Australia’s best blind golfers will descend on Whaleback Golf Course this month.
The Blind Golf Australia National Stableford Championship will be held there from September 15-16 and the West Coast Blind & Inclusive Golf Championship from September 18-19.
Both events cater for golfers with visual impairments and/or physical, sensory or intellectual disabilities, and attract players from across Australia.
Blind golfers play in one of four classifications, based on their levels of vision impairment, and are assisted by a sighted caddie who describes the hole, helps with club selection, aligns the golfer and ensures that the clubhead is positioned directly behind the ball.
Golfers then take on the course the same way as any other player. The only concession allowed under the rules of golf is that they may ground their club in the bunker.
“Without our caddies, we would not be able to play golf,” Glenn Niciejewski, a fully blind golfer and last year’s B1 champion in the WA Blind Golf Open, said.
“We need complete trust and understanding because they are our eyes.”
Niciejewski, who has claimed titles in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland over the past year, is looking forward to returning to Whaleback to defend his B1 title.
He said the course was well suited to visually impaired and inclusive golfers.
“It’s nicely set up for blind golfers because it is not too long or hilly, and has wide fairways with not too much trouble either side,” he says.
“The greens provide the main protection here at Whaleback, because they have lots of contours and can be quite quick.”
Last year Queenslander Stephen Art, a B4 category blind golfer, claimed a WA double by winning the overall competitions in both the West Coast Blind & Inclusive Golf Championship, played at Wembley Golf Course, and the BLK Cabinets WA Blind Golf Open, played at Whaleback.
He’ll be returning to defend his titles against strong fields of talented and determined golfers.
WA players will be able to have a warm-up round at Whaleback on Friday, September 12, and the City of Canning — which owns the course — will be providing free range balls for players to warm up before their rounds.
Mayor Patrick Hall said the city was delighted to host the championships.
“These championships highlight the skill, determination and sportsmanship of blind and inclusive golfers, and remind us that golf is a sport where everyone can compete on equal footing,” he said.
“It is fantastic to see players of all abilities enjoying the same course, facing the same challenges, and sharing in everything the sport has to offer.”
