MIDDLE ATLANTIC BLIND GOLF
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MABGA
Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities
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MABGA NEWSLETTERRevised 10/14/2011
Listed below are some of our more noteworthy news articles concerning MABGA and our Junior Golf program. These articles include accomplishments from our active and previously active members.
In 2011, Mario Tobia, an active MABGA member, successfully competed in four national Blind Golf Championships in the B1 division. The first tournament held on June 11 through June 13, in West Chester, New York where he participated in the 34th Annual Guiding Eye Classic Invitational Tournament. This event included the best 14 blind golfers in the U.S and is considered the Masters of Blind Golf. This Invitational outing is a one day event using a modified Stableford format where points are rewarded based on your score for each hole. Mario took second place in that event losing by one point to the winner. On June 25 and June 26, Mr. Tobia competed in the McCulloch Memorial Match Play Championships in Wadsworth, Ohio and included golfers from the U.S., Canada and Europe. Mario took first place beating his fellow competitor in a match play format up 5 holes with 4 holes left to play. In August 20 through August 23, Mario took second place in the 66th United States Blind Golf National Championship in Columbus, Georgia losing by 4 strokes to the eventual winner. In his last tournament of the year held on October 10 through October 12, Mr. Tobia took first place in the American Blind Golf National Championship held at the Republic Golf Course in San Antonio, Texas becoming a repeat winner in that event.
In September of 2008, George Pilz, another active MABGA member won the 63rd annual Senior National Championship in the B1 , totally blind division, at River Bend Links in Tunica, Mississippi. Other note worthy accomplishments include members who several years ago shot an eagle and three MABGA golfers who shot a hole in one. That's right, three blind golfers who ace their shot on a par 3 hole. The first was recorded by Rod Ryan at the Meadowland Country Club on their 120 yard 14 hole on August 1, 2003. Larry Ruttenberg recorded the second hole in one at the 120-yard par-3 12th hole at the ACE Club in Lafayette Hill, and most recently, Sheila Drummond , a former MABGA member, shot her ace on the 144-yard, par-3 fourth hole at Mahoning Valley Country Club on Sunday, August 19, 2007.
Other articles are about the charity events attended by some of our blind golfers and coaches. Each event shares the common theme of helping the blind community and people in need. It is our pleasure to use our golfing talents to help make these worthwhile causes a success.
Newsletter Articles
POSTED: August 9, 2011
Young golfer doesn't accept blindness as handicap BY MIKE KERN Philadelphia Daily News
WHAT HANDICAP?
Patrick Malloy never has known what it's like to have the use of his eyes. That's hardly kept him from leading a pretty normal life, including playing golf. And sometimes even helping others who can see.
Take his first day at Council Rock North High 4 years ago, where he was the only blind student.
"All through eighth grade I'd go there once a week with a mobility instructor, and in the summer I went over with my mom so that I would know the routes and know how to get around," he explained. "She took her stopwatch and said, 'I want you to have the same experience everyone else has. I don't want you to get any special treatment.' If everyone else had 5 minutes to get to class, that's what I had, too. She would time me and say, 'OK, we did this.'
"I was coming out of a class, dropping things off before the next one, and a couple of friends came up and I said, 'How's it going? You finding everything?' They were like, 'Well, actually, no. We're looking for our social studies class.' And I said, 'Oh, that's what period I have next. You can walk there with me.' "
He smiled at the irony.
Welcome to his world, which has been built around opportunities rather than barriers.
Starting next month, the 18-year-old Malloy will be a freshman at Muhlenberg College, where he admits he might finally have to learn how to cook. He wants to become an attorney, perhaps specializing in disability law. In June, he was awarded a $10,000 scholarship from the Royal Bank of Scotland as its male Achiever of the Year for his involvement with the Philadelphia Chapter of The First Tee program, where he's a participant and intern/mentor.
The thought of him being anything but mainstream never remotely enters his equation.
"A school for the blind is great for some people," Malloy said. "But I know that the world isn't going to cater to a blind person's needs. A regular school's going to teach me that. That's the way my parents brought me up. They could have looked at it and said, 'He won't be able to do this or that, or the other thing.' But they said, 'OK, he's blind. Let's approach it the other way. What can we do?' "
Apparently, just about anything he takes on.
"His blindness makes him who he is," said Dave Smith, the PGA director of golf operations at Walnut Lane Golf Course, where he's site director of the First Tee. "You can tell his mind is always working. If he can't see it, he's trying to analyze it in another way."
Smith has been working with Malloy for a decade, or ever since Patrick decided to give the game his late grandfather loved a try. Smith was working at Yardley Country Club at the time, and they hooked up through the Mid-Atlantic Blind Golfers Association. Three years ago, he moved to Walnut Lane and brought Malloy with him. Two days a week, he helps Patrick's father, Mike, with the commute from Bucks County.
"[Smith's] sort of like a member of our family now," said Malloy, whose mother, Eileen, is a speech therapist and whose older sister, Kaitlin, recently graduated in only 3 years from Gettysburg College. "Golf's a challenging game for anyone, whether you have 20-20 vision or no vision whatsoever. Blind golf is essentially a team sport. You need a person to put the ball on the tee and help you line the shot up. Then it's a lot about feel and muscle memory. I like the sound the ball makes when you make the putt and it rolls and rolls and there's that click when it falls in the cup. Or when you hit that perfect drive and you almost feel it coming off the club face. You don't have to see it to know how good it was."
A member of the National Honor Society, Malloy has put into Braille multiple copies of TFT curriculum, which incorporates nine core values. He also has created programs for the Overbrook School for the Blind and St. Lucy Day School for the Visually Impaired. Yet it's the lessons he imparts as a member of TFT coaching staff that are particularly inspirational.
"I always tell the kids, 'I can't see the golf ball, but that doesn't mean anything to me,' " Malloy said. "As long as I have a good, consistent swing and I've been lined up correctly, I'm going to find that ball. I'm generally met with surprise at first. That's understandable. Once they actually see me out there, they realize this is a guy who happens to be blind, not a blind guy who happens to be a golfer. Not only do they learn about golf from me, they learn how to accept a blind person. I do everything they do.
"I let them ask me any question they want to. Someone wanted to know how I could see if I was blind. I said, 'Well, I don't see with my eyes like you do. I use my other senses, and I can picture things in my head.' There's something you could never have told a kid to ask. They just came up with it, out of the blue. I just remember thinking it was a great question.
"The First Tee is all about accepting diversity, promoting an acceptance. I bring a certain perspective to that."
It's certainly a distinct one.
"We even exposed him to teaching older kids," Smith said. "And you can hear a pin drop. You can see them focusing in on whatever he's talking about. We'll get to a point where it's, 'OK, demonstrate the skill of putting,' or 'Demonstrate the skill of chipping.' And he does. They'll be, 'Oh, my, I should learn like that.'
"We're trying to create better individuals, through life skills. How does he not fit into every single one of the values we have? And how can he not relate that to every one of those kids? Young men and women want to share their story. So it becomes easier for them, because that kind of opens things up. They all know perseverance. For some it might be making a bus every morning. For Patrick, it was being able to mainstream, because that's what he wanted to do. They see him, and maybe realize that their situation isn't as hard to overcome as they think it is. That's why he's so effective here. He can really bridge that gap.
"We were at a function a while back, and there was a woman who said something to the effect of, 'Oh, you poor thing.' And he said, 'Oh, no, that's OK.' He's probably heard that a lot. We talked about it on the way home. His attitude is, 'You don't get it. I'm fine. This is who I am. I just can't see. But there's so much more about me than that.' "
And not because he has the ability to smack one out there, or curl in a tricky 15-footer. Golf is merely a part of him, albeit a revealing one that's helped set him apart. Now, and hopefully for as long as he wants it to be.
"The main thing is, I do everything that my friends who are sighted do," Malloy stressed. "I'm really proud that someone would think what I do is special and recognize that. At the same time, I don't know any different. It's the way that I've been doing things my whole life. For me, it doesn't matter if they say I'm special or not.
"I never felt sorry for myself, not at all. I feel that if you look at your life in that sense, you're going to go through it saying, 'Why didn't this happen?' Or, 'Why didn't that happen?' You're always going to live an unhappy life. Then nothing good is ever going to happen.
"For me I say, 'OK, I can't see, but what else can I do?' I have four other working senses, and I can play golf, and I can go to a great college. What do I really have to be upset about? I've never been one to really worry about things. If it sounds tough, I'll deal with it. I think of college more as an adventure. You never really learn about stuff until you get out there and experience it. I can probably burn food just as easily as a sighted person.
"I think if you had told me when I was like 10 or 11 that I was going to be the Achiever of the Year, I don't know if I would have believed it. I think I would have said, 'Yeah, it could be possible.' I always go through life saying, 'Can I do it? Let me try and see if it'll work.' "
Normal? How about anything but.
"People can be very fearful of the blind," acknowledged his mom, Eileen. "Patrick has never approached it as a tragedy. It's just what it is. He's realistic about accomplishing his goals.
"I think golf has brought him so many wonderful things. It's just a great connector with people. Everyone has their challenges. His are a little more obvious. Some people might take a step back from him because of it. That's their loss."
Handicap? Sure sounds as if Patrick Malloy should be the one giving out strokes at the opening hole to try and make for a pretty even match.
For blind Drexel Hill golfer, meeting challenges is par for the course Published: Tuesday, July 05, 2011 By RUTH ROVNER Special to the Times
Times staff / ROBERT J. GURECKI Drexel Hill resident Jude Vogelman has been playing golf since he was 5 years old. He also happens to be legally blind.
Jude Vogelman of Drexel Hill has always enjoyed golf. So it’s no surprise that he has a full set of clubs, seven in all, and his own golf balls. And he plays golf whenever he can.
He does this even though he is legally blind and has braces on both legs because of cerebral palsy. But that has never stopped him. Now 20, he started playing golf at age 5, and loved it from the start.
“To say he was enthusiastic is an understatement,” said his mother, Jean Ann Vogelman. “He was insanely excited!”
His involvement in golf began when he joined a unique program for blind and visually impaired youngsters. The Blind Junior Golf Program, which is sponsored by the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association (MABGA), is open to all those in the tri-state area — and even beyond — who are visually impaired or totally blind and want to learn to play golf. The age range is 5-21.
The program provides the youngsters with equipment — golf clubs, balls and golf bag — and regular lessons with a PGA golf pro, all free of charge. MABGA recently received a grant from The Philadelphia Section PGA and The Greater Philadelphia Junior Golf Foundation specifically to support the Junior Golf Program.
Twice a year, the junior golfers get together to play golf on a nine-hole golf course at the Overbrook School for the Blind. At this golf clinic, they engage in several competitions, while family and friends cheer them on and then enjoy a pizza party.
The chip-and-putt golf course at Overbrook School for the Blind was designed by Norman Kritz of Cherry Hill, N.J., co-founder of the program.
Kritz is not blind, but he has a long-standing interest in community service, especially for youth. The other co-founder is blind golfer Gil Kayson of Elkins Park, Montgomery County.
Jude Vogelman started participating in the program at age 5. At the time, he was the youngest person to ever join. It all began when his mother, who is the parent liaison at Overbrook School for the Blind, brought home an announcement about the program and encouraged him to join.
“He’s in a family of athletes,” she explained. His father, Darren, is an avid golfer. His three siblings are all involved in sports. “So we wanted Jude to have his own activity,” said his mother.
Jude agreed to join the program even though his disabilities go beyond his legal blindness. He also has cerebral palsy and mild mental retardation, all caused by strokes to the fetus before he was born. When he attended his first golf outing, Jude was using a wheelchair and a walker. Now, his cane and braces give him enough support.
Jude was paired up with PGA coach Mike Sulpizio. “He loved it!” recalled his mother. “He had one-on-one sessions with the coach, he practiced his swing and got to ride in the cart. Even then, he had quite a nice swing, and now it’s even better.”
He also found a way to stand up rather than use his wheelchair. He’d use the golf club for support. “Then he’d swing and fall down, but he would just laugh, get up and do it again,” relates his mother.
Besides practicing with the coach, he also played with his father. “We’d go to the driving range and I enjoyed that,” said Jude. “I like playing with my dad and with friends. And I’ve made new friends because of golf.”
Of course, there are necessary modifications for visually impaired golfers. When Jude is out on the green, his coach places the ball on the tee, and positions him behind it, telling him the approximate distance to the hole. But then it’s up to him to swing and follow through.
Jude’s positive experience with golf has led him to try other sports. At Overbrook School for the Blind, he’s on three teams: Swimming, track, and goal ball, a sport that is similar to soccer but geared specifically for the blind and visually impaired.
Golf has been a favorite activity for years. But Jude’s golf career was interrupted at age 11 when he had major surgeries on his leg. But by age 12, he eagerly resumed the game he loves. Besides playing with his father, he sometimes played with his older brother, Blaise.
And of course he always attended the twice-a-year golf clinics offered by the Blind Junior Golf Program. He was such an active participant, that several years ago he was chosen as one of only two members to attend the dedication of a handicap accessible golf course in Washington, D.C.
The previous year, he was invited to a golf clinic organized by the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) held at the Manhattan Country Club in northern New Jersey to raise money for spinal cord diseases. The late Christopher Reeve was one of the celebrity guests who attended.
Jude was the only representative from the Blind Junior Golf Program to attend. He took part in a demonstration of how a blind youngster hits a ball. “I coached him for this event,” said Kritz. “And he did very well.”
Kritz has known Jude for many years. “He’s totally enthusiastic about the program,” he said. “He’s my buddy — and he’s a really good kid.”
On June 8, Jude graduated from Overbrook School for the Blind. And the day before graduation was also an exciting one. While attending a Phillies game, the team gave special recognition to the close relationship the late, great Robin Roberts had with young blind athletes.
