Past Directors

Karin Becker

Austria: Former Chairman and Chair of the new Membership Growth Committee

IBGA Director, Karin Becker Karin was born in 1972 in Austria and became visually impaired at the age of twenty-one.

She studied architecture and is now working in the management of a company which organizes the provision of Personal Assistance for people with disabilities.

Karin started playing golf while visually impaired and had her first contact with blind golf in 2010 and became a member of the IBGA in 2013.

Since 2014 Karin was the national secretary of Austrian Blind Golf.

For many years Karin is leading the blind and visual impaired committee at the Austrian golf association and trying to make golf more attractive to people with sight problems.

Karin participated in the 2022 Vision Cup tournament as a Rest of the World team member held at the prestigious TPC Sawgrass and participated at the world championship in Japan, Italy, and South Africa, where she competed for the Ladies net over all awards.

Gerry Nelson

Canada

IBGA Director, Gerry, retired from his position as a provincial Client Service Co. with Canada's National Institute for the Blind in October 2021, was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan on November 9th, 1963.

At the age of six he was diagnosed with diabetes and became blind at the age of twenty-five.

He is a provincial, Western Canadian, Canadian Open, and U.S. Open Blind Golf Champion and has taken part in tournaments in England, Ireland, Scotland, Japan, and the United States.

He is a past-president and current vice-president of the Western Canadian Blind Golf Association and is in his second term as President of Blind Golf Canada. He is also in his second term as a Director on the Board of the IBGA.

SEE INTERVIEW WITH GERRY NELSON

Linda Port

USA

Linda, who is a resident of Southern California, was raised in Washington State where her father (totally blind) was teacher, athletic director and ultimately principal of the Washington State School for the Blind. Linda regards her father as her inspiration and feels privileged to have grown up among the teachers and students at the School.

She learned golf at age 40 (while she still had most of her vision) and played on club teams for a few years in the early 1990s; she then returned to work for Ely Callaway (founder of Callaway Golf) as the project manager for his autobiography. Although low vision was a big factor in giving up golf for many years, she discovered blind golf in 2011 and by 2014 competed in the USBGA Open in Exeter, RI.

Since then she has competed in many Blind Golf events with victories in Europe, Canada and the United States. In addition, she was a member of the North American team vs. The Rest of The World in the ISPS Handa Vision Cup (Ryder-format) matches at Villa d'Este, Como, Italy in 2015, Creston, BC, Canada in 2017, Portmarnock, Ireland in 2019 and TPC Sawgrass, Florida in 2022.

She has held the Women's B-3 World Championship title since first winning in Tokyo, Japan at the 2016 ISPS HANDA event.

In November, 2016 was also elected one of 6 Directors of the International Blind Golf Association where she served until 2022. Most of the time, her coach/guide is her husband Fred.

Linda believes blind golf gave her a new outlook on life and she hopes to continue to contribute to the IBGA as it grows the game for the visually impaired - from children to seniors. "We can introduce them to local, national and international competition which will build their self confidence and engage them with a whole new 'family' of potentially life-long friends serving blind golf and their communities.

Andrea Calcaterra

Italy

Andrea Calcaterra from Milan, Italy, belongs to a family who have been involved in golf for 4 generations.

He started playing golf at the age of 9 and his handicap continually improved, eventually playing off 3. In the late 1990s he lost his eyesight and stopped playing. In 2001 he restarted playing, initially as a joke but quickly realised he could play and enjoy 18 holes.

During 2003 he joined the Associazione Italiana Golf Disabili and in 2004 contributed to its transformation into the Federazione Italiana Golf Disabili. Since then he has been a member of the board first as director and in 2008 became Chairman of the Blind Golf Department.

In 2007 he became an associate member of IBGA and the following year affiliated Italy as a full member of IBGA. Andrea was elected as an IBGA Director in 2010. That year he and his team organised the first ever Italian Blind Golf Open introducing golf to blind people in Italy. In 2011 he also organized the first clinic for blind golfers at the Milan institute.

He has participated in three British Blind Golf Opens since 2009, the World Championships in England in 2010 and the Italian Blind Open in October 2010.

His commitment is to enlarge the practice of golf among Italian athletes and contribute to the progress of IBGA throughout the world participating in international events and improving relationships among member country.

Graham Coulton

Australia

Graham was born on 9 April, 1958 and is retired and was formally employed by the Office of Sport which is a division under the NSW State Government of Australia and he held the position of Program Coordinator - Motor Sport.

This is a unique position for a person with a vision impairment, as Graham administered two separate Acts under State Government legislation relating to the conduct of motor sport in NSW.

Graham commenced to play golf in 1994, in 1995, he played in his first Australian Open and since then he has now played in seven World Championships.

During his golfing career, Graham has won most Australian Championships available including the Australian Open, Australian Stableford Championships, NSW Open and Victorian Open.Graham considers his major achievement in golf is winning the British Open in 2010.

Graham has been actively involved in various sports for the Blind since 1977. He is a Paralympic Athlete and represented Australia in the sport of Goalball at the International Games for the Disabled held in New York, USA in 1984. He has also represented Australia in Blind Cricket on numerous occasions since 1987 and is still involved in the sport as a player and administrator.

Graham was awarded the Australian Sports Medal (ASM) by the Australian Government in 2000 for his services to blind sports.

Graham is former Vice-Chairman/Finance

Mr Yoshinori Ikezawa

Japan

Mr Ikezawa was born in 1959. He first encountered the sport of golf when someone asked 16-year-old Yoshinori to work part time as caddie at a distinguished golf course.

In those days in Japan, golf was rarely played by ordinary people and was considered by many as an opportunity for the rich to socialize. However, he was moved by the good manners and etiquette of the members of the golf club, and Yoshinori, who was practising Judo at the time, was intrigued by the similarities in spiritual ways between the ancient Japanese martial art and the Western sport of golf.

Mr Ikezawa worked at a clothing company after college and then became independent at the age of 30. He lost his eye sight with a retinal disease at 45. He joined Japanese Blind Golf Association (JBGA) in 2008 and was elected as chairman in 2013. Yoshinori has been impressed with Honorary President, Dr Handa's activities and been supported and instructed by Mr Aoi, who has been helping JBGA since its establishment. Yoshinori's future dreams include the realization of a tournament for all categories of eye sight and producing a world champion from Japan.