Blog: 'There is a format of golf for everyone'
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) website features a blog post every Friday through the year.
August's theme is our Active Summer Fun campaign. This week, Disability Manager of England Golf, Jamie Blair, discusses the steps his sport continues to take in order to encourage participation and make golf more accessible.
Jamie’s blog:
So here we are in August, summer has been with us for a couple of months and golfers have been making the most of opportunities to play from first light to last.
Let me start by saying that golf isn’t all about the 2015 Open Championship that you may have seen or heard about in July, and it isn’t all about the Ryder Cup, as great as both these major events are.
There is a format of golf for everyone, whether it is championship golf over 18 holes, nine holes with friends or even Urban Golf, which I was lucky enough to volunteer for in May at the Olympic Park.
In my role as Disability Manager I have been working with our partners, the Golf Foundation and the Professional Golfers Association, to make golf more inclusive for Deaf and disabled people.
At the heart of the game of golf is a great handicap system, which allows players of any ability, whether they have an impairment or not, to play against each other fairly. I truly believe it ours one of the most inclusive sports out there.
My role is to assist clubs with removing the barriers to participation for disabled people, whether they are physical, logistical or psychological.
It is all about helping clubs understand their current membership and providing a great experience to retain current disabled participants, as well as recruiting new disabled people to play the game.
England Golf supports clubs with a programme called Get into Golf, which offers low-cost starter lessons in small groups for £5 each per week, for either four or five weeks. All equipment is provided and all you have to do is turn up in comfortable clothing. This is one example of the types of programmes that I want to make sure are made available to disabled people to sign up to and join in.
Equipment can be borrowed or rented and it’s more important how you hit the ball rather than with which make of club you hit it with. The barriers to getting started in golf are often psychological; what if I’m not good? Who will I play with? How do I get started?
I will confess now, I have only been learning the game for a couple of years and I’m no superstar. Nor do I plan to become one. I just want to be able to get the ball around a course, play alongside my friends and enjoy some time out in the fresh air in great surroundings.
If you’ve never given golf a go, this time of year is the perfect opportunity, whether you’re disabled or non-disabled. Check out our Get into golf website for local starter or taster courses near you.
Through the Golf Foundation we run schools programmes and community programmes where we are also looking to engage disabled people and disabled people’s organisations. If you are interested then please get in touch. Many golf clubs will run summer camps and family days so look up your local club and find out what they’re doing.
Golf is the fifth-biggest participation sport in England, and has over 1,900 affiliated golf clubs with hundreds of driving ranges and pitch-and-putt courses around for you to get started.
You can find out more about what we as a governing body are doing within your county with golf for disabled people on our YouTube channel, as well as finding out why current golfers with a variety of impairments play and love the game.
I hope you have a fantastic summer and get out and get active, whichever sport you choose.
You can learn more about the Get into Golf campaign, backed by Sport England, via the website.