To honor that connection, two students from Overbrook School for the Blind were chosen to represent the school’s student athletes. The two were Jude Vogelman and Kim Novak, and they were out on the field before the game began.
This summer, Jude will still be involved in sports. The family spends summers in North Wildwood, N.J., where Jude has worked for the Department of Recreation for the past two years, helping to supervise recreational activities at the playground. He’s doing so again this summer.
He’s even practiced his swing on the beach, and it’s still getting stronger. “And his long ball is fabulous,” said his mother.
Golf has had a major impact on his life. “It’s been a great source of confidence building for him,” she said. “His siblings are very sports-oriented, and this is the one sport that he can play as well as his sighted peers.”
Golf has even helped him mentally. “It’s a very good learning tool,” according to his mother. “It’s helped him with spatial concepts like how to position the ball in relation to himself. It’s helped him to understand spatial reasoning.”
She’s especially grateful to the two co-founders who are so dedicated to Blind Junior Golf Program. “They’re remarkable,” she said about Kritz and Kayson. “Their devotion to these kids is just unbelievable.”
For her son, the program has been a life-changing experience.
“I always thought that people with disabilities couldn’t play sports- until I found golf,” said Jude. “It helped give me confidence that I could do something if I really tried. And it led me to try other sports. Golf helped make me into the guy I am today.”
For information about the Blind Junior Golf Program, contact Gil Kayson, 215-884-6589, sasgil@voicenet.com or Norman Kritz, 856-428-1420, jerrynorman2@ aol.com
For information about the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association (for adults) visit www.mabga.org.
Sports: Teeing is believing for these siblings By Ruth Rovner For the Times
Xavier and Alexaliz Melendez are no strangers to life on the green. The two siblings, ages 12 and 15, often can be found on various golf courses around the Northeast Philly region. In fact, this Saturday, the duo will again be practicing their swings, attempting holes in one, and participating in varied contests.
And they do it all despite a serious visual impairment.
Xavier and Alexaliz will be attending a golf clinic that’s part of the Blind Junior Golf Program, a unique program for blind and visually impaired youngsters.
Sponsored by the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association, the program is open to any youngster in the tri-state area — and beyond — who is blind or visually impaired and wants to golf. It provides them with equipment — golf clubs, golf balls, golf bag — plus coaching with a PGA golf professional, all free of charge.
Twice a year, the young golfers get together to golf on a course at the Overbrook School for the Blind. Here they engage in several competitions, while family and friends cheer them on. Afterward, everyone enjoys a pizza party.
Xavier and Alexaliz have attended past clinics and look forward to Saturday.
“I like entering the contests,” said Alexaliz, who proudly noted that so far she has won two trophies, having claimed the “Closest to the Pin” competition in 2009 and ’10.
The youngster added that she also enjoys meeting other visually impaired and blind youngsters who, like her, play golf energetically despite their disabilities.
For Xavier, the putting contest is his favorite activity. “And the coaches are really nice,” he said.
Both brother and sister have the same degenerative condition, called retinitis pigmentosa. Because Xavier is older, his condition is now more advanced. He has no peripheral vision — only central vision.
“There’s only a very narrow area where he can see,” said his father, Alexis Melendez, who likened it to looking through a straw. “One eye has this very limited focus, and the other eye has no vision at all.”
Only one in 35,000 children has this disease, and there’s a 30-percent chance that it is inherited. The Melendezes’ oldest son, Steven, has normal vision. So his parents were taken by surprise when Xavier developed retinitis pigmentosa. He was 5 before he showed signs of visual impairment. By then Alexaliz had been born, and in time she too developed the condition.
Xavier is in ninth grade at the Overbrook School for the Blind, and his sister attends the Overbrook Educational Center, designed for blind and visually impaired youngsters up to grade six.
Both enjoy varied activities in their respective schools. Xavier especially likes playing basketball and wrestling, and his favorite academic subject is math. He uses computers at school and at home; they are especially geared to the needs of visually impaired users.
Alexaliz’s favorite class is computer lab, and second place goes to social studies. The versatile youngster plays the xylophone and the recorder. And she enjoys playing Scrabble on Fridays.
“I’m really good at it!” she declared proudly.
Their parents learned about the golf program when Xavier brought home a flier from school.
“I thought it was a very interesting idea,” said Alexis. His son and daughter liked the idea too, and so they soon were fitted with their own set of golf clubs and attended their first clinic.
“I was surprised and amazed to see how the kids in the program could drive the ball so far,” Alexis explained.
The nine-hole chip-and-putt golf course on the campus of the Overbrook School for the Blind was designed by Norman Kritz of Cherry Hill, N.J., co-founder of the Junior Blind Golf Program. Kritz is not visually impaired but he has a longstanding interest in community service, especially for youth. The other co-founder is blind golfer Gil Kayson of Elkins Park.
“They put a lot of effort into helping these kids, and that’s just great,” said Alexis. “It’s not easy to teach children to play golf, even without a disability. And it’s so much harder when they’re visually impaired. So my hat is off to them.”
The youngsters play on this golf course twice a year, in fall and spring. In between, many of them practice at home or undergo coaching sessions.
Of course, there are modifications for blind or visually impaired golfers. When they play, the coach places the ball on the tee and positions the player behind it, telling him or her the approximate distance to the hole. But then it’s up to the player to swing and follow through.
“I had some trouble at first because I didn’t know how to play,” said Alexaliz. “So at first I was a little nervous. But my coach taught me, and I thought it was fun.
“It helps give them more confidence,” added her father. “It shows them that even though they can’t see well, they can still do things.”
Meanwhile his son and daughter are ready and eager for Saturday’s golf activities.
Alexaliz even hopes to take home another trophy. “I’m going to try my best to see if I can win another one,” she said. “But even if I don’t win, I’m going to have fun.”
ASB recognizes two outstanding organizations for their achievements By Patricia Johnson October 22, 2010
Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB) hosted their Annual Board Meeting on October 21, 2010 and recognized two outstanding organizations for their achievements on behalf of the blind and visually impaired community.
The first award was presented to Art-Reach, a Delaware Valley nonprofit cultural service organization that helps underserved audiences, including people with disabilities, at-risk youth, the economically disadvantaged, and the elderly in need, to experience arts and cultural programming and serves as a community resource by increasing accessibility to cultural venues and events.
Over the past few years Art-Reach has provided ASB’s clients with discounted tickets for admission to museums, cultural institutions and arts performances that are pledged by arts partners. This well-loved program has given clients the opportunity to enjoy the same activities as their sighted peers.
Michael L. Norris, Executive Director of Art-Reach, accepted the award.
The second award of the afternoon was presented to the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association (MABGA), a non-profit organization that provides blind and visually impaired men, women, and children the chance to learn the game of golf and the rewards it offers.
Each year, the MABGA provides a blind golfer demonstration at ASB’s Annual Vision Cup Golf Tournament. This demonstration is not only inspiring to attendees, but also informative.
James Ganter, President of MABGA and Vision Cup Demonstrator, accepted the award.
The accomplishments made by both of these organizations on behalf of the blind and visually impaired community are commendable and ASB is pleased to honor such esteemed associations.
Golf notebook: S.A.'s Hooper keeps title at blind event October 14, 2010 http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/Golf_notebook_SAs_Hooper_keeps_title_at_blind_event.html
San Antonio's Bruce Hooper, down by six strokes entering Tuesday's final round, posted a tournament-best 5-over 76 to retain his title in the B-2 division of the American Blind Golf Championship at Brackenridge Golf Course. Hooper's 168 total for the two days was eight strokes up on first-round leader Mark Arnold of Ohio. Hooper, a former world champion in B-2 — for those with limited vision — has now won four straight national crowns and eight overall.
In the B-1 (totally blind) division, New Jersey's Mario Tobia finished with a 102 for a 215 total, enough to defeat Brad Eaton of Massachusetts by 32 strokes. In the B-3 category, Bruce Peterson came from behind with an 87, finishing at 174 and nipping runner-up Charlie Adams by a stroke.
A fundraising event will be held today, again at Brackenridge, to benefit the San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind.
Paris Sterrett does volunteer work with Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association. He lives in Narberth. --
By Joel Fram
If you think that a golfer needs to see what he’s doing, think again. Or ask Narberth resident Paris Sterrett. He’s been coaching blind golfers for 19 years, sharing the pleasures of the game he loves with those who need his help to get the ball into the hole – including a man who did just that with only one swing.
From April through October, Sterrett drives a player to the course, aligns him, describes the holes, gives distances, suggests clubs and watches the ball’s progress. Seven years ago he was coaching an 89-year-old golfer from Wynnewood, Larry Ruttenberg. He told him that the hole was 137 yards away, over a ravine. Ruttenberg asked for his 7-wood and promptly hit a remarkable hole-in-one. The event made national news.
Sterrett, 68, coaches with the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association, which has been coaching the blind and visually impaired since 1948. In addition to coaching individual golfers, he also volunteers as a starter and coach for MABGA junior blind programs at the Overbrook School for the Blind. The school has its own nine-hole course complete with a sand trap and a pond. It sponsors putting and closest-to-the-pin skill contests in which every child receives a prize and trophies are presented “There is nothing finer than to see the expression of a blind child when he or she is called forward to receive a trophy,” Sterrett says.
Sterrett grew up in Rhode Island and earned his master’s in rehabilitation counseling from SUNY Buffalo. He met his wife of 40 years, Joan, in graduate school. Sterrett worked with disabled veterans as a counseling psychologist at the Philadelphia VA for 25 years until he retired in 1995, a career he describes as “very rewarding.” The Sterretts have lived in Narberth since 1973.
Helping people and volunteering is something of a family tradition with Sterrett. His father was the executive director of a community center for children in Providence, and his mother was a very active volunteer with her church, the homeless, a senior citizens’ center and the local library. And Joan is an active volunteer with the Narberth Library, for which she was profiled in this column several weeks ago.
Sterrett plays golf early in the morning four times a week. He is a member of the Cobbs Creek Golf Course and describes his group of 10 colleagues jokingly as “ORFs (old retired farts).” He says that his biggest thrill in golf has not been his own three holes-in-one but providing CPR to a fellow player. At the hole farthest from the clubhouse, the player became disoriented and fell over his pull cart and, Sterrett says, “turned pink, blue and purple almost as fast as you could say birdie.” Sterrett immediately started CPR chest compressions and, after eight to 10 tiring minutes, the player’s color started to return and he revived. By the time the 911 crew arrived, he was sitting up. He spent 10 days at Lankenau Hospital, where he received a new pig valve and a bypass; now, three years later, he’s back playing with the ORFs. Sterrett says that the joke among his golfing friends now is that all of them want to play in his group, should they suddenly need his CPR skills.
Seventeen years ago Episcopal Academy’s head coach asked Sterrett if he would coach JV golf there, which he’s been doing ever since. “It’s fun being with the students with multiple skill levels,” he says, and he emphasizes to this writer, “make sure you put in how much I enjoy it,” In addition to coaching, Sterrett discusses subjects with students that are not golf-related such as college searches, current events and complexities. And he’s not above telling the students frequent riddles and jokes.
Sterrett enjoys gardening, and has had his own plot at Haverford College for 33 years. He also loves to watch high-school and college basketball, and has sat through as many as eight high-school tournament games in one day. (He never attends professional basketball games, however.) He and Joan love to travel, and he would like to cruise the Panama Canal or visit Costa Rica or Nova Scotia.
And Sterrett loves living in Narberth. He volunteers for NarbEarth Day in April and, with Joan, organizes social events for his block. “Somehow we came across this gem of a town that we love,” he says.
For more information about the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association, visit www.mabga.org.
Edgmont welcomes blind golf champions Published: Thursday, September 30, 2010
By TIMOTHY LOGUE, tlogue@delcotimes.com
Jack Herbert, of Wallingford, competes in the 65th United States Blind Golf Association National Championship.
EDGMONT — With raindrops clinging to his argyle sweater and sea foam green slacks, Jack Herbert split the soggy first fairway at Edgmont Country Club with a healthy thwak of a driver.
His approach shot was equally solid and likely would have hopped up onto the green on a drier day.
On Wednesday, however, it never had a chance, plugging in the mud some 15 yards short of the putting surface.
“I’ve got some work to do,” Herbert said as he pulled a sand wedge from his golf bag and walked across the saturated sod to his Titleist.
Two lackluster shots followed before he put a pure stroke on a 12-foot putt and pumped his fist after listening to it tumble into the hole like a barrel over Niagra.
“That felt pretty good,” he said while walking off the green.
As Herbert made his way around the golf course, it was tough to determine what was more impressive — that he is 89 years old or legally blind.
“At my age, I feel like I can do anything,” said the longtime Wallingford resident, who served in the Navy aboard a minesweeper in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
Anything, at least, that doesn’t require central vision.
Herbert’s vision was cut down 10 years ago by wet macular degeneration, a condition that occurs when abnormal blood vessels form behind the retina and start leaking blood and other fluid into the macula.
In less than three months, he lost the ability to see what was in front of him.
“If I look straight down, I can’t really see the golf ball,” Herbert said. “I have to turn my head so my peripheral vision will pick it up. Once I set the club with my peripheral, then I straighten out ... so I can see the hole. I can’t see the ball and the hole at the same time.”
Herbert was among the least impaired of the 21 golfers who participated Monday and Tuesday at the 65th United States Blind Golf Association National Championship at Edgmont. His two-day score of 245 was a few dozen strokes higher than he normally shoots, but rain, thick rough and nerves have a way of piling on.
“As long as I stayed in the fairway I was fine, but the rough was too wet for me,” said Herbert, a retired mechanical engineer for Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock. “I don’t have the strength any more to go through that high grass.”
