News

National and International Coming Events

The Australian and International Events Calendar has been updated with 2022 and early 2023 events.

Blind Golf Australia (BGA) Classic

Blind Golf Australia (BGA) has decided to stage a third national two day event alongside the Australian Open and Australian Stableford Championship, to be played in Adelaide on May 19/20 2022. The event will be known as the Blind Golf Australia (BGA) Classic which in 2022 will be played as a stableford event.

This year, the BGA Classic will be played in conjunction with the Beyond Blindness Blind Golf South Australian Stableford Championships which is to be played on May 16/17 at the Adelaide Shores Golf Club, West Beach, Adelaide

To celebrate this inaugural event, BGA has decided to make entry free in 2022. Motorised carts are to be paid for separately.

Entries for the BGA classic close on April 29 2022

Entry forms can be obtained from your Blind Golf Member State Organisations or email secbga@gmail.com

BGA looks forward to seeing you all in Adelaide.

Policy

BGA has added to the Policy section, the Blind Golf Australia Statement of Rules.

BEHIND THE TEE - a photo gallery

Now available is BEHIND THE TEE - a photo gallery. Behind the tee is the brainchild of Margie Tolcher, and was designed to give blind /vision impaired golfers, their families/friends and other interested people access to the thousands of photos that Margie takes at Blind Golf Tournaments all over Australia.

2022 Western Australian Blind Golf Association Events

Now available in the Coming Events section are the Western Australian Blind Golf Association Events 2022.

Privacy Policy

At a BGA Board Meeting on March 23 2022, BGA has Ratified their tenth policy, a Privacy Policy, which applies from March 23rd 2022.

2022 Blind Golf Victorian Open

The 2022 Victorian Blind Golf Open was played at the Rosebud Country Club on the 7th and 8th of March. A great field of 18 players was welcomed by Blind Golf Victoria and the Rosebud Country Club to contest the Open on the superbly presented South Course in perfect weather conditions on both days.

The tournament was hotly contested in all categories with excellent scores achieved by many players.
This year's Overall Winner was Graham Coulton from NSW with a score of 77 points.
Overall runner up was Andrew Patterson from VIC with a score of 76 points.
Glenn Niciejewski from QLD won the B1 Category with 51 points.
Sean Witting from VIC won the B2 Category with 72 points.
Paul McKenzie from NSW won the B3 Category with 73 points.

Blind Golf Victoria acknowledges the ongoing support of the Rosebud Country Club Committee, members and staff as well as the caddies.

Results at the Blind Golf Victoria Results page.

2022 BGA National Stableford Championship

The 2022 Blind Golf Australia National Stableford Championship was played at the Rosebud Country Club Club on March 10th and 11th. The event was played by 18 players in superb weather conditions for golf over the 2 days.

The Blind Golf Australia National Stableford Champion was Mark Eschbank from NSW with a brilliant score of 88 points.
Overall Runner-up was Darren Solly from QLD with another great score of 77 points.
The B1 category winner was Glenn Niciejewski from QLD with 53 points.
The B2 winner was Gary Sargent from NSW with 73 points.
The B3 winner was Paul McKenzie from NSW with 72 points.

Blind Golf Australia acknowledges the support provided by the Rosebud Country Club Committee, Staff and Members. BGA also gives thanks for the support given by the players' caddies.

Detailed results can be found at the Stableford Results page.

BGA 2020-22 Order of Merit

The updated BGA Order of Merit 2020-2022 to March 14 2022 can be found on this website under Order of Merit.

Handicaps

The BGA Handicaps as at March 14 2022 are now available.

2021 New South Wales Blind Golf Open and the 2021 ISPS HANDA Australian Blind Golf Open

McKenzie Wins 2021 Vision Australia NSW Blind Golf Open Championship & 2021 ISPS HANDA Australian Blind Golf Open Championship

Liverpool Golf Club again hosted the 2021 Vision Australia NSW Blind Golf Open Championship and 2021 ISPS HANDA Australian Blind Golf Open Championship for Blind and Low Vision golfers, both tournaments were played over two rounds each on Monday 31 January & Tuesday 1 February (NSW Open) and Thursday 2 & Friday 4 February (Australian Open).

Paul McKenzie with caddie/guide Leonie Fraser, playing on a handicap of 14 (NSW Open) and 13 (Australian Open), mastered the challenging conditions best to shoot a Net total of 144 and Gross total of 172 for the 2 rounds (NSW Open) and a Net total of 163 and Gross total of 189 for the 2 rounds (Australian Open). Paul, who is gradually losing his eyesight and has only ben a member of Blind Golf NSW for a little over 2 years is also a member of Yowani Golf Club in the ACT. His association with Blind Golf has assisted him in coming to terms with his eyesight condition, being able to liaise with people with similar eyesight conditions.

Paul McKenzie and Darren Solly have both been selected to represent Australia as part of the Rest of The World Team to play in 2022 Vision Cup (similar to the Ryder Cup) vs The Americas Team at TPS Sawgrass in September this year.

