Tough Love and Second Chances - EDGA

Acquired wisdom shows us that we can earn a “bagful of things” to improve life, and for some, golf can play a leading role. You would be forgiven for thinking that the hand condition Fabrizio Gardiol was born with could be a major problem for him growing up in the 1960s, perhaps creating a lack of confidence during his school days, but in fact it might be one of the reasons behind his personal ach...

Inclusive golf? “Let’s spread the waves, let’s move those barriers,” says Ireland’s Tom Doherty. Talking with Tom, it is clear he understands that the camaraderie and togetherness that can be found at an inclusive golf event can create a great sense of community for those taking part. This man from Killarney ­­– which is a fine tourist town in beautiful Kerry in Ireland’s south, where the locals a...

“Life is 10 per cent what happens to you, and 90 per cent what you make it.” This is the mindset of Australian Ben Tullipan, who adds: “If you believe in yourself, you can achieve anything.” Late in the evening of the 12th October 2002, a then 27-year-old Ben Tullipan was a young businessman importing furniture from Bali, Indonesia, for his homewares shop on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia....

Jeroen Coumou is a Dutchman living in Rotterdam. When we interviewed him to ask what golf means to him, his warm and approachable personality was immediately apparent, as was a thoughtfulness and calm authority. Clearly, at ease in being honest and open with strangers, he will at the same time fix you in the eye as he speaks and listens, learning a little about you in return. He has the characteri...

Juan Postigo Arce has become one of the most recognisable faces among golfers with a disability anywhere in the world, and is much admired for the way he plays the game and the positive message he conveys: that golf can be for everyone. The low-scoring Spaniard certainly deserves the acclaim in which he is held. At the time of writing, he stands at number 3 in the World Ranking for Golfers with Di...

Bradley Smith says, "golf, for me, is just happiness”.   There is no sense of naivety on the part of the 27-year-old father of two from Norfolk when he tells us this, and he has every reason for taking all the joy he can from the game. He will also look across the table and fix you with a firm gaze. “Any golf day is a good one,” he reasons, “because you’re still on this side of the ground”. &...

Normally a relaxed, chatty character, Oliver Hirst-Greenham appeared distinctly nervous as he entered the clubhouse at Thonock Park Golf Club, Lincolnshire, for his first EDGA tournament back in June.   The PING Open for Golfers with a Disability was certainly all new territory for him. Oliver’s disability isn’t that noticeable, and he had been worrying about this: would he look like he...

It was St Andrews – the ‘home of golf’ – and surely the most eagerly awaited Open Championship for decades. Staged against a backdrop of 290,000 spectators from all over the world, millions more golfers and non golfers were experiencing The 150th Open on their screens and phones. On the Monday practice day, The R&A hosted the ‘Celebration of Champions’, a unique four-hole team match now establ...

After nearly 10 years of struggle with a debilitating neck and spine injury in 2012, Rich White explains that through golf he has rediscovered an absorbing sport from his childhood: that has boosted, significantly, his body and soul. Physically it has given him a way back, made him stronger, while the mental tonic has been “exceptional” for him. With three EDGA events under his belt by July, Rich...

Dealing with corners, free kicks, penalties, one-on-ones with strikers, the football goalkeeper can be the most cruelly exposed of all players. They must find a way, any way, of getting through the rough and tumble of the pressure moments. This is a lonely job. David Reaney would rediscover his own inner resilience years after hanging up his goalkeeping gloves and No:1 jersey that he had worn in E...

Hayato Yoshida’s thoughts on golf can be readily applied to most of life. He took up golf only at the age of 30 after his early years had taken twists and turns. But he is a golfer today (a PGA Professional in fact) and a philosophical one at that. He will tell you that “golf is life” and that “golf is a dialogue with yourself”.    Hayato survived a horrific injury as a young man, an acc...

Steve Crocker had loved sport in his younger days, and he had been highly active as an engineer on ships in the UK’s Merchant Navy. Ever since being a kid, he had been kicking, catching, and running on the sports field, or sailing, swimming and canoeing in the sea off the coast of his native Cornwall. His fitness and strength as an adult masked a growing degeneration of his spine, and by the age o...