Edgmont’s support of blind golf dates back to 1967 when club President Nazzareno “Nazz” Mariani and head pro Tanini “Tiny” Pedone welcomed the third annual International Blind Golfers Tournament to the course, which had opened just four years prior.
Both men have died, but Mariani’s daughter Pam said their commitment to blind golfers remains very much in tact.
“We hold at least two or three events per year for Mid-Atlantic Blind Golf Association and we are very proud to do so,” said Mariani, whose course followed up the championship with a clinic for visually impaired children Wednesday. “This is the second time we’ve hosted the USBGA National Championship.”
The USBGA separates golfers into three site classifications, ranging from those who are totally blind to people like Herbert who are legally blind but have some usable vision.
“Blind golf is a team sport so every vision-impaired golfer has a coach to assist them on the course,” said USBGA President and tournament director Sheila Drummond. “They give us distances. They give us course descriptions. They help with club selection. When you are totally blind, your coach has to work very hard.”
Herbert’s coach for the championship was his neighbor of 50 years and longtime playing partner, Jerry Axel.
“With Jack’s condition, he can see just enough to make it very frustrating,” said Axel, also an octogenarian. “A (totally) blind golfer might be happy to make good contact, but Jack was a very proficient golfer at one time — a 7-handicap — so he expects a little more.”
A state pole vaulting champion in 1940, Herbert actually played to a 6-handicap at one time. “I’ve shot several 73s, but never shot a 72,” he said.
And while those days may be gone, he still plays 40-plus rounds per year with the Mid-Atlantic Blind Golf Association and managed to shoot three rounds of 100 or better to qualify for the national championship.
“It’s hard to correct an error when you can’t follow the flight of the ball,” he said. “I depend on Jerry to tell me where the ball goes and whether I’m hitting it on the toe or the hosel.”
And what if the coach forgets to give feedback?
“I’ve called him some bad names,” said Herbert, a charter member at Edgmont who had to give up his membership to help get his daughters through college. “I’ve blamed everything on him at one time or another.”
Despite the extra strokes and spotty weather, Herbert and Axel got around the course just fine Tuesday and finished their round under a warm sun.
The day was capped with an awards ceremony, catered lunch and the standard amount of post-round ribbing about terrible shots that were plainly evident even if not seen.
Pam Mariani commended the players for pressing on in the elements and said blind golfers will always have a home at Edgmont.
“They played through every raindrop and their determination, courage, love and their passion for the game, along with their sense of humor, is just incredible,” she said. “They are by far the most phenomenal group of people I’ve ever been involved with.”
The USBGA national champions for 2010 were Bob Andrews of Tallahassee, Fla., and his coach Joe McCourt in the B1 division (for golfers who are totally blind); Ty Thompson of Lexington, Ky., and coach Marty Jensen in the B2 division (visually impaired) and William Pease and coach Maurice Pease Jr. in the B3 division (less visually impaired).
MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer Helen McIntyre helps George Pilz line up a putt at Edgmont Country Club. Pilz will playin the United States Blind Golf Association's National Championship starting Monday. 1 of 3 READER FEEDBACK
Posted on Fri, Sep. 24, 2010
On Monday, a big day for blind golfers By Mari A. Schaefer Inquirer Staff Writer George Pilz takes a practice swing, places his golf ball on the tee, then stops to listen as his coach describes the fairway, trees, sand traps, and water hazards before them. Helen McIntyre, his coach - and eyes - moves in to help Pilz line up his club and steps aside. The 68-year-old golfer steadies his feet, pulls back his driver, and - thwack - sends the ball flying down the center of the fairway of Edgmont Country Club's first hole. "That is straight out there, George. Good shot," McIntyre says. She walks over to Pilz, who puts a hand on her elbow as the two head toward a golf cart to continue his practice round. On Monday, Pilz will join about two dozen of the best blind golfers in the country, and one from Canada, at this Delaware County club for the first of two days in the United States Blind Golf Association's 65th National Championship. McIntyre, who has been coaching blind golfers for 20 years, says it is her job to give a "visual image" of the course and set the angle of the club behind the ball. The rest is up to the player. Pilz relies on that vivid description from his coach when hitting the ball. He can hear the water in the creek and feel the breeze, but he can't see how far away the tree line is, or if the fairway slopes left or right. "When you lose your sight, this becomes a team sport," says Pilz, a 2008 national champion, who shoots in the low 100s. "It is a communication thing." Pilz, a lineman for Philadelphia Electric before injuries from a car accident stole his sight, was introduced to the sport while a Veterans Administration rehab patient in the early 1960s. "I took [golf] on as everything else I did since I lost my sight - as a challenge," said Pilz, of King of Prussia. "And it is a challenge." Now retired after a career with AT&T and his own business, Pilz spends two or three days a week playing more than 40 courses around the region with his golfing buddies in the 100-member Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association, which includes part-time coaches. Reaching the green on this morning at Edgmont, Pilz paces off the space between the ball and the pin with McIntyre at his side - his way of visualizing the slope and distance. The two then mull the possibilities for his next shot. "I'm going to say it's going to break right," advises McIntyre, 66, of Glen Mills, who will be a tournament volunteer. This is not the first time Edgmont Country Club, on West Chester Pike in Edgmont Township, has held a blind-golf event. In 1967, comedian Bob Hope hosted the Hope for the Blind tournament at the club. In 2007, the USBGA held its 62d National Championship there. The club, built on the rolling grounds of an estate more than 200 years old, has long supported athletic events for the blind, said Pam Mariani, the club's general manager. Its late founders - her father, Nazzareno "Nazz" Mariani, and Tanino "Tiny" Pedone - brought the first event for visually impaired golfers to the course in the early 1960s, Mariani said. It became their passion. "They took this under their belts and into their hearts," Mariani said. "We are honored to continue the tradition in their memory." The more-than-400-member club also hosts events for the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association, which serves the Philadelphia region and Delaware. On Wednesday, it will host a golf clinic for vision-impaired youths. Also preparing to compete in the national tournament is Mario Tobia, 55, of Mount Laurel, who hopes the mini-competitions he plays with the Middle Atlantic group will help him get over the jitters. "If I am playing well, I can still hit in the 80s," Tobia said. But, he said, with a national competition and officials watching, he expects to throw 10 strokes onto that number. Tobia took up the sport in his 30s before retinitis pigmentosa gradually took his sight. He didn't let blindness deter him. Golf "is something I can do without sight," said Tobia, who trains people to use adaptive-technology software for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Philadelphia and the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. But he admitted it was "an adjustment" to hit the ball well without seeing it. Tobia has played four national tournaments despite - or perhaps because of - the stress it produces. "I find it more enjoyable to play competitive golf," he said. "It keeps my interests up." The golfers compete in three categories, depending on the level of their impairment. Tobia and Pilz will compete in the totally blind category with Sheila Drummond, 56, president of the USBGA and a tournament organizer. Drummond gained international attention when she hit a hole-in-one in 2007. Drummond, who couldn't imagine chasing a little ball around a golf course when she could see, hit the perfect shot on a par-3 hole at her home course, Mahoning Valley Country Club in Lehighton, Pa. "It was crazy," Drummond said of the TV and newspaper interviews that followed. She relies on her other senses to hear and feel if the ball was hit correctly. "Sometimes if you hit it really, really good, right in the sweet spot, it almost feels like you missed it," she said. Back on the green of the third hole at Edgmont, McIntyre holds up a putter to "plumb bob" a six-foot shot for Pilz. "Right to left" is how it will break, they agree. No practice swing this time, Pilz steps up and hits. The ball rolls toward the pin and just misses. He taps it in, and the two move on to the next hole. Contact staff writer Mari A. Schaefer at 610-892-9149 or mschaefer@phillynews.com.
Students Help Blind Children Set Their Sights on Golf Posted: Tuesday, January 05, 2010Written By: Marisa Olson Contact: Marisa Olson Contact Email: m.olson@usp.edu Contact Phone: 215.596.8788 215.596.8788
<On October 10, 2009, the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association (MABGA) held a junior golf clinic for blind and partially-sighted children at Philadelphia’s Overbrook School. The twice-yearly clinics are coordinated by University of the Sciences alumnus Norman Kritz P’51and typically draw more than 70 participants, ages five to 21, from Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Indiana. When Kritz anticipated having more children than coaches, he called upon his alma mater and 12 University of the Sciences students stepped-up.
The students joined several MABGA members and friends of the program at Overbrook School to help coach the visually-impaired children. On a specially designed and modified course, Brittany Heller PharmD’13, Brittany Maulen PharmD’12, Lauren Frascella PharmD’13, Jade Kozuch PharmD’13, Justine Campo Undec’12, Kerri Bossert DPT’14, Dorothy Zissler PharmD’14, Alyssa Cybulski PharmD’14, Amanda Jayne Brown DPT’13, Melanie Narbut PharmD’14, Kristin Capece PharmD’13, and Sherri So PharmD’13 spent hours teaching the students the basics of golf, such as proper stance and club grip. The children competed in closest-to-the-pin pitching and putting contests, and the day wrapped up with a pizza party and trophies for the winners.
Since it began in 1948, the MABGA has been a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing blind and visually impaired men and women an opportunity to enjoy the challenges and rewards of the game of golf. Today, MABGA has 35 active members, including both totally and legally blind - visually impaired golfers, more than 60 junior golf members, and more than 75 full-time and part-time coaches. To learn more about how you can help the MABGA, please contact Norman Kritz at (856) 428-1420 (856) 428-1420 or jerrynorman2@verizon.net, and Gil Kayson at (215) 884-6589 (215) 884-6589 or sasgil@verizon.net. (www.mabga.org)
2009 Philmont Pro Am Blind Golf Outing August 21, 2009
On Friday, August 21, the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association held their annual Pro Am golf outing at the Philmont Country Club’s south course in Huntington Valley, Pa. The event matches blind golf members from the MABGA organization with local golf professionals in an alternate shot format for a wonderful day of golf. This outing includes awards for the winners of the visually impaired and blind divisions and a catered luncheon at the Philmont clubhouse. Philmont has hosted the Pro Am outing for MABGA since 1998, and prior to that at White March Valley for one year and at Ashbourne Country Clubs for twenty years.
In the totally Blind category, George Pilz and Darryl Lock the head pro and general Manager at Skippack Golf Club won with a score of 88. George was coached by John Lucas, a friend who was visiting from Louisiana and coached George in last years USBGA National Championship in Tunica, Mississippi. George was a little disappointed with his performance and blamed his score on too much celebrating with his visiting coach from Louisiana. George is very competitive and is always looking to improve his golf game.
Last years raining champion, Jim Hunt & John Carson, independent Golf Professional took second place with a score of 90.
The winner in the Visually Impaired division was Mario Tobia and his golf professional Patrick Shine, Director of Golf at Commonwealth National Country Club and was coached by Steve Rodos, Mario’s regular playing partner. Mario won the coveted Founders Cup trophy with an eye opening score of 79. Mario thought that he and his pro could have shot a much better score as 5 or 6 putts rimmed out of the hole. We expect better scores in the future, explained Tobia. Sounds like every weekend golfer reviewing his round at the 19th hole after downing a few beers.
Mike Connell and his golf professional, Matt Faust, the assistant pro at Ben Salem Country Club took second place with another great score of 81.
It seemed like the golfers and their pros are getting use to the course as both first and second place in this years event beat last years raining champions, Rod Ryan’s, who shot a very respectable score of 82.
George Pilz, the 2008 Men’s Senior National Champion and Mario Tobia, who took six place in last years B2, visually impaired division will both represent MABGA in this years National Championship on the historic Brackenridge Park Golf Course in San Antonio, Texas beginning October 12, 2009.
The Middle Atlantic Blind Golfers want to thank Philmont Country Club for hosting this event and all the local golf professionals for their participation. We all look forward to next years outing and playing golf with the friends we made at this years event.
Remarkable story of George Pilz, a blind golfer By Marcus Hayes Philadelphia Daily News
Marcus Hayes THIS IS WAY easier than it was supposed to be. Then, suddenly, it isn't. Suddenly, it is the hardest thing, the scariest thing, a thing of helplessness and impossibility. It is golf, and I am blind. To approximate the feeling and to appreciate the skills of blind golfers, I try my hand. George Pilz, 68, reigning senior U.S Blind Golf Association national champion and maybe King of Prussia's most inspirational soul, gives me the chance. He lends me his coach. Pilz is preparing for the 32nd annual Corcoran Cup, the Masters of blind golf, a 14-player invitational tournament held Sunday at Mount Kisco Country Club in New York. So we meet last week on the practice green at Cedarbrook Country Club in Blue Bell, which this day is hosting the local Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association tournament. He arrives an hour before one of his warmup tournaments to explain his methods. Pilz reaches out a hand for me to shake. He introduces me to Jerry Friel, his coach and, sometimes, he jokes, his scapegoat. Then Pilz demonstrates how he reads putts. Friel leads him from ball to cup and back again. From that, Pilz calculates not only distance but slight elevation changes and undulation and, from that, break. "I got 30 feet. A little right to left," Pilz says. Friel agrees. Pilz drains two of the four putts. One miss lips out. Another is 2 inches short. "It's working for me today!" he exclaims. At the time, I had no idea how much "It" was working for him. A few minutes later I watch Pilz play Cedarbrook's first hole, a short, easy par-4. On the tee, Friel, a 58-year-old former co-worker from Phoenixville, aims him at a target, then steps back. Most coaches tee it up. Pilz doesn't like that. "I get a better feel for it this way," he explains. Pilz turns himself 90 degrees, puts a tee in the ground and places his ball on top of it. He retreats, unaided, rips off a couple of practice swings, and gives Friel the go sign. Friel places Pilz' clubface behind the ball. Pilz adjusts his body and lets fly. His wounded quail darts into the rough 70 yards away. In snarly cabbage, his optimistic if unwise 6-iron dribbles another 20 yards. Now in the fairway, another poor 6 leaves him 103 yards from the pin. "Pitching wedge," Pilz says, firmly. "Nine-iron," Friel replies, firmer. "You need to carry that sand trap up there." The 9, hit flush, lands on the apron and hops onto the green. Pilz smiles at the news. His sky-blue eyes brighten and widen as he says to Friel, "You were right. Right." They go through the routine on the green: Pilz on Friel's arm, escorted, walking from ball to pin and back again. "So, 48 feet, downhill, left to right," Pilz says. Nothing from Friel. Maybe he's thinking what I'm thinking: It really goes right to left. Pilz strokes his putt. It goes 49 feet. Left to right. Hard. I question my eyes and better understand why I seldom break 80. Friel lines up the tap-in. There are no gimmes in Pilz' world. The ball drops and settles and Pilz reaches in and says, "I need to hear that. Oh, what a feeling!" I would know soon enough.
