What it's like to play golf when you can't see the course or ball

Pat Dwyer
G'day, my name's Pat Dwyer, I'm the President of Blind Golf Tasmania and today is quite an exciting day. We're having the inaugural Tasmanian Blind Golf Open. Blind Golf Tasmania started about three months ago with the assistance of Blind Golf Australia and probably about 40 per cent of the blind golfers in Australia are playing here in this tournament today, so excellent.

Joel Rheinberger
What was the impetus to start up a Tasmanian end of this organisation?

Pat Dwyer
It was probably me actually. I lost my sight November 22 and was an avid golfer and I made contact with the Blind Golf Association in about March to see if there were any special rules for blind golfers and I got in touch with them and they said, oh we haven't got a presence in Tasmania and I said, well we'd better fix that. And through Blind Golf Australia they made this tournament, which is the first one as I said, here we are on a beautiful Tassie day. The weather's a bit more settled than the last couple of days but we're ready to go Joel.

Joel Rheinberger
When you say you lost your sight, what happened?

Pat Dwyer
I've been the victim of quite a rare hereditary genetic disease and it just causes vision loss and normally it happens with teenagers but not for someone who's bloody near 70. But anyway, this establishment of Blind Golf has been really terrific for me to give me something to do and be of benefit for others as well so it's been good.

Joel Rheinberger
How have you found adapting to this style of a game?

Pat Dwyer
Ah, look, not too bad. I think you could probably ask my caddy. And that's the biggest difference with blind golf. We've all got a caddy or a guide because obviously we can't see where it's going and they line us up and we still have to hit it. But my handicaps change because of my condition but I can sort of play to my handicap which is alright. And if I do that over the next couple of days I might have a bit of a show.

Joel Rheinberger
You reckon you're in with a chance today?

Pat Dwyer
Oh look, if you organise an event you might as well have it at your own club.

Joel Rheinberger
You know your way around the course.

Pat Dwyer
Well I do, I can do that blindfolded which is handy.

David Martin
I'm David Martin, I'm President of Blind Golf Australia and Western Australia. I've travelled down from Karratha for the first tournament in Tasmania and we've had the best turnout for blind golf that we've had for quite a while in Tasmania. There's 22 people playing in the tournament today.

Joel Rheinberger
What got you into golf as a sport?

David Martin
So when I lost my sight back in 2012, it was a workplace incident and I lost my sight rather quickly. I started playing cricket, ten pin bowling and also golf, they're the three other sports that I'd done before I lost my sight. And it was just adapting into the different, having a caddy to do everything for you rather than being able to line yourself up and look yourself. The caddy does everything for me now.

Joel Rheinberger
How do you actually hit the ball? Because I can't imagine hitting a ball with my eyes closed.

David Martin
So it's pretty much muscle memory. If you just keep doing it over and over again, if the caddy puts you in the right position behind the ball and you swing through the same swing all the time, you'll hit the ball. The main thing is just keeping consistency.

Joel Rheinberger
How is your game now that you've adapted to the new way of play?

David Martin
It's actually much better than before I lost my sight. Before I lost my sight I probably didn't put the effort in. Now I put the effort in. Gradually I've lost more sight, so my handicap's actually gone out due to the fact I'm gradually losing my sight. I've got hardly anything left now. So just pretty much adapting to that and the changes that come with sight. You just get your game down pat and then all of a sudden you lose a little bit more and you've got to change again. So we're getting there.

Joel Rheinberger
Tell me about your caddy, because it strikes me as being like rally driving, that you've got a navigator alongside you. How do you get a good caddy that's going to stick with you and get everything right?

David Martin
My caddy was my wife for a long time. For five years she caddied for me. She's too busy with work now to come away, so I've had to just get whoever's available at each state to come and caddy for me. Pretty much if you give them a bit of instruction at the start, where to line you up, where your ball goes. I've got to aim a bit left because my ball fades a bit right. So just teaching the caddy how you play your game and not to try and put their game on you too much. Just completely trust what your game is and you'll play alright.

