With the Paralympics well under way I thought it fitting to write about blind golf.
Now when I say the words blind golf, what comes to mind?
Often when I have spoken about this in the past people will say, ‘don’t be silly, how can blind people play golf?’ My response is, very well, actually.
Many years ago I studied at the Royal National College for the Blind as a sighted student, and a few years ago I spent some time coaching and caddying for a blind golfer at the World Blind Golf Championships and the Blind British Open.
This will be covered in next weeks post.
For now I want to make you more aware of how the blind or visually impaired (if you prefer) are able to play this great game. Like the Paralympic sports there are different categories so that there is an even playing field. There are three sight categories, B1, B2 and B3.
For a B1 golfer they will have no light perception in either eye, or slight light perception but inability to recognise the shape of a hand at any distance or in any direction. So they will have pretty much zero vision. Their handicap extends to 56.
B2 will have the ability to recognise the shape of a hand, up to visual acuity of 2/60, and/or visual field of less than 5 degrees. They can see between 3-6% of normal vision. Their maximum handicap is 45.
Finally a B3 will have visual acuity between 2/60 and 6/60, and/or visual field of between 5 degrees and 20 degrees. They will have up to 10% vision and their handicap will extend to 36.
Put simply the golfer will range from no vision at all to being able to make out the ball on the ground, but once it’s gone will not be able to see where it has been hit.
The rules are the same as for sighted golfers except that blind golfers are allowed to ground the club in a hazard. Each golfer has a guide and their role is critical in helping them get round the course.
They will give as much information to the golfer as possible. Such as the terrain, the lie of the ball, distance, direction and help line them up correctly.
When putting they’ll work together in assessing the distance and break from the ball to the pin, which may involve pacing from the ball to the pin and determining the length and line of shot.
It was inspirational working with and being around blind golfers and one American in particular comes to mind His name is Charlie Adams. This link:
http://m.reporternews.com/
explains a little about Charlie. At the time I met him he was playing off 5 and could bomb the ball off the tee.
Blind golfers have certainly inspired me to not take the game and myself too seriously.
More to come on this.
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