Excellence at golf - relative excellence, in a world where breaking 100 is astounding and a 5-hour round the norm - is just one more marker of Pilz' journey. A high school dropout, he enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War but never left the country. He knew a guy who knew a guy, so when he left the service he got a good job climbing poles for the Peco Energy Co. He was 21, living high and hard. That ended May 22, 1960. He and a buddy had a few drinks. Pilz was unbelted in the passenger seat of a car that got sideways and skidded into a tree. The driver was fine. Pilz woke up 2 weeks later with a ruined face he would never see again. His retinas detached when his head shattered the windshield. It could have been the end: no career, no degrees, no business, no golf. It was a beginning. "I wanted more out of life," Pilz said. "I wanted to be a contributing member of society." If everyone contributed half as much. Pilz qualified for care at the Hines Blind Rehabilitation Center, a Veterans Affairs facility near Chicago. Four months after the wreck, he enrolled, and he learned - as much about the human spirit as about living blind. "I could tell in a day or 2 if people entering that program were going to make it through or drop out," Pilz said. "Me? I came out of there energized." He came out able to type, able to cook, able to walk with a cane and able to read Braille. "I hate Braille," he says, and with technology at his fingertips now it is superfluous. But like a radio operator who knows Morse code, Pilz reads a magazine in Braille every day to stay sharp. It is his way. He returned from Chicago, got a guide dog named Cloudy and enrolled in Temple University's high school equivalency program. Simple, right? Well, getting to Temple every day meant walking down to the bus stop in Trooper, Pa., where there were no sidewalks. That bus dropped him in Norristown, where he hopped a train to Philadelphia, then another to Temple's campus. Pilz had his diploma by January. He opened a wood-turning business out of his parents' basement and that, along with a little golf (both skills he picked up in Chicago) was his life for the next 9 years. He never replaced Cloudy, his boon companion for 8 of them. The German shepherd was his starting point, but it was a crutch, too. "I needed to move on," Pilz said. In the summer of '69, Pilz met an AT&T executive who was dazzled with his capabilities. That fall, Pilz was working for the company, repairing telephones. That lasted for 25 years. It wasn't all he did. An avid lunchtime runner, Pilz was part of the Olympic torch relay in 1984, the year his father, Ferdinand, died. Pilz carried the torch down the Ben Franklin Parkway and up the Art Museum steps where his mother, Edith, awaited him. It was Mother's Day. Two years later Pilz graduated from Ursinus, where he studied business administration, finance (he manages his own investments) and industrial relations. His coworkers at AT&T wanted him to represent them during negotiations with management. When the company packed up, Pilz didn't want to leave the area. He didn't want to leave the house he and his mother had moved to 5 years earlier. So, he got his MBA at Saint Joseph's and opened VisionTech, a company he ran out of the house. The company mated the newest technology for the blind with people who needed it. He trained sightless people from birth for new jobs; he trained the newly blind to do their old jobs again. With his VA connection, he tested new products and wrote reports on their merits. And he returned to golf. He had quit when he got the AT&T job - no time for such frivolity - but, master of his time once again, he rediscovered its joy. "That 5 years - that was payback time for me," Pilz says. "Oh, my God, did I enjoy it." He shuttered VisionTech in 2001 when Edith's health began a steady decline to her death at 92. Pilz kept playing. He rigged a practice tee just outside his back door and created this ingenious practice aid: He drilled a hole through a golf ball, unwound some line from a push-button fishing reel and strung the line through the ball. He adhered the ball and string with an epoxy filler and fixed a shuttlecock to the line behind the ball to create enough drag so the ball wouldn't fly too far. He could smash drive after drive, feel the ball come off the club . . . then reel it in. He has a new practice cage in the yard now. He also has a fold-up treadmill on the back porch, a small, old Universal gym in the garage and the lean, hard body of a man many years his junior. When he needs something he can call on his three siblings, who live close by. He never married. He explains this in his office, amid degrees and awards and the trappings of security and achievement: "I never thought it would be fair for someone to be hung up with someone like myself." He is re-evaluating that stance.
After Pilz putts out on No. 1 at Cedarbrook, Friel walks over to me and secures the blindfold around my eyes. It is the complete darkness of George Pilz' life. I never see the par-5 second hole as we drive up to it. Like Pilz, I exit the cart on my own. Like Pilz, I pull my own club (the driver was easy to find) and put my left arm on Friel's right. Despite Friel's warning, I nearly trip on the stone curb step-up from the cart path to the tee. He aligns me. I turn, put a tee in the ground, put a ball on top, step back, take a practice swing . . . and nearly fall over. I widen my stance for balance. I take another swing, slower. Better. Friel leads me forward, to the ball. I adjust my body to the club's placement. It is time. Taking the club back - that's a little difficult, like dipping a toe in cold, dark water. But once back, coming through is easy. Really. Just keep your balance. And I can play a little. Trust the swing? When you can't see the ball, you have no choice. I pop it up, maybe 80 yards. But, hey, contact is contact and straight is straight. Unlike many of Pilz' competitors, I can't see anything; to qualify for blind golf one must only be legally blind, which means some golfers have limited vision. Sometimes, they will pull their heads up early to try and track the ball in flight. "That sounded great!" Pilz says. I beam. Friel is less impressed. Even less so, when, feeling pretty confident, I shank my next shot, a hybrid 4-iron. I use the same club on the third shot, which I clobber. Friel is encouraging. Another try, same swing, same club, and I'm 15 yards short of the green, just in front, chipping for par. I flip it 30 feet past, but I'm on in five, a double-bogey in sight. Because putting is even easier, right? The first thing I'd seen was Pilz drop two of four from 30 feet. Thermonuclear dynamics in Chinese is easier. Putting is like floating in the ocean on your stomach and trying to spear minnows. Blindfolded. You have no bearings. You drift in space. You walk the putting line, but, come on, what is 10 paces on a blind putting stroke? Did I go uphill on the way back? Because everything feels uphill when you walk in the dark. Does it break left to right? Whatever. I'm having a tough time feeling my legs, much less subtle undulations. All you want to do is make contact. If you thought pulling the driver back was tough - well, that putter was in cement. I feel the sweat on the backs of my hands. My palms are already drenched, stealing the moisture that usually resides in my mouth. I can hear them breathing. I swear it. Because I'm not. Finally, I jerk something toward the hole. I feel contact. Then, silence. "A little short," Friel reports. How much? "You'll see." It's 15 feet short. I got it halfway there. The next one was 10 feet past. The next, 7 feet past. This feels awful. The next, 2 feet short. Two stinking feet, and dead straight. Oh, Lord. Clunk. Clunk. "Doesn't it sound great?" Pilz asks. Yeah. Yeah, it does. That's enough. Slowly, I remove the mask. It is a little like un-drowning. This next part is cliché. So what? I feel the soft morning breeze and the gentle sun's warmth and I breathe it all in. I hear an orchestra of birds and a single-engine plane and the little hairs on my arm tingle. I remember the faces and smiles and the beautiful, beautiful skin of my two baby daughters and I think of how horrible it would be to never see them again. Pilz comes over. "You put that mask on, you lose a lot," he said. "But don't you appreciate the other things more?" Yeah. Yeah, you do. "You know what's important to me today?" Pilz continued, quieter. "The future." Yeah. Me, too. *
Monica Yant Kinney: A drop in the bucket 'is the best sound' By Monica Yant Kinney Inquirer Columnist Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA); 721 words Published: 2009-06-10 Section: PHILADELPHIA | Page B01 | Edition: CITY-D
"Patrick Molloy has a swing like Phil Mickelson," Norm Kritz told me, "the smoothest left-handed swing you could ever see." When I pulled up to the Walnut Lane Golf Club to watch Patrick take a lesson, he was indeed in gorgeous form, sinking 12-foot putts. Molloy, 16, is a sophomore at Council Rock High School. Unlike Mickelson, Molloy is blind. "That sound," he said, grinning as the ball spun and dropped in the cup, "is the best sound." Club pro Dave Smith had never taught a blind golfer before, but didn't hesitate to take Patrick on seven years ago when asked by a colleague working with the Mid-Atlantic Junior Blind Golf Association ( www.mabga.org). "You don't need to see the ball to hit it," Smith reasoned. Instead, they work by feel and foundation, rote and repetition. At one point, Smith lined up two-by-fours to create a lane so Molloy could perfect his stance and alignment. Later, Molloy squeezed a rubber ball between his arms to determine how far apart to keep them. Like any student, he learns by trial and error. Where did your follow-through end when you hooked the ball to the left? How did you position your hands when you drove it high and straight? "It's all muscle memory," Molloy explained. "My body remembers the positions." Seeing is believingMolloy was one of the star attractions at last weekend's annual junior blind golf outing at the Overbrook School for the Blind. All 35 of these kids made magic. Watching blind youngsters swing, miss, smile, listen, try again, and connect should make sighted players rethink throwing tantrums. Patrick Morris, a shy 6-year-old from Havertown, was back for his third year. It's amazing he has time, between baseball and acting. "He was just inThe Wizard of Oz," said his father, Dan Morris. Kristie Hong, 11, has peripheral vision and wants to tackle a sport. "If she likes golf," said her father, Ke Hong, of Basking Ridge, N.J., "I'll learn and play with her." By the look of Kristie's face, he might want to invest in some clubs. Kritz, who is sighted, and Gil Kayson, who is not, founded the junior blind golf group in 1980. Any visually impaired youngster in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware who wants to play receives free lessons and clubs - Kritz cuts them to fit after measuring each child. "A blind golfer can putt just as well as your typical bad sighted golfer," joked group president Jim Ganter, who was playing alongside an 89-year-old blind man who shot a hole-in-one. Sensing my skepticism, Kayson told me about a Golf Digest test with 12 sighted golf novices, six of them blindfolded. "After 10 lessons, the blindfolded golfers were doing better," he recalled. "They kept their heads down. They focused on the ball." Fun in focusFor the nine-hole scramble, Molloy was paired with Julia Procopio, a 17-year-old from Verona, N.J., wearing a pink "Princess" visor and matching magenta nail polish. She doesn't play often - piano is her thing - but can see enough out of her right eye to know that Molloy, who was born blind, takes the game very seriously. On the final hole, Molloy chipped a respectable 25 yards onto the green. Smith walked his student from where the ball landed to the flag so Molloy could get a mental picture of how far he still had to go. Smith, always in teaching mode, lined Procopio up to putt. "Super," he said, "you're to the left by, like, two feet." Then, it was Patrick's turn to shine with an easy finish. "Yes!" he said, hearing the telltale clink-clink. "Yo, Patrick," Procopio yelped, "heckuva job!" "The rough was high today after all the rain," Smith allowed. "They had U.S. Open challenges." "But that's the fun of it," replied Molloy, "the challenge." Contact Monica Yant Kinney at myant@phillynews.com or 215-854-4670. Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/yantkinney.
Article from the Blinded Veterans Association | Autumn 2008 Bulletin | Around BVA
USBGA Nationals
BVA life member George Pilz, Pennsylvania Regional Group, has taken first place in the Senior Division of the U.S. Blind Golf Association’s 63rd Annual National Championship Tournament
The championships were held September 22-23 at River Bend Links, a three-casino complex in Tunica, Mississippi.
George, a totally blind golfer and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was quick to credit his USBGA coach, John Lucas of New Orleans, as well as Harry Heagy, head golf professional at Edgemont Country Club in Edgemont, Delaware County, where he regularly plays. Both men, he said, have teamed with him many times and have been instrumental in his golfing success.
“When you are totally blind, golf actually becomes a team effort and a team sport,” said George, who also plays golf with Director of District 3 Sam Huhn and other BVA members in Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association competition. “There are plenty of people who have helped me in a very personal way with my golf game and, as everyone knows, without our coaches we would not be playing at all!”
George faced several qualifying rounds through play in the Middle Atlantic Association in order to compete nationally with 20 of the best totally blind senior golfers in the country. His win and the subsequent crystal trophy presentation were especially emotional in view of a promise that his win had fulfilled.
“I made a commitment to my mother before she passed away that I would win a national championship for her,” he said. “So this is no fluke—the practice and preparation I put myself through to win was in recognition of all she did to help me adjust to blindness.”
George was blinded in 1960 in an automobile accident. He attended the Central Blind Rehabilitation Center at Hines shortly thereafter and subsequently received a Bachelor’s degree from Ursinus College and a Master of Business Administration from St. Joseph’s University. George’s master’s thesis addressed the role of technology in mainstreaming the blind and visually impaired. He worked for the research division of Western Electric and its offshoots until starting his own company, Vision Tech, Inc., in 1991. Vision Tech addressed the technological needs of the blind and visually impaired.
