Category: News & Events

There was music at this year’s end of season luncheon at Lake Claremont Golf Club. We were entertained during the afternoon by two talented musicians.

Fresh from Japan where he sung for Dr Handa at the Japanese Blind Open was our own wandering minstrel Ron on his guitar. Songs such as Blue Moon, Diana, and More than I Can Say were a nostalgic throw-back to the ‘30s. and ‘50s . Many of our members, dare I say, knew the words from their younger days.

 

 

 

On the keyboard was our very own talented Darren with his Blues Brothers hat and glasses. He may struggle to hit a golf ball, but he has no difficulty in playing tunes such as Walk of Life by Dire Straits. “He got the action, he got the motion, yeah, the boy can play”.

Unfortunately for them, there were no talent scouts at the luncheon, so their musical skills must for now remain our lunch time secret.

A special thanks to Paulo who captured these magic moments for prosperity.

 

 

 

 

The Annual Game against the Westerners was played at Lake Claremont Golf Club on Friday morning November 1^st. The format was a 4-ball Ambrose which was organised by Bob King. A requirement was that all teams were to use at least one drive from each player.

There were 6 teams with Westerners shown first:

1. 1. Neville Crane, Graham Bunter David Lee, Paul Munch. Team H’cap 5
   2. Peter Funnel, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Drury, Gordon Berryman. Team H’cap 7
   3. Wayne Hogan, Ken Wilford, Peter Heinrich, Carol Mill. Team H’cap 8
   4. George Reagan, Doug Adams, Malcolm Elliott, Neville Walker. Team H’cap 7
   5. Liz Gow, Gerry Baker, Ron Anderson, John French. Team H’cap 7
   6. Glenda Bunter, Bob King, Jennifer Weir, Daniel Weir. Team H’cap 8

Team 5 was the winner on a count-out with a Net Score of 20. Team 4 was the runner-up. Team 5 also won the fewest putts on the 9 holes with 9 putts.

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday 25th October 2019  Jennifer and Daniel Weir and others hosted a stall at the Support Group Connect Day for Deafblind West Australians to increase public awareness of deafblindness.

Blind Sports was also promoted which created some interest and people could not understand how blind or vision impaired individuals could play golf. We took the opportunity to invite them to come and see how it is done at our training sessions held at Lake Claremont Golf Club on Tuesdays.

The Braille name bands created interest from the public.

The day was successful – the result of our tactile audit showed that we had 46 people contact our stall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tuesday School practising their chipping by chipping on the fly into an opened umbrella at 10 paces.

The drill helps the players control the distance of their chips. Drills such as these are designed to keep a fun element in practising the short-game.

 

 

 

 

It was through Kate, the Regional Marketing, Events & Communication Coordinator, that we secured a sponsorship of $1,000 for the WA Blind Golf Open. The money was used to commission a Caddie Bib and a production run of 30 bibs.

The bibs were on display at both the WA Blind Golf Open and the Australian Blind Golf Open. Going forward the bibs are being used when we play our weekly games.

Vision Australia posted the following on their Facebook page.

 

“Golfers from all over Australia have met for the WA Blind Golf Open, at Collier Park Golf Course in Western Australia.

Supported by Vision Australia competitors from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia participated in the two-day event for the title of WA Blind Golf Champion.

Neville Walker, Blind Golf President and Event Organiser said “It’s great to be able to welcome players from all over the country to experience the quality of courses we have here in Western Australia. The weather has been a bit of a shock to the system for some with the temperature hitting 33 degrees yesterday, the hottest Spring day on record”.

 

 

News from Western Australian Blind Golf Association

We have just concluded our Western Australian Blind Golf Open at Collier Park Golf. It took place on September 9th and 10th with a field of 18 players. 12 players came from interstate representing New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria.

Following our Stableford Event the Australian Blind Open took place later in the week on September 12th and 13th. This was a Stroke Event with an entry of 20 players.

Both events were played in good weather and the golf course was in excellent condition. Ideally, we would like to increase our field, and would encourage anyone with any level of vision loss to join our Association. We play from March to November each Friday at either Wembley Golf or Collier Park Golf. On Tuesdays we run a short-game program at Lake Claremont Golf Club. Those interested can send an email to secwabga@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Caddie Bibs introduced in August this year, and kindly sponsored by Vision Australia, have been a huge success.

The general public can now see why, for example, there are so many people in the group playing in front of them. This has served to highlight Blind Golf and cut off any complaints to the Pro Shop.

