I took up golf in the summer of 2001 but have had a chronic herniated disk (not related to golfing) that was really bad, constantly bothered me, & completely took me out of the game (& my pool game
) for five &-a-half years till I got tired of it & said to myself that I'm not going to let this thing stop me from playing, & continue to play through it no matter what happens. In fact, it still flares up every once in a while, especially when it's cold, & it limits my play (& improvement), but at least I can still play!