“George is an amazing person and one of those guys who has been constantly ahead of his time,” said Sam Huhn. “He was one of the first guys I saw jogging on a tether with another person guiding him, and he was also one of the first blind guys to get a talking traffic signal at the corner nearest his home.”
News of Delaware County - Sports Section
Winning blind athletes thank Delco area coaches
By David Block; Special To the News
When athletes with disabilities compete, the media and spectators are so amazed that they sometimes overlook the athletes' coaches and instructors. The athletes never fail to acknowledge the men and women who spend a lot of their personal time helping them succeed. Many of these dedicated instructors and coaches receive no monetary compensation.
Blind Golf
George Pilz, a King of Prussia resident, won the senior division of the United States Blind Golf Association's 63rd Annual National Championship tournament Last month at the River Bend Links in Tunica, Mississippi.
Pilz immediately credited Harry Heagy, Head Golf Professional at Edgmont Country Club in Edgemont, Delaware County.
"Harry is responsible for me winning in Mississippi," said Pilz. "Harry taught me to use just the clubs that would give me the consistency that's required. I learned so much from him."
When asked why he spent his time helping a blind golfer, Heagy answered: "George is a tremendous person. In my professional career, working with him was personally one of my most rewarding experiences. I take none of George's credit. I won't take any of my pupils' credit because then they could credit me For making bad shots. I don't look at George as a blind golfer. To me, he's another golfer; a very good golfer."
2008 Philmont Pro Am Blind Golf Outing August 29, 2008
On Friday, August 22, the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association held their annual Pro Am golf outing at the Philmont Country Club’s south course in Huntington Valley, Pa. The event matches blind golf members from the MABGA organization with local golf professionals in an alternate shot format for a wonderful day of golf. This outing includes trophies for the winners of the visually impaired and blind divisions and a catered luncheon at the Philmont clubhouse. Philmont has hosted the Pro Am outing for MABGA since 1998, and prior to that at Whitemarch Valley for one year and at Ashbourne Country Clubs for twenty years hosted the event.
Winner in the Visually Impaired division was Rod Ryan and his golf professional Dan Donohue, outside operations from Whitemarsh Valley Country Club. Rod and his Pro shot an 82 and tied with Mario Tobia and his golf professional, Patrick Shine, Director of Golf at Commonwealth National Country Club. Rod Ryan won the coveted Founders Cup trophy on a tiebreaker system where the two score cards are matched to each other starting from the number 1 handicap hole and working back through the number 18 handicap hole comparing scores to determine a winner.
Rod was very gracious in accepting his award and even offered to share his trophy with the runner up. Not many people would be so considerate, but that just goes to show how he values friendship more than personal awards.
Winner in the Blind Division was Jim Hunt and his golf professional Julian Collie. Julian is an independent, unattached Pro who is starting a youth instructional school this fall. Jim and Julian shot a whopping score of 85. Jim did not have to make the hard decision of sharing his Founders Cup Trophy, as his nearest competitor was more than seven strokes back.
The Middle Atlantic Blind Golfers want to thank Philmont Country Club for hosting this event and all the local golf professionals for their participation. We all look forward to next years outing and playing golf with the friends we made at this years event.
United States Blind Golf Tournament by Paris Sterrett
The National Blind Golf Tournament was held this year at Edgmont Country Club. The four day event was orchestrated by skillful blind golfer Sheila Drummond of Leighton, PA who recorded a hole-in-one about six weeks ago and is coached by her husband, Keith. Sheila use to play in our local Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association but the distance was too far to travel and play the Philadelphia and New Jersey courses.
The thirty six players from All over the country had to qualify for this event. Next year it might be In Oregon. I was fortunate to coach Ty Thompson of Lexington, Kentucky who Had Scores of 99 and 97 to finish fourth overall in the very competitive Event.
It was a lot of fun. The first day was a practice round, second day a Scramble and then the individual competition the next two days. Our Chemistry was excellent and Ty is an excellent player. Comcast Sports Net (#36) is airing some of the National event. It is on prime time on Sunday at 5:30 am, Monday at 4 pm and Wednesday at 11:00. My bucket hat gives me away but There are some nice interviews with Sheila and Ty. The second part of the Show features the five year old who had cancer in one eye. At age two, his Eye was removed and the youngster is playing golf and enjoying himself.
Blindness can't extinguish golfers' competitive fires By Joe Juliano Inquirer Staff Writer
JONATHAN WILSON / Inquirer Staff Photographer
Tom Harrington, who has macular degeneration, putts on the first green at Edgmont Country Club in Delaware County. »
Mario Tobia stood on the first tee of Edgmont Country Club, took a full swing, and rocketed the ball down the right side of the fairway about 200 yards while the other members of his foursome oohed and aahed.
Tobia had to take their word for it. He could only go by the sound and feel of club face against golf ball to tell whether he hit a good shot. He couldn't see the flight of the ball or where it ended up.
Tobia, 52, of Mount Laurel, learned 25 years ago that he had retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disorder.
"That's the life expectancy of the disorder, and I'm near the end," he said yesterday.
But the passion of Tobia and other men and women without their sight for the game of golf is as strong as ever, thanks to the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association. Founded in 1948, the association uses golf to help members overcome the trauma of losing their sight.
The association sponsors about 30 outings per year, including yesterday's annual invitational charity event at Edgmont, which featured more than 20 contestants who are blind or legally blind (20/200 vision or worse) playing a scramble format.
Tobia, who was as low as a 12-handicap earlier in his golf career, has been with the association for five years. He said he enjoyed the golf and socializing with his fellow members and that he didn't take the game quite as seriously as he used to.
"It used to affect my day, my weekend, my week, if I played poorly," said Tobia, who teaches visually impaired people how to use computers. "Now, it doesn't matter. It's about having fun and enjoying the company. Everyone in the group is very kind, understanding, very friendly and warm. We all have a bond."
George Pilz, 68, of King of Prussia, lost his sight in a 1958 automobile accident and has been a member of the association off and on since then.
"The camaraderie with the group is super," he said. "I play two or three times a week up here, and I go to Florida in the winter to play with my buddies who transferred there."
The key for blind and legally blind golfers is the coach, who stands behind his or her player and helps line up the shot. On the greens, the coaches help the players with the distance, the speed and the break.
Yesterday, Tobia would bend and use his hand to check his club face against the ball on his tee shots and putts while his son, Matt, made sure of the alignment. When he plays, he uses two or three coaches, depending on their availability, and often gets in a quick nine with his son at Ramblewood Country Club near his home.
Pilz's coach is Hunter Schaff, who used to work with Pilz at AT&T and has been his coach for six years.
"George is a fine guy and has an unbelievable work ethic," Schaff said. "If you or I were blind, we'd probably get frustrated if we couldn't hit the ball. So it's not all peaches and cream, because the blind guy is going to take it out on the coach sometimes. But George has really been a joy to work with."
"We work together very well," Pilz said. "He's as responsible for my game as I am, there's no question about it."
Pilz and Tobia will represent the Middle Atlantic association at the U.S. Blind Golf Association's 62d national championship next week at Edgmont, in Delaware County.
Tobia, who has shot in the high 80s, said he hadn't played that well in the last two weeks but hoped to be ready. Pilz said that his scores ranged between 100 and 110, and that he was excited to meet some of his fellow competitors from all over the country.
"I feel like that's where I belong," Pilz said of being on the golf course. "It's just wonderful to be out there. I just love the competition. It's very, very exciting."
Fore! He’s a jolly good golfer!
By Ruth Rovner For the Times
At age 8, Christian Brown already has been playing golf for three years. The Mayfair youngster takes weekly lessons and has his own set of golf clubs — seven in all — plus a collection of golf balls. Christian also is legally blind, but that hasn’t stopped him at all. "I love to play golf on a sunny day and have fun," says Christian, who turns 9 next week. He’s an active participant in a unique program for young golfers. The Blind Junior Golf Program encourages blind and visually impaired young people from 5 to 21 years of age to play golf. It provides them with equipment — golf clubs, balls and a golf bag — and regular lessons with a PGA golf pro, all free of charge. Twice a year, those in the program get together to play golf on a nine-hole course at the Overbrook School for the Blind. At this golf clinic, as it’s called, they also participate in several competitions while family and friends cheer them on, and then enjoy a pizza party. The fall clinic will take place this Saturday, and Christian and his parents will be there; they never miss this event. Last fall, Christian even won a trophy, now displayed in a place of honor in the family living room. The Blind Junior Golf Program, including the clinic, is sponsored by the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association and is open to any youngster in the tri-state area, and even beyond, who’s blind or visually impaired and wants to play golf. The chip-and-putt golf course where the participants will play on Saturday was designed by Norman Kritz, a Cherry Hill, N.J., resident and co-founder of the Blind Junior Golf Program. Kritz is not blind but has a longstanding interest in community service, especially for youth. The other co-founder is Gil Kayson, a longtime golfer who is totally blind. He lived in Northeast Philly for 30 years, before moving to the Breyer Estates in Elkins Park with his wife Sandy. Kayson, now in his 70s, had to confront failing vision that started in his 30s. He loved golf but gave it up as his condition worsened. By age 50, Kayson was totally blind. But by then he’d discovered the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association and was playing golf again. He has played ever since and is still an active member of the association. In 1994, Kayson teamed with Kritz to start the Blind Junior Golf Program. They began to recruit youngsters, as well as golf pros to serve as coaches. Each time a new member joins, a PGA member is assigned to give free golf lessons. Kayson and Kritz also make sure each youngster has the proper equipment. Golf clubs are often donated by area golf clubs or individuals. "Then we cut the clubs down to fit the size of our players," said Kayson. Of course, he’ll be at the golf clinic on Saturday, helping to supervise the contests and hand out awards. Watching the young blind golfers continues to give him great satisfaction. "In my entire life," Kayson said, "nothing has been as rewarding as this." Christian and his parents learned about the program from a social worker when he was still in preschool. "It seemed like a good idea for him to be involved in a sport," said his mother, Judy Brown. "And a golf program for the visually impaired sounded perfect for him." Eager to learn more, they attended a golf clinic and met Kritz and Kayson, who arranged to have golf clubs made to order for Christian, as is done for every participant. They also put him in touch with a golf coach, Daniel Hoban, the resident pro at the John F. Byrne Golf Course. He’s been taking lessons with Hoban at the Torresdale golf course every week, weather permitting. "We’re very grateful to Dan," Judy Brown said. "And we’re grateful to the directors, too. They work really hard to organize the golf clinics and the lessons. It’s an amazing program." She’s especially grateful for the benefits it has brought her son. "It gives him a sense of pride and accomplishment," she explained. "It has helped him in school, too, because it gives him more overall confidence." Now a third-grader at the Redeemer Lutheran School, Christian has been visually impaired since infancy. When he was 2 months old, a routine medical exam led the doctor to notice that Christian didn’t blink when she snapped her fingers. She ordered an MRI and he was soon diagnosed with DeMorsiere’s Syndrome. "It’s a rare condition that affects the optic nerves, which don’t grow from the usual place," explained Judy Brown. "He can see things close up, but not at any distance." It might seem surprising that a youngster with this disability can play golf at all. "But you don’t have to visualize the hole," Brown said. "It’s all in the technique of holding the club and hitting the ball. "And he can really hit," added his mother, who drives Christian to his weekly lessons. "His technique keeps on improving." The youngster practices with enthusiasm. "Hitting the ball is what I like best about golf," Christian said. "I try to whack away, and I even like the sound of the driver hitting the ball." He’s such a diligent golfer that he even practices at home in his bedroom, using a paper cup as the hole. Beyond his love of golf, Christian keeps busy with karate. He’s in the black-belt program at Action Karate on Academy Road, where he takes regular classes. "These activities increase his confidence and also help with coordination," said Judy Brown, explaining that her son’s syndrome also causes motor-skills difficulties. "They’re better than physical therapy because they’re fun." Her son has been in the Junior Blind Golf Program for three years, and Judy Brown has found that it benefits parents too. "It gives us a chance to network," she said. "It’s very helpful to meet other parents of visually impaired children." She and her husband will meet many other parents on Saturday. The golf course will be full of action as the young golfers, together with their coaches, play nine holes and compete in a putting contest and a hole-in-one competition. "I especially like it when everyone claps when you hit the ball," says Christian, who eagerly looks forward to the event. "It’s always lots of fun." Besides the fun, there’s another reason that the golf clinic is special. "Playing golf makes me feel like I’m a good athlete even though I have a disability," he says. "This is something I know I can do well." •• Any young person from age 5 to 21 who is blind or visually impaired is welcome at the free golf clinic this Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon, at the Overbrook School for the Blind, 63rd Street and Malvern Avenue, rain or shine. For information, call Gil Kayson, 215-884-6589, or send e-mail to sasgil@verizon.net
Blind golfer hears shot of her career Mon Aug 20, 10:07 PM ET
LEHIGHTON, Pa. - Sheila Drummond didn't need to see her hole-in-one. She heard it. Drummond, blinded by diabetes 26 years ago, experienced the highlight of her golfing career Sunday, recording an ace on the 144-yard, par-3 fourth hole at Mahoning Valley Country Club.
Playing with her husband and coach, Keith, and two friends in a steady rain, the 53-year-old Drummond hit a driver on the hole. The shot cleared a water hazard, flew between traps and landed on the green, where it hit the flagstick before dropping into the hole.
"They were saying, 'It's a great shot,' and then I heard it hit the pin," Drummond said.
"For a hole-in-one, you have to hit it onto the green, so it's a little bit of skill and a lot of luck."
In 1999, Golf Digest said the odds of an amateur getting a hole-in-one are 1 in 12,750. That number, no doubt rises, for a blind golfer.
