The game of golf is tough enough to play without having some nagging aches and pains to deal with.

But for Red Deer’s Kyle Morrison, he’s had to overcome a very serious injury in order to get back to the high level of play he set early in his golf life.

The 26-year-old hurt his right knee about a year ago playing hockey, tearing his ACL. Then during the summer in 2012 he blew out his meniscus while skateboarding and had to call Red Deer College golf coach Scott Bergdahl to give him the bad news.

This was just shortly before provincials were to get underway but he has put in the hard work to get back to being able to play once again and is ready to tee it up for RDC.

“I had two surgeries last winter and I’m about three months post recovery and I’m almost about 100 per cent right now.”

Doctors had told him six to eight months recovery but he has obviously sped up that process. He credits all the hard work in the gym and his strong desire to play competitive golf again.

Bergdahl says he’s impressed with the approach Kyle has taken to get back to being an active member of the team and says it shows complete dedication to his craft and to his sport.

“This is a guy who eats, sleeps and breathes golf,” he said. “My hat goes off to Kyle, he’s an amazing young man and a great golfer. Great for our program.”

Morrison is excited to be back at RDC for a couple of reasons.

“I went to school (RDC) just to play golf again and my good buddy Darrin Windle is back and if we play well we should have a good shot,” he said. “ We’ve been playing junior golf together since we were about 10 years old at River Bend.”

The injury is to his right knee which happens to be the one which he pivots around as a right-handed golfer. He now finds it very tough to transfer 90% of his weight onto the back foot during his swing, especially when he has a driver in his hands.

“I’m trying to equal it out but it’s a slow process but it will work out especially with Scott here to help me over the next few weeks,” he said.

The injury is very much a psychological thing for some because you can’t transfer weight properly.

The twisting is different and you are subconsciously trying to protect that injury, said Bergdahl.

“In a lot of cases maybe you don’t turn enough or you start to sway. You have to be really dedicated and focused to the process of the swing.”

He says some of his best golf was played when he was in his mid-teens, posting a few course records and winning some amateur events.

At the age of 21 Morrison rebuilt his swing but he felt something was missing even though he was still playing well enough to be involved in high profile tournaments like the Canadian Amateur.

“One day I decided to go back to my old swing because I was sick of hitting it bad and the last two weeks I’ve been hitting it really good and I’m actually very excited to be playing again this year,” he said. “I feel like I’m back to where I was when I was 16 or 17 which is kind of funny.”

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