Bernard Gallacher says golf clubs without a defibrillator are 'irresponsible'
Ten years on from one saving his life, Lothians legend Bernard Gallacher says it is “irresponsible” for golf clubs not to have on-site defibrillators.
Martin Dempster
By Martin Dempster
Published 12th Jun 2023, 11:02 BST- 2 min read
Updated 12th Jun 2023, 15:44 BST
Figures show that as many as 400 golfers suffer heart attacks on UK golf courses every year, with heart disease currently accounting for one in four deaths in the UK. Research by Golf Care in 2019 found that around two-thirds of UK golf courses did not have an on-site defibrillator. There are more than 2,000 golf clubs in the UK, of which fewer than 700 have officially registered details of a defibrillator on the National Golf Course Defibrillator Register.
Although progress has been made in recent years, Bathgate man Gallacher, an ambassador for Golf Care, is urging golf courses yet to install an AED to do so. It comes as the 74-year-old reflects on the cardiac arrest that left him ‘medically dead’ and in a coma for a week in 2013.
The three-time Ryder Cup captain was on a hotel stage in Aberdeen about to deliver a guest speech to an audience of golfers when suddenly he collapsed, having suffered a cardiac arrest. He said: “Luckily for me, the quick actions of a retired A&E nurse and various others in the audience saved my life. I had no pulse and was given CPR while someone accessed the hotel defibrillator. “I’d always considered myself fit and healthy for my age, being a gym-regular, non-smoker, moderate drinker, and with no real underlying health issues besides slightly elevated blood pressure.