David Blythe
I'm David Blythe. I'm from Victoria. I'm totally blind and I was blinded when I was 14 and I started playing golf some 30 years ago.

Joel Rheinberger
What do you want out of a caddy?

David Blythe
Well, my caddy is my friend Gary, who's here beside me now. He's a very good golfer and he's improved my game because he understands the game better. He manages the course as far as I'm concerned and he gives me a lot of advice what to do and what not to do and we try and implement it, you know.

Joel Rheinberger
There must be a real joy too about being in such a wide open space.

David Blythe
Oh, it's fantastic and I live in a city of course, living in Melbourne, so to be on a golf course is a real treat really and some of the golf courses we've played on around Australia and internationally have just been so superb. It's great.

Gary McInnes
Hi, I'm Gary McInnes. I first met David in 2009, a little bit by chance at a driving range and I said, having me into trouble, are you there mate? Can I give you a few pointers? And we established a relationship and a friendship and we've become very, very good friends. And what it's done for me in terms of sport is it's opened my eyes internationally and domestic to a great number of people. So it's changed my social network group.

Joel Rheinberger
What sort of golfer is David?

Gary McInnes
He's a good golfer on his day. Very hard to beat. He has a very generous handicap of, you know, when I first met him his handicap was 54. He's now down today, or probably playoff, 47.

Joel Rheinberger
Do you know this course at all, Kingston Beach?

Gary McInnes
Yesterday I came and looked over the hill down onto the first hole and it's the first time I've seen it.

Joel Rheinberger
How are you feeling about that big downhill there?

Gary McInnes
I think there are some challenges, but like everybody else, a lot of the players haven't played here before. So it'll be new for a lot. I think I'd have my money on Pat Dwyer though, being the local. He's got a home ground advantage. However, we'll challenge.

Joel Rheinberger
Can you tell me, how would you describe the hole in front of David so he knows what to do?

Gary McInnes
I don't have to describe the hole so much. It's more about picking where I want David to hit the ball to, to allow the line of land to take the ball where it will. We don't over-describe the hole too much. It's more a matter of process. Get your setup right, do your alignment and hit the ball to where you want it to go to. On the green, that's probably where most of the caddies come into their four because they have to manage the slope, the grain. They have to manage uphill, downhill. Whilst David will feel uphill, downhill, side hill with his feet when we walk across the green or towards the hole, he makes a judgement of all that with his senses. And of course, I use my eyes to work out where the ball is going to roll to. So my great skill is reading the greens for him, translating that into the speed with which David has to hit the ball. If he gets all that right and I get my read right, we might either drop the ball in the hole or very close.

Jo Delaney
Hi, my name's Jo Delaney and I'm caddying for Doug Sloane today and I'm hoping we go really well.

Joel Rheinberger
Have you caddied for him before?

Jo Delaney
For about 20 years. Yeah, once or twice.

Joel Rheinberger
What sort of a golfer is he?

Jo Delaney
Yeah, good. I can't say anything else because he's standing right beside me. No, he's great.

Joel Rheinberger
What sort of a golfer are you really?

Doug Sloane
Oh look, I'm a hacker. I enjoy it. I enjoy the socialising things, meeting new players, going to new courses. It's not just about golf, it's about the entertainment side of things too and I enjoy it.

Joel Rheinberger
Can you describe the layout of this hole?

Jo Delaney
This is a very downhill hole with the bunkers behind it but it has a beautiful view.

Joel Rheinberger
Do you need to tell him about the two hazards?

Jo Delaney
Yes, the water.

Joel Rheinberger
I'm thinking more about the turbo chooks.

Doug Sloane
Half the time Jo doesn't tell me if there's water or bunkers because as soon as she does, I'll go in them. If she doesn't tell me, I don't know they're there so it doesn't bother me.

Joel Rheinberger
That's cool. What is that?

Doug Sloane
It's just called a golf buddy and it will give you the distance from where you are to the centre of the green and it's got 35,500 golf courses built into it and it just makes me feel more part of the game. That way, we'll go into the ball when we get there, I can just press it and I can tell Jo then what club I want and that sort of stuff.