In the 2019 WA Blind Open and in the Australian Blind Open played in the second week of September at Collier Park Golf all caddies wore the caddie bib. The ABC TV report gave further exposure to Blind Golf.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZmDBsSlC_2xkq1GVk2A5k6aq1R8LUp-a/view?usp=drive_web

 

 

 

 

 

In the recent Japanese Blind Open the caddie bib made it to Tokyo. It was worn by John French who was the caddie for Ron Anderson.

2019 WA Open Prize Winners

Champion	BRAD CARVER (QLD ) 81
Champion Caddie	JOSIAH GILBERT
Runner Up c/b	GRAHAM COULTON (NSW) 73
Runner Up Caddie	SUE CARPENTER
B1 Winner	GLEN NICIEJEWSKI (QLD) 72
B1 Winner Caddie	PETER HARRINGTON
B1 Runner Up	DOUG SLOAN (VIC) 45
B1 Runner Up Caddie	JO DELANEY
B2 Winner	MALCOLM ELLIOTT (WA) 73
B2 Winner Caddie	KEVIN WILLIAMSON
B2 Runner Up	DAVE MARTIN (QLD) 70
B2 Runner Up Caddie	ROB BROWN
B3 Winner c/b	ROBERT CURTIN (SA) 70
B3 Winner Caddie	JIM CRAWFORD
B3 Runner Up	NEIL HERDEGEN (QLD) 70
B3 Runner Up Caddie	CHRIS FOLEY

Western Australia Open Results 2019

Western Australia Open Results 2019
Sight Class/ Player		S/C	H’cap	Day 1	Day 2	Total	Rank
B1
Niciejewski	Glen	B1	49	34	38	72	1
Sloan	Doug	B1	54	15	30	45	2
Cox	Allan	B1	54	1	0	1	3
B2
Coulton	Graham	B2	45	39	34	73	1
Elliott	Malcolm	B2	45	41	32	73	1
Martin	Dave	B2	45	34	36	70	3
Minciullo	Deanna	B2	38	36	32	68	4
McCallum	Jenny	B2	33	29	33	62	5
Abela	Jenny	B2	54	30	31	61	6
Stevenson	Archie	B2	45	2	DNF	DNF	DNF
B3
Carver	Brad	B3	33	40	41	81	1
Curtin	Robert	B3	36	37	33	70	2
Herdegen	Neil	B3	33	37	33	70	2
Burrows	Doug	B3	33	35	28	63	4
Wheatley	David	B3	36	32	30	62	5
Heinrich	Peter	B3	36	30	28	58	6
Ellis	Jeff	B3	29	29	27	56	7
Reid	Cameron	B3	36	28	22	50	8

 

Nedlands Stars Jenny and Deanna

Friday 21^st June saw our return to Nedlands Golf Club after a long absence. The last Australian Blind Open was played at Nedlands in 2005 before it moved to Collier Park.

There was a field of 32  – made up of players (15), caddies (15), and guests (2). As the green fees at Nedlands are higher than those at Wembley where WABGA plays its weekly game, the Committee agreed to subsidise the difference.

Thanks to Peter Drury and John French for organising the 2-Ball Ambrose Event.

Results

Player/caddie Ambrose 9 holes – Winner: C Harvey (G Brown) 32.3,
Runner Up: J McCallum (I McCallum) 33.25
Player/caddie Ambrose 18 holes – Winner: R Anderson (J French) 70.5
Runner Up: P Heinrich (J O’Hanlon) 71.5

At the presentation Ron Anderson gave a short history of Blind Golf’s association with the Nedlands Golf Club.

Players: 

Ladies – Jenny McCallum, Deanna Mincuillo, Maureen Crawford, Liz Gow, Jennifer Weir

Men – Ron Anderson, Doug Burrows, Peter Drury, Peter Heinrich, John White, John Mealor, Malcolm Elliott, Jimmy Jones, Doug Golding, Chip Harvey

Caddies

Ian McCallum, Jim Crawford, John French, Denis Mayvis, Gordon Berryman, James O’Hanlon, Clarrie Mincuillo, Kevin Williams, Ross Thompson, Neville Walker, Jimmy Tough, Dilys Hughes, Gerry Brown, Carol Mill, Daniel Weir

Guests

Adrian Hall, Sandra Pinkington

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rich Main, Cameron Rule, Vince Fitzpatrick, Jenny McCallum

Vision Australia sponsored an Optometry Golf Day at Cottesloe Golf Club on Friday morning May 10^th.  Jenny McCallum from The Western Australian Blind Golf Association was an invited guest.

The day started with a Putting Competition where everyone had to wear Cataract glasses. This was followed by an 18-hole Ambrose competition with 3 drives to count from each member of the team.

The day ended with a prize-giving with eats and drinks.

The weather was perfect for the occasion.