Drummond is a member of the board of directors of the United States Blind Golfers Association, and the organization believes she is the first totally blind female to record a hole-in-one.
"We've looked everywhere, and haven't been able to find anyone else," she said.
Drummond took up golf about 15 years ago, and three years later qualified as the first female member of the USGBA.
"I just try to do the best I can," said Drummond, who carries a 48 handicap with the USGBA. "I get nervous.
"But I wasn't nervous (Sunday), I just don't like playing in the rain."
Drummond's hole-in-one was first reported on the Web site of The Morning Call of Allentown.
Posted on Tue, Aug 14, 2007 Blind golfers enjoy outing at PCC By Brian McCarthy
This Tuesday the Phoenixville Country Club, coordinating with the Middle-Atlantic Blind Golf Association, hosted an outing from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. in which 12 blind golfers, partnered with members of the club who volunteered to be part of the function, played 18 holes (two rounds on the 9-hole golf course), not so much to compete as to simply have fun and enjoy both the course and the perfect weather conditions.
The outing has been a annual tradition at PCC for five years now, coordinated by Jim Ganter of the MABGA and Matt Dever, the country club’s resident golf pro. The MABGA has been in existence since 1948, and currently has a total of 35 active members. Ganter himself has been blind for 25 years, and personally participates in the MABGA outings.
The participants, some of whom have been blind since birth while others are either partially blind or just recently became blind, tour over 30 courses in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area with the MABGA beginning in March and lasting throughout the summer. The golfers are paired with a “coach” or partner, who not only play the round with the participant but also help the golfers position themselves to tee-off, line up their shots, and give them other helpful advice. Many of these partners are members of the country club who volunteered their free time in order to be part of the outing.
“I thought it would be interesting to see how this would work,” said Bill Maguire, a lifelong member of the club and volunteer since the MABGA began coming to the course five years ago. “Some of them hit a pretty good golf ball. They probably play more than I do!” Today Maguire did not have his usual partner as she was unavailable, and instead acted as an officer of the outing, helping the golfers locate where their shots landed.
“They love (to) come here,” Maguire said. “They seem to love the reception they get.”
Dina Kennedy, one of the golfers who is both blind and partially death, corroborated Maguire’s sentiments.
“[Phoenixville Country Club] couldn’t be better as far as the setting goes,” Kennedy said. “This particular club treats us like royalty!”
Kennedy isn’t the only person who has compliments to bestow on PCC’s course. Renowned golf historian Tom Doak listed Phoenixville Country Club as one of the top 10 nine-hole golf courses in the world in his book The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses, published this August. Members of the club are extremely proud of that fact.
But Tuesday, that rather distinguished honor takes a backseat to helping blind golfers get outside and enjoy the game.
“It’s more of a fun thing,” Tim Feroe, assistant to the club pro, said. “It’s about having fun and enjoying the course.”
But some of the participants are serious competitors. George Pilz and his partner, Hunter Schaff, will be participating in an invitational tournament held by the United States Blind Golf Association on September 24 at Edgmont Country Club.
Kietryn Zychal Pocono Record Writer July 17, 2007
SHAWNEE-ON-DELAWARE — Kyle Lograsso had only one complaint about the Monroe County Council of the Blind's golf tournament at Shawnee on Monday. He doesn't like the scramble format where you play in a foursome and hit the "best ball."
"I'm playing my own ball tomorrow," said the 5-year-old golfing sensation, referring to a US Kids golf tournament he will play today near his home in Telford.
Kyle's foursome included his father Jeff Lograsso, his neighbor, Walt Kernaghan, Diane Hannan, founder of the Executive Women's Golf Association, and a news crew from WBRE with reporter Kerry Shahen.
Kyle has gained attention as a golfer partly because of his age and partly because he is a cancer survivor who lost an eye to bilateral retinoblastoma when he was two. His story was profiled on HBO, local news stations and in Golf Digest Magazine in May.
According to his mother Regina, Kyle has been playing in a junior golf program at the Lederach Golf Club since he was three.
"Most kids start at eight, but the pro Bob Huber made an exception for Kyle," she said.
Hannan was very impressed with her pint-sized partner.
"There were a number of shots where Kyle's ball was the best one," she said. "On a par three near the halfway house, Kyle hit a 20- or 30-foot chip shot that came very close to the hole and people at the halfway house burst into applause," Hannan said. The celebrity guest putted his ball into the hole amid more applause.
"He's not a show-off," Hannan said. "He was very pleasant to play with and knew the rules of golf and said things like, 'nice shot' and 'your turn.'"Š"Š"
Hannan was also very impressed with Kyle's ability to play 18 holes of golf with a camera crew filming him part of the time. "He handled it better than my five-year-old would have," she said.
There were also blind golfers playing in the tournament from the Philadelphia area who were members of the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association. MABGA President Jim Ganter and his coach Marty Jensen played with Tom Brozena and his coach Dave Ullery. Their foursome came in second in the tournament.
Ganter, a diabetic from the age of five, began losing his sight when he was 28. By the time he was 32, he was blind. "I was never a very good golfer. I'm not a whole lot worse now than I was when I could see," Ganter said.
Jensen has been coaching blind golfers for three years. "The pay stinks but it's very rewarding," he said.
Jensen performs three functions for his golfer. He lines him up to the ball, puts the ball in the proper place and tells him how far to hit it.
"He's an excellent putter," Jensen said of Ganter.
Ganter returned the compliment. "Most of our coaches are happier when we hit a good shot than we are."
This was the Monroe County Council of the Blind's first golf tournament. Proceeds from the event will go to fund improvements in the community to benefit the visually impaired who live here. Projects include audible crossing signals at certain stop lights and training for poll workers during elections.
Said MCCB President Thomas Reid, "Many people wouldn't think that you could associate blindness and golf. We want people to know that a blind person can do anything a sighted person can do. We just need support."
more successful. His only handicap is on the course | Daily News | 05/09/2007 Philly.com His only handicap is on the course Hooper one of top competitors in U.S. Blind Golf Association By MIKE KERN kernm@phillynews.com Bruce Hooper gets direction from wife Judy as he putts at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club. JOSEPH KACZMAREK/For the Daily News BRUCE HOOPER lost his sight nearly a decade ago. And for the better part of a year, he basically sat around feeling sorry for himself, which is understandable but ultimately not acceptable. Then, his wife Judy was on the Internet and came across a Web site for the United States Blind Golf Association. Just like that a whole new world was opened to the both of them. "We call it the ultimate team sport," said Hooper, who just turned 60 years old. "You have to have a coach. She gives me all the information I need - alignment, the distance - to make a stroke. "I'm still the one who has to make it, but I rely entirely on her. The more you trust your coach, the better player you are." In that case, Judy might be the next Butch Harmon. Because on his level Bruce has been impersonating Tiger Woods. There are three competitive categories in the USBGA (all classifications are in best eye with best correction): totally blind and two vision-impaired divisions. Hooper is a "B-2," the middle group, which means he has the ability to recognize the shape of a hand up to visual acuity of 20/600. "I still have trouble with depth perception," he said yesterday at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club. "I can't see the pin up there [about 20 yards away]. Someone has to step [the distance] off for me." Someone must be doing something right, because Hooper has won two national USBGA championships. He won the international title last year in Japan. He's won the last eight tournaments he's entered. "We've passed Tiger," he joked. "He only won seven in a row. We're setting our sights on Byron Nelson [who won 11 straight PGA Tour events in 1945]." The San Antonio native was in town to promote this year's national championship, the 62nd, which will be held Sept. 25-26 at Edgmont C.C. in Delaware County. The same venue where, 40 years ago, Arnold Palmer and Bob Hope hosted an international BGA event, "Hope For The Blind." (Bob Allman, a lawyer from Philadelphia, formed the USBGA in 1953 and became its first president.) "We're very proud to say we're coming back," Hooper said. These days, he does his best to spread the word. In 1998, when he was told what was happening to his eyes, he and his wife had no idea what the future held. "We've talked about it a lot, but who would have ever thought we'd be doing this," Judy said. "When I found it, and looked into it some more, we saw where the next national championship was a month later in Fort Worth. He wanted to give it a try. They got him a coach, since I couldn't go. When he came home, that was it. He was hooked." In time, so was she. And it is very much a partnership. "I never played," she recalled. "Here's what I used to do: Go out to the course, take a good book, get an iced tea and sit in the cart. He'd drive around, hitting the ball. I'd just watch. No more. "I had to learn. But we're in this together." Hooper worked in the golf industry for 35 years, as a salesman for an equipment company. Yet contrary to the popular notion, he didn't tee it up every day. Or even enough to be very good at it. "I used to be, when I was a kid," he admitted. "When you're in the business, I found out that guys who had my job could play all the time. But if they did, they weren't there very long. I played when I had to. It's a very difficult game, even when you can see." Then Hooper's life, and Judy's, changed. Forever. "I don't think we've ever actually had a real good diagnosis," he said. "I began noticing [a difference]. My mother, it's heredity. She's blind. Still, we're just not sure. The symptoms are exactly like macular degeneration, the loss of your central vision. Mine continues to deteriorate, from the inside out. I do have light sensitivity." His professional career was over. He needed another focus. It just took awhile to find the right one. "We tell the story of wanting to ignore the problem as you continue to work," Hooper said. "You become very angry. Finally, I had to accept what the problem was, and what it all meant. Now, I think we have a very good attitude. "[Judy's] a terrific competitor. She gets mad at me [when I play poorly]. She's intense. She loves to win. That's what keeps me so positive . . . I could break 90 as a sighted golfer. Now, I think I'm actually better. I've changed my way of going about it. If I could see and use the techniques I'm using now, I'd probably be a really good golfer." Sheila Drummond, the tournament director, was also at Whitemarsh yesterday. She lives in Lehighton, Pa., and at 52 is one of top women in the USBGA, even though she must also compete against the men. She's totally blind, having lost her sight a quarter-century ago due to the complications of diabetes. Hooper looks at her and sees the true essence of what this is about. "What an inspirational person," he said. "She can't see a thing. Yet she lives every minute out there. And here I am, sitting at home saying, 'Oh, poor me. I can't see the ball any more.' People think golf is about watching the shot, but believe me, it isn't." So he travels the world, doing his thing. The thing that keeps him, and the woman by his side, going. For as long, and as far, as their drive can take them. "Before I lost my sight, I don't think many people cared about what I thought," Hooper said. "But great things have happened to me [since then] . . . I go out there, because I want to be better. "People are fans, not because we're that good, but because we do something that is so challenging. It's not a perfect game. If we have a bad shot or two, we don't get too overwhelmed by it. As Sam Snead said, we have to play our foul balls. You have to be sure you can keep control of that." As one. That's forever, too. "I'm his eyes on the course," Judy said. "Magically, we lucked out. We found something we can devote our lives to. We went through a lot of things, trying to sort it all out. And, if we can help others with disabilities understand what it takes, that's something we're very passionate about." Sure beats wondering what you're going to do with the rest of your tomorrows. * For more information, visit www.blindgolf.com . Or call 570- 386-5414. Volunteers are needed to be scorekeepers, caddies, rules officials and for general support. Find this article at: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20070509_His_only_handicap_is_on_the_course.html Click Here to Print SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article. © Copyright 2007 Philly Online, LLC. All Rights Reserved. IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 27, 2007 Contact: Kimberly Neff PHILADELPHIA SECTION PGA ANNOUNCES Grant awarded to Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association DRESHER, PA – The Philadelphia Section PGA and The Greater Philadelphia Junior Golf Foundation are proud to present a grant to the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association in support of the program and future endeavors. $5,000 is being presented in support of the administration of the program and to stimulate growth nationally. Currently there are sixty-one active junior members in the tri-state area. The grant supports a branch of the M.A.B.G.A oriented specially to juniors, offered to children with a visual disability up to age 18. Developed as a joint Effort between local golf professionals and a local Blind Golf Association, this program is the first known of its kind. The program provides one on one Instruction, clubs, bags, and golf balls, clinics and special events every season for participating golfers. Since 1948 M.A.B.G.A. has provided blind and visually impaired golfers the opportunity to play golf. Golf allows the visually impaired to participate in Competitive sport with slightly altered rules of play and the assistance of a coach. The mission of The Greater Philadelphia PGA Junior Golf Foundation is to raise funds that would enable the Foundation to introduce the game of golf to Interested juniors who may or may not wish to participate in amateur competitions. Aimed at young adults of all ethnic and economic backgrounds who are Eighteen years of age and under. In an attempt to grow the game among juniors, the program aims to provide financial assistance, instruction, instructional Materials, mentoring, equipment, scholarships and equal affordable access to professionally run golf programs. Philadelphia PGA 715 Twining Road Suite 111 Dresher, PA 19025 Phone: (215) 886-7742 Fax: (215) 886-6742 www.philadelphia.pga.com JUNIOR BLIND GOLF OUTING Posted September 21, 2006 Paris Sterrett The first junior blind biannual golf outing of the year was held at the Overbrook School for the Blind on June 3rd. Coordinators Norman Kritz and Gil Kayson were thrilled with the large turnout of 35 youngsters. Junior blind golfers Zane Birnie, Anthony Bordine, Kirk Brauer, Chrsitian Brown, Casey Burkhardt, Anthony Ferraro, Jon Gabry, Jessica Garrett, Victoria Matysik, Patrick Malloy, Leah Mullally, Joe Oehlert, Jacob Pratt, Matt Steven and Jude Vogelman enjoyed the day. Norman was very busy fitting for clubs Simon Bonenfant, Jena Carroll, Michael Coughlan, Brian Howard, Eddie Majeski, Christian Quintana, Kristen Rowan and Joey Walsh. Kevin Banecker, Wesley Brooks, and Micheal Rowan received clubs and Joey Ferens traded up clubs. All players receive free clubs and many