf you are really helping manage your mental health in a very holistic way. Contact with nature allows us to recover from brain fatigue, reduces our stress levels and improves our mood. In turn, improved mood is linked to what’s called the ‘broaden and build’ hypothesis, with an increased capacity for creative thought and cognitive flexibility that can – potentially – lead to new thought-action repertoires on and off the golf course, and improved performance.”
Overall golf can be used as one of the best and healthiest stress management methods available.
May 27 2025 – “The Crazy Golf Pro”
Don Walin was a professional golfer in British Columbia, Canada.
He became a member of the Canadian Professional Golfers Association in 1989. Later he also became a PGA Professional.
Three years into his promising young career everything changed.
Walin was diagnosed with manic depression also known as bipolar disorder. Walin had been struggling for the longest time behind closed doors before this.
This diagnosis and prior incidents ended up with Walin staying in a psychiatric ward for 6 weeks.
Walin talks about how he would often have freak outs and very unfortunate incidents happen on the golf course, he put so much pressure on himself to be the best player he could be and he forgot that he is indeed human.
Walin would have frequent visits to the psychiatric ward, in 1996 he was also diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder also known as (SAD)
Walin talks about his final psychiatric ward visit in 2001 where he was given the right medicine that he still takes to this day, as he gets older he’s been learning ways to manage his stress and keep himself away from environments that can help him maintain his happiness.
Walin also reflects on religion and how it’s changed him and his outlook in his book.
He states “I’m not religious but I’ve had countless spiritual experiences over the last 30 years”.
He talks about how reading books about the mind, emotions and bipolar disorder have changed his life for the better.
He dives much deeper into religion in his book “The Crazy Golf Pro: My journey with bipolar disorder”.