In late April 2022, Norwegian Fredrik Fjaeraa was lying seventh in the ‘Gross’ division of the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) after a run of successful tournaments. This consistency on the fairways and greens earned him the best possible reward: Fredrik qualified to play in the prestigious G4D @ Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett in early May. Staged at The Belfry –...

George Blackshaw swings his driver with his one arm and watches another drive land in the centre of the fairway.  As with many young, single-figure golf handicap players, it is nevertheless a pleasure to watch how 23 year-old George Blackshaw can plot his way around even the most difficult golf course. George is one of a growing number of high-standard, low handicap competitive golfers out th...

Benedicte Finnema was 53 years-old and like many Norwegians she loved her sport; enjoyed everything about keeping fit and being an athlete. Then came a ski accident in 2016 that would have a huge impact on her life. As she lay in hospital and then in the long hours of rehab before later finally deciding to have her leg amputated, Benedicte was able to first cope, and then take a positive view for...

Johnny Reay started to show a growing interest in golf and the family business when he was but a boy. He began helping out at Stoneleigh Deer Park GC aged 14 and now 15 years later he is general manager, involved in decision-making throughout the business with a specialism on the food and beverage side of Hogan’s bar. Looking out of the club window at the golf course, Johnny says he is passionate...

Manon Eggermont is the Director of Tournaments for EDGA. When overseeing a championship, she meets the competitors as they sign in before the event and is constantly impressed with how these golfers, with a range of disabilities, prepare to take on the course and push themselves to the maximum.  Some of the players first get to know her on competition day when they hand in their scorecards af...

Tackling difficult equations in the science laboratory, or tackling, crossing the ball and scoring goals, it was always a tough decision for Ian Jones. Ian travelled up to Newcastle University from his home in the south in 1985, with his football boots in his bag, along with school Advanced Level certificates in Maths, Physics and Chemistry. It was hugely exciting to prepare to study Chemical Engi...

Nael Ogden-Smith is something of a key player in the Paralympic movement: one of the reasons he’s an asset to the cause is because he genuinely loves sport and understands its value to people. It can make your day, save your day, and sometimes much more. As a young boy raised in Lebanon, Nael and his friends were always so keen to play together, even as civil war gripped the country; life carried...

Standing in front of an audience, Damien Thomlinson cuts an impressive figure with a steely gaze. He is built out of battle, and his philosophy is worth listening to. The former soldier served in Australia’s 2nd Commando Regiment – Special Forces – and he can tell his audience about how some of the most intense, pressurised military training in the world prepared him and his comrades to survive in...

Per-Christian Nygren says that when he was a teenager, the sport of motocross was like a drug. While it gave him undoubted ‘highs’ which he remembers fondly, it would also come at a cost in the form of a major crash when he was aged 16; in which he received multiple injuries including a permanently paralysed left arm. Having experienced this trauma, his courage, the ‘never wanting to give up’, con...

The ready, twinkling smile is there on the face of Graeme Mazur. He might have to search harder for the right word on occasion, but he finds it. Because of what happened to him as a boy his dreams of becoming a world-beating professional golfer stalled. On Tuesday, January 18, 2000, Graeme set off for his morning paper round at 6.30am on his mountain bike in High Holdern, near Ashford. At around 7...

Few people could be better advocates for the inclusive, welcoming and fulfilling aspects of golf than Martine and Heather Gilks. Mother Martine and daughter Heather are enthusiastic, and their recent experiences in the sport demonstrate why golf can be so good for the mental and physical health of all who take part in it. From playing across the generations, enjoying the social side of golf, compe...

This weeks Tough Love and Second Chances Podcast is a little different with a preview of the eight players competing in the EDGA Dubai Finale being played alongside the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf. These eight players have made it to the finale, but not by invitation. These players filled the top positions in the World Ranking for Golfers with a Disability. Each of the top 16 avail...

Kipp Popert has had a golf club in his hands since he was a tiny kid. The game is part of his psyche, and the way he plays his golf helps him to 'press on', and meet life's challenges eye-to-eye. Kipp clearly relishes the physical and mental struggle that is seeing him be the best he can possibly be. Kipp was born with Cerebral Palsy, a form called Spastic diplegia, which impairs the muscular move...