professionals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey provide free lessons. The organizers were pleased with the cross section of coaches including Jerry Axel, Jim Broidrick, Ron Fendrick, Linda & Jim Fox, Harvey Freedman, Mitchell Goldich, Debbie & Michael Grossman, Tom Harrington, Jack Herbert and Allyn & Helene Holtzin. Other coaches were Michael Isaccman, Sam Kaufman, Gi Gi and Jeff Littlepage, Jeff Nolan, Rudy Pilleggi, Russ Spencer, Dave Ullery and Al Wolsky. Skill competition events were included and the children enjoyed the traditional pizza party. Each one received a prize. Our thanks to all the volunteers for their support in this rewarding event. Saturday, November 19,2005 America Online: JERRYN0RMAN2 Junior Golf Outing It was a perfect autumn Saturday on the links. At least twenty young golfers of varying levels of sightedness and their parent/caddies, along with volunteer coaches, made their way around the nine hole golf course at the Overbrook School For the Blind in Philadelphia. They had gathered there for a biannual event hosted by the school, the Junior Blind Golf Program Tournament sponsored by the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association (MABGA). Norman Kritz, Director of Golf for the MABGA, designed the course, which includes sand traps and a putting area, all surrounded by the lovely track of Overbrook School. Norman explained some basics about the day’s events. ”The back four holes are for playing Best Ball,” he said. This is a game where two-person teams play against each other, and in order to tally score they keep playing off of the best putt for their team. He also pointed out that a professional coach sponsored by the MABGA comes to the Overbrook School every few weeks to work with students and that all golf clubs and equipment are provided at no cost to the child or family. Out on the course, everyone worked hard at playing! Surrounded by his mother and siblings, Ricky Ricketts practiced in the putting area. His mother held him from behind to guide his arms, and a sister rattled the flag in the cup for Ricky to hear. He smiled widely each time he connected with the ball and sent it smoothly across the green toward the cup. Two boys had partnered up for the morning, sixteen year old James Ryan and young teen Nick Martucci. They were golfing with their fathers as caddies. Nick is partially sighted and James is legally blind. They both have long solid drives, and I found myself ducking their line of fire when one of them would yell, ”Fore!” James said, ”I haven’t played this well all summer!” Both Nick and James are sports fans and they enjoy riding their bikes built for two with family members. James takes trips to the driving range and Nick has weekly golfing lessons through the New Jersey Library For the Blind. Although many boys were having their day on the course, the girls were out, too! One young lady named Victoria was playing quietly with a coach nearly her age, Linda Fox’s twelve-year-old son. She was concentrating hard and going for long putts. Pretty intense, she showed a string sense of calm and determination as she made her way to the cup. Another young athlete was Patrick Molloy, who hit the course with his father, Michael. His stance was one of raised shoulders and what seemed to be perfectly placed feet. When I remarked on his interesting looking putter, he exclaimed, ”It’s my Odyssey two ball putter!” After indulging me my interruption, Patrick resumed playing and displayed amazing precision in putting, nearly finding the cup with each swing! The day’s organizers could not have been more pleased with their wonderful event. Jim Ganter and Gil Kayson, President of the MABGA and Chairman of the Junior Golf Program, spoke highly of the children and their organization’s accomplishments. Ganter made it clear that it was Gil’s determination that had gotten the Junior Golf Program off the ground, and Norman’s steadfastness that got the course built. He let me know that there were some people who didn’t think it could be done. Now, eleven years later, the program is thriving. The MABGA is looking to expand the Junior Program, and they sponsor adult outings about once a week between the months of April and November. Ganter and Kayson were also very encouraging about adults and children with varying levels of ability being able to golf. As the sun got hotter and feet got tired, many eager children lined up for a driving contest, and borrowing a baseball term, some of them knocked it out of the park! A putting event closed out the sporting part of the day, with Norman Kritz rattling the flag for the putter’s ears, calling each golfer by name to take their chances at putting. Gentle laughter and clapping followed each putt. Sweet coaches Kathy Harrall and Paris Sterrett beamed at the children. Everyone then headed inside for pizza and well deserved awards for each child. To learn more about the MABGA and their programs: www.mabga.org The site is accessible to blind and sighted persons, with videos and audio, readable with a computerized speech program. To learn more about Overbrook School For the Blind: www.obs.org From: Dorothy English Subject: To a very special foursome! Good morning, Jim, Carol, Deborah, and Sheila, Now that things have calmed down at SABVI, Elyse and I have time to properly 'thank you' for making our 3rd Annual Swing for Sight golf tournament a great success. Each of you played an important role in educating participants about overcoming disabilities and making the most of life--with what you have. You were all great! I know--through comments made and through seeing participants playing alongside you, that participants in this year's tournament enjoyed meeting you and learned from you. I was truly inspired by each of you as I interviewed you for press releases and magazine articles. Each of you has a unique story. Each life story is an inspiration. Thanks for being willing to travel to the Lancaster area, for working with the local TV station, and for making this day a success for each of our golfers and for SABVI. We hope we can meet each of you again in the future. Please thank each of your coaches for us and a very special thanks to you, JIM, for all the help in locating these three phenomenal women and for working so hard on recruiting a fourth. I (Dorothy) was glad you played--just so I could meet you personally. Attached is a photo taken at the evening meal. Our apologies to Carol who had to leave early and did not get to be a part of the photo. Thanks once again, Sincerely, Dorothy English Elyse Wittmer Development Coordinator and Development Assistant A grand vision Tournament provides fun, funds for blind golfers' group. By Joe Logan Inquirer Staff Writer Out for a day of golf yesterday, Jim Ganter, who has been blind for 23 years, lined up his first tee shot as best he could. "Am I OK?" Ganter asked his coach, John, who also happens to be his son. "Left a little," said John, helping his father aim up the fairway at Old York Road Country Club in Spring House. Then, when he was out of the way, he gave his father the go-ahead by saying, "Clear." Ready after inching slightly to the left, the elder Ganter, 55, from Phoenixville, froze for several seconds, lost in concentration, like Tiger Woods trying to win the U.S. Open. And it wasn't a bad picture of a golfer at address. Ganter's setup looked good, his stance not too narrow and not too wide, his back bent slightly at the waist, his head down. If you hadn't seen his son lead him by the hand onto the tee box, you might not suspect that Ganter's world was pitch black even at high noon. Whoosh. Ganter swung. Sadly, there was no towering bomb of a drive to report, but rather a stone-cold top. "Low runner," said John Ganter, reporting the results to his father. He didn't need to. Ganter knew. He long ago came to know the sound of a good shot. "Hey, I was a lousy golfer before I lost my sight," Ganter said with a shrug. Not to worry. Ganter was among friends in addition to family. Besides John, his playing partners were Joe Sheridan, president of Sheridan Ford in Wilmington, where Ganter worked for years before going on disability; and Dennis Madigan, a Sheridan salesman. Together, they constituted one of 22 foursomes in the annual year-end tournament and chief fund-raiser for the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association, a 34-member group of which Ganter is president. The format for the tournament was a "scramble," as it almost always is when golfers of uncertain abilities play together. All four players hit a tee shot; they pick the best of the four, then they all hit their second shot from that spot. They repeat that over and over, which hurries things along. Of course, as Ganter is quick to note, the tournament yesterday and the 30 or so golf outings the MABGA has every year are more fun golf than serious competition. It's about being active, getting out in the fresh air, hanging out with friends. "This is my 10th one of these, and I am always amazed at how positive these guys are," Sheridan said. "It is easy to get depressed," Ganter said. "But it doesn't help, and I don't want to go through life like that." Ganter was 28 when the effects of childhood diabetes began to affect his sight; by 32, when John was turning 7, he was blind. In 1997, after four years of research, the U.S. Golf Association issued a set of rules for golfers with disabilities. For blind golfers, the only significant accommodations were allowing "coaches" who can align them before and during a shot, and the ability to ground the club in a hazard, such as a bunker, to steady their footing. That's serious golf, too serious for Ganter. In local competitions, Ganter's group of blind golfers, who range in age from 40s to 80s, has eased up on the rules: One whiff per shot. After two whiffs, the coach takes the shot. Free relief from trees, shrubs, rocks, etc., that interfere with a full swing. Some of the golfers can't see at all; others, while legally blind, can make it around without a cane and see certain images, even the ball. For Ganter, no such luck. On one tee yesterday, he was ready to pull the trigger when his son stopped him. The group ahead wasn't quite out of the way. "I'd like to hit a great shot and have to go up there and apologize," Ganter said, backing off the ball. His buddy Sheridan chuckled. "Yeah, tell them you didn't see them." Teeing is believing By Ruth Rovner For the NortheastTimes He’s always loved golf, so it’s no surprise that Gil Kayson of Elkins Park plays as often as possible. What’s surprising is that the 72-year-old golfer is totally blind, and it hasn’t stopped him at all. His blindness is caused by a rare neurological condition that gradually took away his sight. For a while, he had to stop playing golf. But then he discovered the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association, and he’s been enjoying his favorite sport ever since. The association is open to blind and visually impaired golfers. They play the same game as sighted players, but with a few modifications. Each blind player has a coach, and the two tee off together. "He’s my partner, and he positions me for each shot," explains Kayson. "He points me in the right direction, and then I hit the ball myself." The partners travel around the course in a golf cart. "I hold his elbow to get into the golf cart, and then we go to the next hole and hit it," says Kayson. "We take alternate shots until we get it into the hole." When a ball lands in a sand trap, the blind players are permitted to "ground the club," meaning they can put the club behind the ball in the trap. Sighted players are not allowed to do this. Kayson and his fellow members have played on golf courses all over the tri-state area. "We go wherever they allow us to play with no charge," says Kayson. His coach drives him to each outing. The association also sponsors two special events each year. One is the Pro Blind Golf Tournament held at Philmont Country Club. For this event, instead of playing with a coach, the partner for each blind player is a PGA professional. "We’re not the best players, but they’re very happy to do this," says Kayson. "And they enjoy it every year." The other special event is a fund-raiser. For this event, each blind player invites sighted non-members to play with them, often friends or family members. They play in groups of four, with two guests, the blind player, plus a coach. "I get to play with my friends and family, and I can play with them as equals," says Kayson, who has played with his son and son-in-law at recent events. "Each of us plays every shot." The association was founded more than 50 years ago by blind attorney Bob Allman, a Frankford High graduate who was a national wrestling champion as well as golfer. Allman is now deceased. Currently there are 36 members. The youngest ones are in their late 30s. The oldest is 90-year-old Larry Rutenberg of Wynnewood. Last year, at age 89, he hit a hole in one at the Ace Golf Center in Lafayette Hill. Quite a few members are current or former Northeast Philadelphia residents, including Kayson, who lived in the Northeast for 30 years before moving with his wife Sandy to Breyer Estates in Elkins Park. And the association president, Jim Ganter, is a former Northeast resident who now lives in King of Prussia. He, too, is totally blind and uses a voice-generated computer to send out mailings and manage the organizational details. Kayson plays golf year round. From April to November, he goes on outings sponsored by the association. Now that the season is over, he’s packing his golf clubs and heading for Boca Raton, Fla. He stays for the winter, playing golf with sighted friends and working on his skills with a golfing pro. Then, early in April, he’ll re-connect with his blind golfing buddies here. It’s been 24 years since Kayson first joined the association, and it was a turning point in his life. In his 30s, he had given up golf because of his failing eyesight. "I loved golf from the start, but as a sighted person, I kept losing the ball," he says. "And when I hit the ball, I could never follow it. So I became very frustrated and stopped playing." His condition kept getting worse. Doctors were puzzled. Finally, a specialist in Boston gave him an accurate diagnosis: he had Refsum Syndrome, a rare neurological condition. By age 50, he was totally blind. But by then, he was playing golf again, thanks to the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association. He learned about it at age 48. "I wasn’t totally blind yet, but I was losing my vision quickly," he says. "I figured, ‘This is the only game in town’. I’m going to give it a try.’" So he picked up his old golf clubs and went to their next outing. "I loved returning to the golf course!" says Kayson. That first day, he managed to play 18 holes. "It was difficult to start over again," he acknowledges. "But it was very rewarding. I felt I was starting a new chapter of my life." He started another chapter — and a most important one — when he became involved in a unique program for young blind golfers. Kayson is the co-founder of the Blind Junior Golf Program. Sponsored by the association, it encourages blind youngsters to play golf by providing them with golf equipment and regular lessons with a PGA golf pro, all free of charge. In 1994, Kayson teamed up with Norman Kritz of Cherry Hill to start the program. Kritz is not blind but has always been interested in community service, especially for youth. The idea of a program for young blind golfers appealed to him right away. After he teamed up with Kayson, it became a reality. Kritz designed a nine-hole chip-and-putt golf course, which was built on the campus of the Overbrook School for the Blind by the school’s maintenance department. Kritz and Kayson then set to work recruiting youngsters for the program, which is open to any blind or visually impaired youngster (age 6 to 18) in the tri-state area. Soon, golf pro Al Balukas was also involved. Balukas is the liaison to the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association. From the start, he was eager to help with the junior program. "I remember how he said to me, ‘If one child benefits from the program, it’s a success,’" recalls Kayson. The program now numbers 50 junior members, far more than Balukas’ initial criterion for success. Each time a new member joins, Balukas contacts a PGA member willing to give free lessons. Meanwhile, Kayson and Kritz make sure the youngsters have proper golf equipment, which is often donated by area golf clubs and sometimes individuals. "Quite often, when people learn about our program, they’ll call me because they have a set