Main sponsors Vision Australia awarded trophies for all winners and sight categories and was represented by Rolf Geerlings and expressed that attending the Championships and Presentation had renewed his passion for the game which had waned due to his loss of eyesight and was contemplating joining Blind Golf NSW, after being inspired by the efforts of the golfers who participated in the events. Special thanks also goes to ISPS HANDA, and Srixon for their sponsorship of this events and also those hard working caddie/guides.

Blind Golf NSW wishes to acknowledge the International Blind Golf Association, Blind Golf Australia and Liverpool Golf Club for hosting the two Championships. Their attention to detail made it easy for the players, caddie/guides and officials to enjoy the tournament given the extreme weather conditions during the NSW Open.

If this article has encouraged you to find out more about Blind Golf or are interested in becoming involved as a player, caddie/guide or sponsor, please visit www.Blindgolf.com.au, our Facebook Pages at Blind Golf NSW & Blind Golf Australia or email blindgolfnsw@gmail.com or secbga@gmail.com

2021 Vision Australia NSW Blind Golf Open Championship Tournament Summary

Net Winner (NSW Vision Australia Open Champion)	Paul McKenzie (ACT)
Net Runner Up	Daren Solly(QLD)
Gross Winner	Mark Eschbank (NSW)
Sight Category Winners
B3 Champion	Andrew Patterson (VIC)
B3 Runner Up	Dean Reid (VIC)
B2 Champion	Gary Sargent (NSW)
B2 Runner Up	Graham Coulton (NSW)
B1 Champion	David Blyth (VIC)
B1 Runner Up	Doug Sloan (VIC)
Putting Champion	Paul McKenzie

2021 ISPS HANDA Australia Blind Golf Open Championship Tournament Summary

Net Winner (ISPS HANDA Australian Open Champion)	Paul McKenzie (ACT)
Net Runner Up	Dean ReidVIC)
Gross Winner	Paul McKenzie (ACT)
Sight Category Winners
B3 Net Champion	Paul McKenzie (ACT)
B3 Gross Champion	Paul McKenzie (ACT)
B2 Net Champion	Darren Solly (QLD)
B2 Gross Champion	Darren Solly (QLD)
B1 Net Champion	Glenn Niciejewski (QLD)
B1 Gross Champion	Glenn Niciejewski (QLD)

South Australia Events

The South Australia Program for 2022 has been updated.

Coming Events Victoria

Under Coming Events Victoria, their calendar has been updated with the 2022 events.

BGA Annual General Meeting

The BGA Annual General Meeting was held on October 27th 2021. The new Board members are Doug Sloan - President, David Martin - Vice President, Peter North - Secretary/Treasurer, Mark Eschbank - Director, Peter Drury - Director.

Geoff Walsh was appointed as National Handicapper and Board Director.

Video

Here's a Facebook link to a Golf Australia video produced from footage of a demonstration Blind Golf South Australia did at Royal Adelaide GC on 12/02/2020.

2021 Blind Golf South Australian Open

A new Social Media page has been added to the BGA site, containing links to Blind Golf Australia's YouTube channel and Blind Golf Australia's private Facebook group.

2021 Blind Golf South Australian Open

The 2021 Blind Golf South Australian Open was played at the Adelaide Shores Patawalonga Golf Club on May 17th/18th. This was the first time a major Blind Golf Event has been played in South Australia in more than 20 years. The event was enjoyed by 18 players with their caddies and volunteers. The competition itself was very competitive with the addition of 3 new players to Blind Golf. The Blind Golf South Australian Open Champion (which was decided on a count-back) was Cameron Reid from South Australia with 73 Stableford Points. The Runner-up was Brad Carver from Queensland also with 73 Stableford Points. The B1 category winner was Doug Sloan from Victoria with 59 points, B2 winner Graham Coulton from New South Wales with 68 points, and the B3 winner was Jeff Ellis from Victoria with 67 points.

Detailed results can be found at the Blind Golf South Australian Results page.

The tournament was a huge success and the Blind Golf South Australia Committee members Cameron Reid, Lindsay Mortimer, and Robert Curtin, are congratulated for their efforts in making the tournament possible and enjoyable for all who participated. Blind Golf South Australia thanks all players, caddies, volunteers, supporters and Beyond Blindness for the donation of the use of the Community Bus for the Tournament.

An ABC Media Article on the event can be found on the ABC News site.

(NEW) Photos from the BGSA Open and the National Stableford Championship can be found on Google Photos.

New brochures

BGA are pleased to advise that a full YouTube audio / video description of Blind Golf and its rules 'A Guide to Blind Golf' (10:04) has been added to our site, in addition to 'A Guide to Blind Golf' (633KB PDF) and 'A Guide to Blind Golf Digital Brochure 2021' (1.7MB PDF).

Articles

Qld junior blind golf champion wins International Lions World Peace essay prize.

Policy

The Policy Code of Conduct and Associated Disciplinary Committees Policy has been added.

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), have updated contacts, and revamped all BGA policies governing blind golf played in Australia. The latter is important for current members to read, so please go to the BGA Policies section.