Join the Club

By Lynne Swanson

If you want to be in the swing of things this summer, get ready to tee off.

"Golf is really a game for everybody," says Ed Membery, president of the newly founded Ontario Disabled Golf Association. "I don’t think there’s a sport better than golf for people in a wheelchair or with a disability... It’s for people of all abilities and all ages, from the womb to the tomb."

Membery knows what he’s talking about. The Barrie, Ontario, golf pro, 55, had polio when he was seven. He has walked with crutches and canes. Now, Membery uses a wheelchair.

With parents in the golf business, Membery has been playing most of his life. "I’ve golfed off a stool, a tractor, and a golf cart. I learned to golf with one hand leaning against a golf cart."

He continues working in the family golf business and now golfs from a specialized golf cart made by Lone Rider in Toronto. "It’s my legs, my wheelchair, my golf cart all together."

Membery has never experienced barriers to golfing on a course. As a golf course superintendent as well as a golf pro, he simply phones ahead and makes arrangements for his lightweight cart. But Membery does add that wheelchairs are not "golf course friendly" due to their smaller wheels, which can be "tough" for wheelchair golfers and means they are prohibited on many greens.

Membery is "really excited" about new wheels being considered for the Lone Rider cart. He says that "is going to revolutionize" golfing for people with disabilities.

Membery and his family are building a new course, scheduled to open in 1999 near Molson Park in Barrie, Ontario. He says the nine-hole course with an 18 hole par 3 and a Pitch ’n’ Putt course, is designed "for the average person and new golfers and disabled golfers." The kiosk, with a driving range and golf academy, will also be wheelchair accessible.

Like Membery, Michael Regnaud of Hull, Qu‚bec, has "golf in [his] genes because [he] was raised in a family of golfers," with one brother a golf pro and another an assistant pro. Regnaud, who has had low vision since birth, used to caddy for them when he was a teenager. "I have loved golf from that time."

Because of his visual disability, Regnaud says "as a kid and even a young adult, I had kind of thought I could never play. I had blocked it in my mind."

When his brother, the assistant pro, died, Regnaud’s other brother gave him clubs and encouraged him to golf. "I found I could find some pleasure in it."

Regnaud describes golf as "kind of a challenge to myself. I rarely play in relation to others. I play against my previous scores... I play with the objective of having the best all-round good shots I will have done during a game."

With limited sight, Regnaud can see the ball at his feet. He can also see the course, but not details. "I have to be quite close to it to see the green and even the flag." After he hits the ball, his playing partner directs him to where it landed.

Regnaud began playing on his brother’s course, where he was familiar with the course layout. "From certain distances, I can see trees. I give myself some points of reference. I know if I aim at a little left of that tree, I know I’m in about the right direction."

These reference points give independence on familiar courses. On new courses, a sighted partner stands behind Regnaud and gives alignment tips. A review of a course diagram and his own "good sense of orientation" contribute to his play.

Regnaud stresses "it’s not necessary to see the ball. Movement is something very automatic that you have to control... Once you’re addressing the ball well, you normally should hit very well, sighted or non-sighted."

Although he misses the fun of seeing where the ball goes, Regnaud says "there is a feeling to it, too. When I hit, I will usually know if I have hit well or not... There’s a really good feeling when you hit it well."

In addition to "a competition with myself," Regnaud thrives on "nature, landscaping, the quietness of the surroundings, the relaxation, the calmness and the nice, good walk" in golfing.

Regnaud says he "would really like to be able to replicate" in Qu‚bec an organization of blind golfers, similar to one in Ontario.

Glenn Babcock is president of Ontario Visually Impaired Golfers. Like Membery and Regnaud, "golf is an obsession" in Babcock’s family.

When Babcock moved to Ontario from Nova Scotia in 1987, he learned about the association. Because he has "a hard time saying ’no’ to anything," Babcock soon became vice-president and then president. The association is a registered charity and does fundraising to sponsor special events and tournaments.

Babcock advises that most of his association’s members "are more interested in getting out for the day to have a good time than competing." Half are older golfers who have lost their vision and the other half are younger adult members. There are no child or youth members yet, but the organization is trying to boost involvement of this age group.

