abilities. There are world championships for deaf golfers, blind golfers and those with other physical or intellectual impairments. In September 2021, Golf Canada held the inaugural Canadian All Abilities Championship at Humber Valley Golf Course in Toronto. The national golf championship was a 36-hole competition that featured 30 players from across Canada with neurological, intellectual, sensory and physical impairments. The new tournament is one more step in the game’s evolution and recent push to create a more inclusive and respectful environment for the sport. From the time you picked up your last copy of CSANews until this latest issue, there have been the Canadian Deaf Golf Championships in Acheson Manitoba, the Summer Deaflympics played in Caxias do Sul, Brazil and, closer to home, the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open – a national championship for golfers with physical, visual and intellectual impairments that saw 96 participants. Competitors’ ages ranged from 15 to 80 and they played from four different sets of tees. USGA CEOMike Whan was all smiles and full of pride following the event, telling The Golf Channel: “This is the seeds of something different.” The seeds of adaptive golf are being sown everywhere. Paraplegic golfers are yet another example of those with what was once thought of as a disability that prevented them from participating in golf but now, thanks to modified golf carts, they are also participating in greater numbers. At that recent inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open in Pinehurst, North Carolina, there were seven seated players who competed. All have various versions of a modified cart that allows them to drive forward and then swivel the seat to the side to line up and hit a shot. Seeing one of these carts drive on the green so that the player can putt might make you do a double take the first time you witness it, and perhaps think that it’s not proper etiquette. But according to SoloRider – the company that makes the majority of adaptive carts – the PSI from a cart’s tires is no more than from a golfer’s footprints. Whether someone is a paraplegic, an amputee or has an intellectual impairment such as autism or Down Syndrome, the message is the same: none of these are reasons to not golf. Rather, the message that came across for me as I was researching and writing this column is this: golf is for all. And, that is a good thing. This is a message which you can help to spread and share the next time you play. Do your part to rewrite the narrative of golf that it is a game just for a select group of society. Share these stories which I’ve passed on and learn about others. This will help grow the game for future generations and make the sport more and more welcoming so that players of all abilities will consider taking up golf. Yes, golf is a hard game. It frustrates you and sometimes feels as if bothMother Nature and even the course are against you. But, reading these stories has inspired me to take it easy and have more fun the next time I tee it up. Rather than curse how hard this grand old game is during my next round, or wonder why I play this four-letter-word game, I’ll get my motivation and inspiration by thinking about Gerry, Nick and all of those with special abilities who play and compete. Golf is about inclusion – letting everybody in who wants to play, not shutting people out. Golf photos: Jeff Vogan/Golf Canada CSANews | FALL 2022 | 49
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