Nick Rodger on Tuesday
A game for all as disabled golfers take centre stage at Cardrona
THIS is the time of the year when the golf writers get to showcase their talents – and I use the terms “showcase” and “talents” extremely loosely – on some of the finest courses in the country during a delightful little run of official media days which also go by the sobriquet, “the shameless freebie”.
Last week, we were at Royal Troon. They’re repairing the scars and preparing the court summons as I write. Over the next fortnight, we’ll get a clatter about at the Renaissance, Carnoustie and the Old Course.
Such arduous reconnaissance missions, ahead of the various championships that will be staged there in the summer, are all done with our dear readers in mind, of course.
These labours on the links, after all, help to inform our commentary while adding gravitas to our thoughtprovoking insight, analysis and opinion. What a load of cobblers.
I’m not sure what you can glean from this correspondent gratefully halving a hole with my equally erratic playing partner in an eight to stay four down – we both gave each other 20-footers to save any further awkwardness – but it’s certainly not bloomin’ gravitas.
Interestingly, the words of multiple major winner Brooks Koepka, speaking in the aftermath of his victory on the LIV Golf series at the weekend, struck a chord with me.
“The big thing that kind of separates me is my ability to lock in and go some place where I think a lot of guys can’t go,” he said. It sounded just like the frankly inexplicable destination of one of my startling thwacks with the 3-iron.
I can, however, pass on an authoritative piece of sage advice that comes out of these media jaunts. If you’re afraid a full shot might reach the green while the group ahead is still putting out, you have two options.
You can immediately shank a lay-up, or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball halfway there.
Such travails are all part of a golfing life’s rich tapestry, aren’t they? No matter your ability, however, this fascinating, endlessly flummoxing pursuit is a game for a’body.
That all-embracing quality will be to the fore this week at Cardrona near Peebles when Scottish Golf, the amateur governing body, stages its inaugural Scottish Open for Golfers with a Disability. The 44-strong field is a come-all-ye gathering full of inspiring tales and against-the-odds endeavour.
Barry McCluskey, the son of the former Celtic striker George, is one of the world’s leading blind golfers while Prestonpans veteran Gordon McLay was a caddie on the Senior Tour before having his leg amputated.
Gregor McDonald has not let cerebral palsy derail his ambition to become a fully qualified PGA professional while Jacobi Whyte, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, is the youngest entrant at the age of just 10. At every turn, there are heartwarming, heart-wrenching stories.
Golf has taken its fair share of brickbats down the years. Some of these withering assaults have been justified. Issues around sexism, for instance, have burdened this stick and ba’ pursuit for yonks.
But others – such as the notion that it is riddled with exclusivity – can be the results of lazy assumptions and fusty, cliched perceptions. In many ways, golf is the most inclusive game of the lot.
Events in the Borders this week will underline that. The R&A’s second G4D Open at Woburn next week, meanwhile, will give disabled golfers a significant platform upon which to demonstrate that physical, neurological, or visual impairment are certainly no barriers to sporting excellence and fulfilment.
The well-used observation of yore from the great Bobby Jones about this game being played, “mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears” remains canny advice that can be applied across the golfing spectrum, whether you’re Scottie Scheffler, Nelly Korda or a hapless golf writer like me who can occasionally three-putt before I’ve even reached the flippin’ green. For those with a disability, it’s very much a case of mind over matter.
The work of EDGA (the European Disabled Golf Association) has helped to promote and nurture the disabled game at all levels while the blossoming G4D Tour (Golf for the Disabled Tour) schedule, which runs in conjunction with some of the DP World Tour’s biggest events, provides valuable, highprofile exposure and helps to spread this particular golfing gospel.
There continues to be major advances in opportunity and, more importantly, attitudes towards golfers with a disability. The incorporation, meanwhile, of the modifications of the rules for disabled golfers into the actual Rules of Golf at the start of 2023 was another major milestone on the journey towards inclusivity.
Life, as we all know, can change in a heartbeat. When Tiger Woods had his frightful car crash a couple of years ago, for instance, he almost had to have his leg amputated.
“You won’t get many more famous, wealthy people than Tiger Woods, yet he could have been within half an inch of losing his leg and becoming a golfer with a disability,” said Tony Bennett, the president of EDGA in a chinwag with this correspondent a year or so ago. “Disability is so indiscriminate.”
For those playing over the next couple of weeks, the competition and the camaraderie, those things all golfers cherish, will continue to provide a great source of pride, purpose, focus and enrichment.
Golf truly is a game for all.
The field is a come-all-ye gathering full of inspiring tales and against-theodds endeavour