Calum Hill isn’t quite completely over his “lost season” but the Perthshire player is certain he’ll be contending for tour titles again before long.
The 27-year-old has been out since February after an insect bite when practising in Spain caused multiple infections. That led to nerve hypersensitivity leaving him exhausted by even light activity.
It took months to get to the root of the problem. Calum finally returns to action at this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship – although it’s basically a trial run to see how his body holds up.
‘We’ll see how I handle the load’
Coming off an excellent 2021 when he had his debut tour victory and established himself on the DP World Tour, it’s been a lost season for him. But he’s convinced that he’ll continue his progress when fully recovered.
“It’s been a while,” he said. “This is solely a week to see how the body holds up, and how we’re progressing.
“It’ll be the first time I’ve played in a long time. We’ll just see how I handle the load and see how I hold up. There’s not a huge amount of expectation because I’ve not been doing anything.
“I’d say I’m 70% of the way there and hopefully the next few months will take me to 100%. This week is just a stepping stone.”
Hill tried to return from his initial problem in Qatar at the end of March but was forced to withdraw and at that time it wasn’t clear what the issue was.
“The main issue was the extent of time it took to figure out what was going on,” he said. “The whole consensus (from doctors) was, you’re fine, you’ll be getting better, there’s no problem.
“But the more activity I did, basically the more golf I did day after day, it just deteriorated to the state I couldn’t get going again.”
‘It was nice to get a clear picture’
Really disappointed not to be able to defend my #CazooClassic title this week as the recovery from injury continues. Things are beginning to get a bit better and feel like we are starting to make progress so hope to see everybody soon @DPWorldTour.
Good luck everybody this week👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/SFCZniUPuT— Calum Hill (@CalumHill_golf) July 20, 2022
Calum consulted doctors all over the country before an Edinburgh physiotherapist pinpointed the issue.
“It turned out to be nerve damage, or nerve hypersensitivity is probably the right phrase,” he explained. “It just causes the muscles to go into spasm the more they get used.
“There’s no relaxation and it just gets more and more contracted, that’s what causes the pain.
“It was about May when I got directed towards this physio, and as soon as I saw him he said ‘this is your problem and I know how to fix it’.
“It was nice to get a clear picture of what the problem is and how to progress with it. Then there’s a point of acceptance that it’s something that you have to go through and it’ll get better eventually.”
Having the right family and friends backing him, and his own mental strength, proved a key, he said.
“I feel like my mental game is a strength of my golf, and it’s helped out with this side of things,” he said.
“There’s always little bits when things are going on and you have little doubts. But I know if I get back to be able to play golf, it’ll be fine.
“It’s just getting the body there. We’re making good progress, and if it is progressing, the golf will take care of itself.”
Delight at fellow Scots’ successes
Man throws darts 🎯 https://t.co/d7XYJiKqbX
— Calum Hill (@CalumHill_golf) September 18, 2022
In his absence, his friends and countrymen Ewen Ferguson and Robert MacIntyre have won, but there’s no jealousy, only delight at their success.
“(2021) was a nice year for me so I’d have liked to keep pushing on,” he said. “But I’m still on the younger side and I’ve got plenty of years of European Tour golf left.
“In some ways, I’m quite happy it’s happened now and not a few years later when more important things might have come along. There’s plenty of time to catch up.
“I knew that I was probably going to be out of the game completely, so watching your pals have success is brilliant, actually.
“I’ve been watching quite a bit of TV, and when they’ve been in contention I’ve watched and supported.”
There are no concrete plans for the rest of 2022, but if this week goes well he’ll try to play more.
“There will be a comfort level for me,” he said. “Hopefully I go really well and there’s not too much discomfort. On top of a few more weeks of physio and recovery from that, then the Portugal Masters (at the end of October) would seem very good for a next step.
“We’ll aim more towards next year in getting back to a full schedule.”