Sports
July 03, 2008 10:36 PM
By: John Cudmore
Try sinking a 20-foot putt in the dead of night.
That’s the conditions under which Jim Hamilton plays all the time.
Blind since youth, the 62-year-old Newmarket resident doesn’t let that detail curtail his zest for golf.
Hamilton may not be a threat to par, even now 10 years into his second swing at the sport, but he sure is glad to be playing again.
The retired government worker was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa — a progressive vision loss — by the time he was three. He golfed as a junior, but it was more than 40 years between rounds when he rediscovered the sport in 1998.
“I was terrible. I shot 157 the first time out,” recalled Hamilton, who can sense light and brightness levels. “But I have broken 100 three times since. I’ve been told only 5 per cent of players world-wide break 100.”
Despite not gripping a club for four decades, Hamilton maintained his interest in golf. It was only after six years of working in the same office that it turned out a fellow worker happened to be the president of the Ontario Visually Impaired Golfers Corporation (OVIG), prompting him to get back in the swing.
Now, he is the tournament co-ordinator for the organization, which will host the 2008 Canadian Open Blind Golf Championships to be held in Cambridge in September on top of 11 other tournaments in the province, including a stop at Cardinal Golf Club in Kettleby July 24. The organization is aiming to raise $90,000 toward the Canadian tournament.
As a player, Hamilton plans to participate in the British Open Blind Championship and the World Blind Championship, being held days apart in Belfast, Ireland this summer.
The goal, Hamilton says, is to create awareness through OVIG there are opportunities even in seemingly unlikely situations.
“We want to let people who are blind, or have lost most of their vision, know they don't have to give up on golf,” said Hamilton. “If you’re excited about something, it gives you the confidence to try other things. I think we do a useful thing for many people.
“You have got to have a sense of humour and be willing to ask for help. You can not be shy.”
Playing a sport that requires players to follow the ball visually has obvious challenges. For starters, blind golfers require a partner or coach to set them up and to spot their golf balls.
Finding a willing partner to help guide their non-sighted partners around the course is the most significant obstacle faced by Hamilton.
“Well, you don’t send blind guys out and tell them to whack balls all over the place, that’s for sure,” he quipped. “The coach lines you up, makes sure the club is square, tells you the yardage; you make sure you get the information needed from the coach.
“It's a two-part puzzle, if you will. It’s pretty much a team sport. The coach can line you up but if you don't hit the putt or if you have been lined up wrong, it won’t work. It’s very much a partnership.
“I like to visualize things, odd as that sounds. That said, there are sighted people who don’t know how to visualize.”
Surprisingly, in some respects it is easier teaching golf to a blind person.
“Eyes are a distraction for many golfers,” said Shawn Clement, director of the Richmond Hill Golf Learning Centre at the Richmond Hill Golf Club. “I’d say 20 per cent of my clients hit the ball better with their eyes closed. Too many have darting eyes. That is, they tend to follow the club on the backswing.
“Closing your eyes quiets the mind and puts the focus on balance and awareness to what is going on with the club. It’s a wonderful awareness because you can feel how gravity affects the club and how it skips off the turf.”
For Hamilton, the toughest challenge is not what one might expect. It's not chasing the out-of-bounds ball or playing from a bad lie. Mind you, those are challenges all golfers encounter.
“For me, it’s sticking to my routine so I don't get disturbed — being able to shut out the world,” Hamilton explained. “When you’re blind, you are dependent on what you hear and it’s tough to shut out the world.”
After an extended absence, Hamilton concedes he has missed the opportunities to play.
“I don’t think I would have been a better golfer, but I think I would have had more fun,” he said. “It’s nice to get a really good score in golf but it is more important to have a good time, be out in the fresh air and enjoying the camaraderie.”
Log on to
www.ontarioblindgolf.ca for additional information.
Cap is overflowingIt’s getting to the point where some National Hockey League owners are crying the blues over the fact they can no longer spend to the floor level, never mind exceeding the salary cap.
The cap for the 2008-09 season will be in the vicinity of $57-million and marks the high-water point and fourth straight year in which the cap has increased since it was introduced.
When the cap came into play for the 2005-06 season, the ceiling was $39-million. This season, the floor level is to be more than $40-million.
Imagine that — owners without vision and a solid game plan for increasing costs to do business. It was only a matter of time.
Shape of things to comeJust thinking in ink here, but maybe a redesigned Ontario Provincial Jr. A Hockey League — assuming the one-year pilot project endorsed by the OHA is not squashed on appeal to the Ontario Hockey Federation by the rest of the league’s owners — gets rid of a lot of dead wood.
Even if the OHF supports the appeal, perhaps the tone has been set for losing a bunch of teams unable to cope in the new-world Junior A level which would likely result from the fallout.
Hail the Chief!The Toronto Blue Jays went retro by hiring Cito Gaston in a redux of the franchise’s 1990s glory days and wear throwback powder blue road uniforms from that era.
The Maple Leafs tried to remind hard-done-by fans of a moderately successful era by bringing general manager Cliff Fletcher on board to straighten a listing ship. He has now hired netminder Curtis Joseph, another link to better times.
With a vacancy at captain pending can George Armstrong be far behind? The Chief can play centre and has some experience at hoisting Stanley Cups.