News

2020 ISPS HANDA Australian Blind Golf Open

The 2020 ISPS Handa Australian Blind Golf Open was staged at the Rosebud Country Club on March 19/20. There was an excellent field of 24 players in attendance, 19 of whom participated in a 36 Hole stroke event and 5 who participated in a stableford event. The event was again supported by the wonderful Rosebud Country Club members as well as the Management and support staff of the Rosebud Country Club.

The 2020 Australian Champion with a net score of 143 was Graham Coulton from New South Wales with his longtime caddie Sue Carpenter.

The 2020 Australian Champion Runner up with a net score of 148 was Paul McKenzie from Canberra with his caddie Michael Croft. Congratulations to Paul who is a new member of Blind Golf New South Wales.

The 2020 Australian Open Gross Champion with a score of 186 was Paul McKenzie with his caddie Michael Croft.

The B1 category Gross and Net Champion was Glenn Niciejewski

The B2 category Gross and Net Champion was Graham Coulton

The B3 category Gross and Net Champion was Paul McKenzie

The winner of the Stableford Event was Doug Sloan with 41 points

Results at 2020 ISPS HANDA Australian Open Results.

2020 Victorian Open

The 2020 Victorian Blind Golf Open Championships were played on the North Course at Rosebud Country Club on March 16/17 2020

This was the 30th consecutive year that the Victorian Blind Golf Open has been held at Rosebud Country Club which is a unique record. In that 30 year period a unique relationship has developed between the two organisations which both parties hope to continue for many more years to come. Rosebud Country Club members provide volunteer caddies, markers, walkers and scorers who each extend their passion and friendship to the players. At a celebration dinner held at Rosebud Country Club on Wednesday the 16th of March to celebrate the occasion Blind Golf Victoria President Doug Sloan made special mention of Rosebud member and accredited rules official Arthur Scott who has acted as Tournament Referee for every event played over the 30 years.

Blind Golf Victoria was delighted to welcome a field of 27 players to play in this year’s event which was the biggest attendance since the 2004 Victorian Open was held in conjunction with the ISPS HANDA World Blind Golf Championships.

This year’s winner was Glenn Niciejewski from Queensland with his caddy Mark Tookey who had an incredible score of 97 points over the 2 days which is 25 points under his handicap. Glenn is a B1 classified, totally blind player who has worked very hard on his golf and fitness over the last few years and has reduced his handicap from the maximum 54 for a B1 to 42 after this event. Runner up was David Martin a B2 classified player who is a Queensland member with his caddy Jodie Martin. David had a wonderful 2 day score of 85 points which in most years would have won the Victorian Open.

David Blyth from Victoria won the B1 Classification with 55 points, Graham Coulton from New South Wales the B2 Classification with 65 points and Neil Herdegen from Queensland the B3 Classification with 73 points.

Results at BGV Victorian Open Championship Results 2020.

Articles at Blind golfers to tee off at Rosebud for Vic Open (Golf Australia), Blind golfers to tee off at Rosebuds 30th Victorian Open (mivision The Ophthalmic Journal), and Queenslander wins Vic blind title (Golf Australia) .

Photo of 2020 ISPS Handa Australian Open Winner Graham Coulton with his caddie Sue Carpenter.

Handicaps

The BGA Handicaps as at March 23 2020 (after 2020 Vic/Australian Opens) are now available .

BGA 2020/21 Order of Merit

BGA's 2020/21 Order of Merit placings can be found on this website under Order of Merit.

Coming Events

• 18/19 May - South Australian Open has been postponed until further notice.
• 21/22 May - Australian Stableford has been postponed.
• 17/18 September - Western Australian Open, Collier Park
• 12/13 Oct - Queensland Open, Royal Pines
• 17/18 November - New South Wales Open, Liverpool

BGSA Demo Day

A report on the Blind Golf Demonstration Day held at the recent ladies Australian Open at Royal Adelaide (including YouTube video).

Policy

Blind Golf Australia has updated the Order of Merit Policy effective from the 1st of January 2020 to include Order of Merit points for travel to interstate events and for participation. The South Australian Blind Golf Open is now included as a sanctioned event. To read the updated policy go to Policies on this website.

Coming Events

The Blind Golf Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia , and inter-national Coming Events for 2020 have been updated.

The new Board previously approved the 2020 major events as under:

• 18/19 May - South Australian Open has been postponed until further notice.
• 21/22 May - Australian Stableford has been postponed.
• 17/18 September - Western Australian Open, Collier Park
• 12/13 Oct - Queensland Open, Royal Pines
• 17/18 November - New South Wales Open, Liverpool

Handicaps

The International Blind Golf Association ( IBGA) has introduced a new handicapping policy effective January 1 2020. The previous policy has been changed to better align Blind Golf’s handicap system with the World Handicap System (WHS) which will come into effect worldwide progressively during 2020.

The general effect of the policy changes is that those members who are under their sight classification maximums will have their handicaps reduced by 1 to 2 strokes. Members will be advised of their new handicaps as soon as IBGA/BGA do all their calculations.

It is important to note that golf worldwide will go through the same exercise.

There is a more detailed explanation of the policy changes under “Handicaps” . Additionally the revised IBGA Policy Document is also available in the same section.