of clubs they’re willing to donate," says Kayson. "Then we cut the clubs down to fit the size of our players." They get their golf instructions on a golf course or driving range near their home. Then, twice a year, all the junior members come together for a golf outing at the Overbrook School for the Blind. They play nine holes, and each one has a coach, just as the adult golfers do. "They come with their parents and siblings, and it’s a fun day," says Kayson, whose wife Sandy helps run the event. The fun includes a putting contest and hole-in-one contest. "There are no losers," he emphasizes. "Everyone gets a prize." And the four top winners get a trophy. It’s indeed true that everyone in the program is a winner. Kayson continually sees the impact that the golf program makes on these young people. One example is 14-year-old Jude Vogelman. Jude is not only blind but has braces on both legs. He’s an active participant in the junior golf program — he joined when he was 8 — and he adores the sport. Recently, his mother expressed her gratitude to Kayson by saying, "I feel God brought you to Jude." "When she told me that, it gave me the biggest thrill," he says. "I realized how much the program meant to him." It means a great deal to Kayson, too. Playing golf is still a great pleasure. But he especially loves the satisfaction that comes from introducing blind kids to a sport they can enjoy throughout their lives. "It gives me a goal and a sense of purpose," he says. "In my entire life, nothing has been as rewarding as this." •• For more information on the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association or the Blind Junior Golf Program, contact Gil Kayson at 215-884-6589 or visit the Web site at www.mabga.org The Vision of Golf Visually-handicapped golfers take to local links By Jim Brinckman Article from Town and Country Golfing conditions were perfect at the Hills-Perkiomen Monday; the skies were blue and the grass a dull November green with a few leaves clinging to life high above in nearby trees. These were scenes George Pilz could not see as he clinched his driver on the first tee. This week, the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association (MABGA) took to the local Pennsburg course as a part of their 35-club tour of southeast Pennsylvania. "It's hard, but it's enjoyable and challenging," Pilz, a 67-year-old MABGA member said. "You have to have your head straight. You don't have to keep your eye on it." Watching the ball is up to Pilz's playing partner, chauffeur and coach. "He lines me up, gives me distance and verbally gives me the lay of the land," Pilz said, who lost his sight in an automobile accident said. "He's an absolutely essential part of the effort." "It's extraordinary for me they want to get out. They love to get out," coach Ted Rogers said. There are 32 members like Pilz who belong to the MABGA, which was founded in 1948 by a Philadelphia attorney. These golfers hit the links just like any other, fit with their khaki pants, plaid shirts, sweaters and golfer's cap. Blind players like 60-year-old Carol Sexton think they're up-to-par with any golfer blessed with that 15th club, the gift of sight. "I think about each part of the golf swing as a whole," she said. "Keep your head down. But yet we still have to unlearn the bad habits. It's a very humbling game." That game strategy could be heard at any golf course, club or resort, from any golfer, hacker or professional alike on any given Sunday. Sexton arrived with her caddie about an hour before tee time, talked in the course's parking lot, exchanging a couple of jokes, then proceeded to go through the club-less motion of getting her swing down, while at the same time loosening up her muscles in the midst of the cold November air. Then it was off to the par-4 first, where players encountered the 5,200-yard Hills course, as played from the red tees. "This is my three-wood right," Sexton said. "No, it's your driver," coach Lou Piombino said. And just as Tiger Woods steps away from the ball at the tee when he's disturbed, so too did Sexton for that final adjustment. "That should be good," Piombino said, after redirecting Sexton's setup position and again teeing up her ball. "Straight down the middle." With that, the 10-year golfing veteran wound up and pulled the white-dimpled ball into the left-side of the rough, just short of the fairway. Immediately after the ball left the head of the club, Sexton knew she would opt for the mulligan. "Whoa, I stood up on it. I stood up on that baby," Sexton said, who went blind at 2 years old. Even though his player didn't launch the ball off the tee, she made her coach proud. "If I paid as much attention to my game as she does I'd be better," Piombino said, who sports a 20-handicap. "It's rewarding, it's rewarding. There's no other way to put it. When you see people out taking advantage of the gifts we have, it's rewarding." The half-dozen or so players who took to the chilled Hills-Perkiomen will never be on the PGA tour, but Monday was about achieving something when the odds aren't tilted in someone's favor. "It never stops," Sexton said. "Life is a challenge and you find ways to meet challenges." The association's president, Jim Ganter echoed Sexton's thoughts. "It's basically recreation," Ganter said. "But in my opinion it's more than that. It shows blind people aren't helpless. I can't do brain surgery and I can't be a taxi cab driver. But it shows society the blind can be productive." Ganter, whose best round is 120, also admitted the sky's the limit on the other end of the scoring spectrum, as being blind does have its advantages on the course, he said, although they're limited. "There may be a slight concentration advantage," Ganter said, "but in all honesty, it's mostly disadvantages." The retired automobile salesman who lost his sight at age 32, thought a bit and added a more personal note about his bout with blindness. "I used to have zero patience," the 54-year-old Ganter said. "I'm not great with patience now, but I'm doing a hell of a lot better." Ganter, who qualified twice for the blind national championship, gave an example of what it's like to be blind through the eyes of former PGA professional Payne Stewart. Back in 1998, Stewart played a round of golf blindfolded against the top blind linksman in the world and shot 54 while the visually impaired golfer fired a nine-hole round of 46. So in a nutshell, Ganter could be described as a water-downed version of Tiger Woods. "Yeah, but Tiger hits the ball a hell of a lot further," Ganter said with a laugh. In reality, Mr. Woods and Ganter are not treated too differently in terms of exceptions handed out by the United States Golf Association's rule book. All rules are applicable to blind players, with the only exception revolving around bunker play. Visually impaired players can ground their club in the sand trap, while golfers with sight cannot. "It takes a lot of courage for these guys to go out there," Mike Swenk, The Hills-Perkiomen assistant professional said. "It takes a lot of courage and hand coordination, but no eye coordination. It's neat, they have their coaches with them." Swenk, who sports a four-handicap, says swinging a golf club without sight is no easy feat. "I've tried swinging a golf club with my eyes closed," he said. "There's nothing compared to it. It's a hard enough game with your eyes. Without your eyes, it's 20 times harder." But Sexton and her fellow visually-impaired golfers don't feel that way. They see themselves just like any other golfer; simply trying to get all the glitches, unnecessary movements and excessive strokes weeded out of their game. The term handicap is two-fold in this instance. There's the one the game of golf provides and the one life hands out, sometimes unexpectedly. But for players like Carrol Sexton, her response given to the question regarding her game's handicap could easily be confused and interchanged with her life's handicap. "I have no handicap," Sexton said. "Honestly, I don't have a handicap." Blind Golfer score’s eagle at Ramblewood Country Club. Wednesday, July 14, 2004 By Mario Tobia Mount Laurel, NJ – Mike Swenton and his playing coach, Joe Brennan scored and eagle 2 at the 307-yard Par 4 sixth hole at the Ramblewood Country Club in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Most golfers, including professional golfers would be delighted to score an eagle at any time. So why is this eagle more significant than most other eagles, Because Mike Swenton is totally blind. Mike is a member of the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association – MABGA. MABGA plays approximately 30 golf outings a year at local golf courses in the Philadelphia and South Jersey surrounding areas. On Wednesday, July 14, MABGA was having an outing at the Ramblewood Country Club in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. The members of MABGA play an alternate shot format with a playing coach who is responsible to assist the blind golfer in whatever manner necessary for them to play golf. Mike Swenton and his playing coach, Joe Brennan approached the 6 - 307 yards dog-leg right par 4 hole on Ramblewood’s blue course. They both teed off as is customary in a MABGA outing. When they drove up to their tee shot they found that Joe had the better of the two drives. It was now Mike’s turn to hit and he was left with a 130 yard shot to the pin from the left rough. Mike borrowed his coach’s Perfect Club fairway wood for the shot. He hit the ball solidly and it went flying Straight toward the pin. Joe describes the shot as a well-hit ball, which landed before the green and went rolling toward the hole. From the rough, Joe thought it was a great shot which ended up close to the pin. When they drove their golf cart to the green to play their next shot, they were unable to find the ball on or around the green. Joe then decided to check out the hole and was ecstatic to find the ball resting at the bottom of the cup. Mike said that it was his first eagle ever and he was really pleased with how well the ball came out of the rough. Joe said that he knew Mike hit the ball well but was still very surprised to find the ball wedge between the hole and flagstick. So next time you hit an eagle, just imagine how much more difficult that shot would be if you had your eyes close. Then and only then, you might know how impressive Mike Swenton’s eagle really was. PHILADELPHIA GOLFER Magazine By Rick Woelfel Sportswriter On a pleasant October day, Larry Ruttenberg stood on the tee at the 120-yard 12th hole at the ACE Club and sent a 7-wood soaring toward the green. The ball landed five yards short of the putting surface, bounced forward and kept rolling, all the way to enter of the green, whereupon it cascaded gently off the flagstick and into the cup for the first hole-in-one in the history of the new club in Lafayette Hill. The ace, which occurred on Oct. 20, was also the first for Ruttenberg, who, at age 89, has been playing golf for most of his adult life. It was a moment to savor, but unfortunately, Ruttenberg never saw his ball go in the cup. The Wynnewood resident is blind. But that has not dimmed his enthusiasm for golf. Ruttenberg is a member of the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association and plays golf regularly throughout the year. Ruttenberg grew up in Philadelphia and attended West Philadelphia High, graduating in 1931. He was a good athlete, playing baseball and soccer in high school. After graduation, Ruttenberg found a job with a shoe company, no small accomplishment in that era, and began playing semiprofessional baseball. But a few years later he began having problems with his right eye. Eventually he became blind in that eye. Although Ruttenberg’s left eye remained healthy, he had lost the depth perception necessary to play baseball. So he took up golf instead and was a member at White Manor Country Club for many years. Later he played regularly at Westover and eventually worked his handicap down to a 12. But in September of 1982 Ruttenberg’s world changed forever. ”It was Sept. 11,” Ruttenberg recalled. ”That’s what I think of when I think of Sept. 11, 1983, not 2001.” Ruttenberg was playing golf at Westover that day and had just cleared the green when a player in the group behind his elected to hit his approach shot. The ball struck Ruttenberg flush in the left eye and left him blind (Ruttenberg sued the golfer who injured him and the matter was eventually settled out of court. . The effect on his life was profound of course. Paris Sterrett, who is now Ruttenberg’s coach at MABGA events, is a retired industrial psychologist, which spent the bulk of his professional life working with disabled individuals. He points out that many individuals who lose their sight do so gradually, because of glaucoma, macular degeneration or other eye diseases. As such, they make adjustments over time to compensate for their decreasing vision. Ruttenberg’s accident forced him to make all those adjustments suddenly. ”There’s so much trauma involved,” Sterrett said. ”You’re an active individual getting up in the morning every day, running a business, being independent. All of a sudden you have this injury and it takes so much away from you. You have to depend on so many people to take you to the doctor or the drugstore, or to help you pay your bills. You don’t walk the neighborhood the way you once did.” But golf turned out to be Ruttenberg’s salvation. A few months after his accident, he joined the MABGA and has been playing in the organization’s outings on a regular basis for some two decades now. And he still works out regularly three times a week, though he has been known to skip a day in the gym in favor of a tee time. The MABGA stages outings throughout the year whenever the weather is suitable for golf (and occasionally when it isn’t). Each blind golfer is accompanied-by a coach who help the blind golfer in whatever manner necessary to play the game. Blind golfer records club's first hole in one Posted on Sun, Oct. 26, 2003 By Joe Logan Inquirer Staff Writer Even though he is blind, Larry Ruttenberg, like many golfers, can usually tell by the feel when he has hit a good shot. "Sweet spot, off the nose, off the heel, I can generally sense when a shot is good, bad or indifferent," Ruttenberg, 89, from Wynnewood, said last week. So it was all the more surprising to Ruttenberg on Monday when he hit what felt like a rather indifferent 7-wood off the tee at the 120-yard par-3 12th hole at the ACE Club in Lafayette Hill, only to hear his coach, Paris Sterrett, grow increasingly excited during his play-by-play. "Paris hollered, 'It hit the green, it's rolling, it's rolling, it won't stop rolling... Larry, it's IN THE HOLE!' " There is no official clearinghouse for holes in one, but let the record show that the first ace at the new ACE Club, as confirmed by golf pro Mike Pilewski, was recorded by Ruttenberg during an outing for the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association. "I stood here, numb, if you want to know the truth," said Ruttenberg, recalling his reaction to his first ace in 65 years of golf. "He smiled and said, 'Wow, that's great,' " said Sterrett, a retired psychologist from the Veterans Administration and Ruttenberg's regular coach and playing partner. "I don't think it hit him. I think it's hitting him now that he's getting phone calls" from reporters. When Ruttenberg, a lifelong area resident, took up the game in his mid-20s, he had already lost the sight in his right eye. "Doctors in those days called it an infection," he said. "It got clouded over." He lost the sight in his left eye 21 years ago when he was struck by a ball while playing golf. "Somebody was in too much of a hurry and couldn't wait until we got off the green," Ruttenberg said with a remarkable lack of bitterness. "The guy had been warned" about hitting into them on previous holes, Sterrett said of the player who struck Ruttenberg. "Our society is very impatient." Before the accident, Sterrett said, Ruttenberg was a successful food broker who traveled extensively for his job, a 13 handicapper who was a member of several golf clubs. These days, Ruttenberg and Sterrett are regulars at their golf association's outings. About 20 members and 20 coaches play an enviable lineup of area courses. When stepping onto a tee, Sterrett will describe the hole to Ruttenberg. ("It's 120 yards, open on the front, huge ravine on the left...") After Ruttenberg decides on a club, Sterrett lines him up, and then describes the resulting shot. Most days, player and coach play alternate shots. They usually don't keep score. Maybe now they will. |