Babcock says, "We’re the tip of the iceberg here. It is a growing concern worldwide." The four western provinces have a combined group, and there is a U.S. Blind Golf Association and a World Blind Golf Association. "Countries all around the world have blind golf."

The Greater London and Area Greens Superintendents Association installed a putting green at Parkwood Hospital in London, Ontario, two years ago. Bev Regan, Parkwood therapeutic recreation specialist, says because golf is such a popular sport, it assists rehabilitation of people with a range of injuries or illnesses. Putt ’n’ Place is used constantly.

Parkwood offers free golf clinics twice a year for golfers in the general community with special needs, instructed by golf pros from Fanshawe, River Road and Thames Valley golf courses. Specialized equipment is available, including modified grips, shorter clubs, built-up tees, teeing devices and golf-ball dispensers.

Membery insists that Regan and her colleague Laura Giandomenico "have done more for disabled golf than anybody I’ve seen in that type of facility. There’s a lot of work going on in London. Big time. They’ve been great."

Karen Blanchford had never golfed when she attended her first Parkwood clinic two years ago. Although London courses are not yet wheelchair accessible, Blanchford goes to Thames Valley driving range, where she is "always welcome" in the spring, summer and fall. "It’s a whole new test of my strength and my balance," she says, smiling.

Because her multiple sclerosis is heat sensitive, Blanchford golfs mornings in summer. "I’m not going to let the heat stop me," she emphatically declares. She uses a cool towel around her neck and a hat to shade her from sun, and she sips cold drinks. "I will use whatever measures I have to keep cool."

Blanchford who also plays sledge hockey and is planning to take up wheelchair racing in preparation for the 2001 Canada Summer Games is looking forward to the opening of an accessible course at Fanshawe Golf Country Club, a City of London public course this summer.

Mike Olizarevitch, Fanshawe golf pro, describes the new nine-hole course as "very flat. The greens are elevated slightly and are built of very firm soil" so people using scooters or manual or motorized wheelchairs can access them with no risk to the golfer or the greens. Holes range from 50 to 150 yards in length. Miniature trees and five fleet flagpoles create a "scaled-down version" of a regulation golf course. "It looks rather unique."

With the additional nine hole, Fanshawe will be a 36-hole golf course. It will accommodate kids under nine who are not permitted on regulation courses. Olizarevitch says the development of the new course is a cooperative effort of golf pros from Fanshawe, Thames Valley and River Road, London municipally operated courses.

Hugh Kelly has golfed seriously for decades. He was playing four or five times a week at Sunningdale, a private London club, until four years ago when he began using a scooter. But, with the assistance of a Sunningdale golf pro, Kelly’s scooter was modified with a raised seat, a restraint, which "keeps [him] from falling on [his] face when [he] swing[s]," and an adapted golf bag to replace the basket.

Sunningdale approved his scooter for use anywhere on its course. Kelly tried it out last summer, and plans on being back this year. "I’ve got so far to go before I’m really good at it, despite the fact that I played before. But, every time you go out, you get better at it," he says as he intently prepares to swing at Parkwood’s clinic.

"Don’t feel you can’t play golf," is Olizarevitch’s advice to people with special challenges. "There’s all kinds of ways we can get you out there playing."

(Lynne Swanson is a freelance writer living in London, Ontario.)

CONTACTS:

Lone Rider
(416) 749-1461

Ontario Disabled Golf Association
Ed Membery
(705) 737-9558

Ontario Visually Impaired Golfers Association
Glenn Babcock
(905) 274-3527

Western Canadian Blind Golf Association
Barry Smorang
(204) 831-5768

If anyone is interested in helping to form a Blind Golfers Association in Qu‚bec, please contact Michel Regnaud at (819) 770-4138.

Canadian Amputee Sports Association’s Golf Committee
Robert Fox, Committee Chairman
70 Sherwood Forest Trail
Welland, Ontario L3C 5X6
(905) 735-5999
Fax: 905-735-4414