BGA Annual General Meeting

BGA’s AGM was held on October 30. The new Board consists of Doug Sloan President , David Martin Vice President, Peter North Secretary/Treasurer , Stephen Jackson and Rod Mills Directors.

Geoff Walsh was appointed as Director/Handicapper at the last BGA Board Meeting.

New Member Blind Golf South Australia

At the 2019 AGM , Blind Golf South Australia was readmitted as a member after many years in recess. President Doug Sloan congratulated the BGSA Board under the leadership of Cameron Reid in achieving this outcome.

2019 Blind Golf New South Wales Open

The 2019 BGNSW Open was staged as a stroke event at Liverpool Golf Club on November 12/13. This is the first time Liverpool has been used for blind golf and the participants found the course to be very challenging.

Continuing his recent run of excellent form , Glenn Niciejewski B1 Qld with his caddy Peter Harrington was the winner with net 158 . Brad Carver B3 Qld with his caddy Dennis Grace won the gross championship with a score of 222. Making it a Queensland trifecta Neil Herdegen B3 Qld with his caddy Joy Meemungthan was net runner up on a countback with a score of 165

Robert Curtin SA who has also performed well in the latter half of the year won the B3 net trophy, Graham Coulton NSW won the B2 trophy and Doug Sloan Vic the B1 trophy

The coveted Erik Royds Perpetual trophy for the least putts was won on a countback by Brad Carver Qld with 64 putts over the 2 days

A full list of all scores and trophy winners can be found under the Results section of this website.

Mark Eschbank wins 2019 Japan Open, Jenny Abela wins ladies stableford

A contingent of 7 Australian blind and vision impaired golfers and their caddies headed to Japan immediately after the 2019 Australian Open to participate in the 2019 HANDA Japan Open. The golfers were

WA Ron Anderson, NSW Jenny Abela, Graham Coulton , Stephen Mitchell and Mark Eschbank and Qld Brad Carver and Glenn Niciejewski

The event was played at Hakonekohen Golf Course near Mt Fuji on September 18/19

The course obviously suited Mark Eschbank and Caddy Michael Clemens ( maybe reminded Mark of Mt Gilbralter course where he plays a lot of his golf) as Mark had an almost unbelievable net 57 on the first day followed by an excellent net 68 on day 2 for a total of net 125 . In second place was Inchon Cho from Korea with net 131. Congratulations Mark

Congratulations also to Jenny Abela and caddy Peter North who won the ladies Stableford

ABC Video on Blind Golf

A short interview by the ABC with Graham Coulton and his caddy Sue Carpenter can be seen in the video section of this website

2019 Western Australian Open

The 2019 Western Australian Open was played at the Collier Park (Perth) Pines /Island course on September 9/10. This year the WA Open attracted a very good field of 18 blind/vision impaired golfers from every mainland state.

The highlight of the tournament was a hole in one by a relatively new blind golfer in Peter Heinrich (WA) who “aced” the 11th hole. With acknowledgment to Golf Australia, there is a full description of Peter’s feat in the Articles section of the website. As far as we can ascertain, Peter’s “ace” was the first achieved by a blind/vision impaired golfer in a major tournament in Australia. Overall our blind golfers have now achieved 9 holes in one -an amazing effort!

The winner was Brad Carver (Qld) with his caddy (and grandson) Josiah Gilbert with a great score of 81 points. Brad previously won this event in 2017 and was also runner up in 2016

Runner up was Graham Coulton (NSW) with his long-time caddy Sue Carpenter with a very good score of 73 points.

Glenn Niciejewski(Qld) and his caddy Peter Harrington won the B1 sight category with another very good score of 72 points. The B2 winner was Malcolm Elliott (WA) and his caddy Kevin Williamson with yet another excellent score of 73 points. Finally, the B3 winner was Robert (Bear) Curtin (SA) and his caddy Jim Crawford with certainly his best score in recent years of 70 points-and also certainly his best finish for 15 years at least.

Full details of all the prize winners and the complete scores can be found under Western Australian Tournaments in the Results section of this website.

Articles

Peter Heinrich scores a Hole in One at the 2019 WA Open.

Glen Niciejewski wins 2019 ISPS HANDA Australian Open.

New BGA Member - Blind Golf Queensland

In 2016, BGA decided to conduct the first Queensland blind golf open at Virginia GC with the aim of establishing blind golf in Queensland . In a little over 3 years with a lot of hard work from a lot of people, Blind Golf Queensland was incorporated in January 2019 with 8 members and had its application for full membership of BGA approved by a General meeting of BGA members in March. Initial office bearers are Brad Carver, President, Glenn Niciejewski Vice President, Glen Baxter Secretary and Steve Art Treasurer. If you require more details on blind golf in Queensland please contact Glen Baxter email glenbaxter@gmail.com

Website Update

This website has been totally updated to eliminate duplication, delete irrelevant and out of date items and add new items which hopefully readers will find of interest. In particular we have added a totally new section on how to get started in blind golf in Australia including a copy of the sight certificate required, updated contacts and revamped all BGA policies governing blind golf played in Australia—the latter is important for current members to read—go to Policies.