| At the
beginning of April some of our blind golfers had the priviledge
to accept the kind invitation of our patron Mr harushi Handa
to attend the Inaugural World Senior Golf Ladies Open Championship
event at the Izu-Ohito Country Club in Japan.
Included were IBGA President David Blyth A.O.
and members of the IBGA Board - Dennis McCulloch, Neil Baxter,
Bob Andrews, Isao Shiga and Jan Dinsdale. Also invited was
our present Lady World Champion Johanna Camarta (Canada),
our oldest Lady Golfer, Helen Weaver (Scotland) and our youngest
Lady
Golfer, Susie Westwood (Australia). Gerhart Starck and Jim
Gales M.B.E. were invited from Germany and Scotland, respectively.
The aim was to promote the Ladies Senoir Golf
Tour - most of whom had played Japan at some point earlier
in their careers.
It was also felt that with the Blind Golfers taking part in
the Pro-Am event and demonstrating their skills on the putting
green during the “Seniors’” two-day tournament,
more of the public could be made aware of our sport.
All our blind golfers found out quickly this
was not a holiday!! - with most days “on the go”
from 6.00am through to 10.00pm!!!
But none would argue against this honour to work hard, to
show how much we appreciate the endless hours of enjoyment,
cameraderie, self-confidence and self-belief we have gained
from blind golf.
Mr Handa appeared to enjoy the event and the
publicity it produced, enough to pledge his support for a
similar event to be held in Japan in 2006 for
the hosting of our World Championships.
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