The Canadian Press, October 02, 2007

With the aid of a telescope and some help from his friends, Doug Stoutley, now legally blind, steps up to the tee, smacks the ball and heads down the fairway for a round of golf.

While a coach usually lines up the ball for him and guides him around the course, he plays on his own at the local links in Port Alberni on the west coast of Vancouver Island. "If I'm playing with my group (of friends), they
don't guide me," said Stoutley, 63. "On my home course, I know it well enough that I can get by."

He carries the telescope to help spot the ball and keep it on the fairway. But devices such as telescopes and range finders are illegal at major tournaments, including the Canadian and world blind golfing championships.

"It's a good rule," said Stoutley, past president of the Western Canadian Blind Golf Association, which has about 45 members.

Stoutley, who has been slowly going blind from a form of macular degeneration since he was a teenager, has peripheral vision. Using a telescope gives him an advantage.

"For other blind golfers, it doesn't help. So why should I have an advantage that others can't use?"

During tournaments, there's a division for each of the levels of sight, said Brian MacLeod, who lives in Truro, N.S., and practises his golf swing throughout the year. MacLeod lost one eye to a hockey puck and the other to a barbecue shelf. He also has diabetes, which can lead to blindness.

Doug Penner, 54, of Winnipeg, president of the Western Canadian Blind Golf Association, says that over the winter, association members prepare for three big championships next summer.

The action gets underway in July with the Western Canadian Blind Golf Championships in Winnipeg, then moves to Northern Ireland for the World Blind Golf Championships in August and the Canadian Open Blind Golf Championship in September in Cambridge, Ont. The Canadian Open, held every two years, draws golfers from coast to coast, said Penner, who has tunnel vision or retinitis pigmentosa.

Fundraising is always a tough slog.

"We submit letters to the Lions Clubs throughout Western Canada. We get fairly close to the needs of our budget."

Besides raising funds, the association runs golfing clinics for children who are blind, as well as other age groups, said Penner.

"Our membership has been going down," he said. "Some of the blindness is caused by diabetes ... Some people have been dropping out because of diabetic problems.

"What we are trying to do with the clinics is get the kids to come out ... and get other people through the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to join."

Many blind people face financial problems, said Penner. "They may not be around a municipal course that's reasonably priced."

Another major obstacle is finding a guide or coach. His wife acted as his coach when he started out, and now a buddy who is retired fills the role, he said.

MacLeod, 48, finds it a never-ending challenge to keep in shape, especially in the winter. From about November to April, he skates, bowls and hits golf balls into a net in his garage, which has a cathedral-type ceiling.

"I can hit everything from driver to sand wedge and I can hit as hard as I want," said MacLeod, who has won several championships.

Because of the milder climate on Vancouver Island, Stoutley can golf outdoors during most of the year.

"Golf is one of the few sports that you can play when you are visually impaired," says the former physical education teacher.

"Everything good that has happened to me has been directly or indirectly related to sports," said Stoutley.

"I don't play golf because I'm blind. I play golf in spite of the fact that I'm blind."

Unlike Stoutley, who can still manoeuvre himself on the golf course, MacLeod has to rely totally on a coach/guide.

"The coach guides me up to the ... tee box and basically I say 'OK, what's this one?"' said MacLeod.

"He'd say this might be a 376 par four and it's a dog-leg right... He'll tell me 'OK, you can hit your driver because it's long enough to the corner."'

The coach also describes the fairway ahead, said MacLeod. "I ask where everything is ... There might be a bunker out there. There might be water."

MacLeod, who describes himself as being very competitive, said he likes to know what's up ahead because it affects how he plays.

"If I can play bogey or double bogey golf, that's going to be good for a blind golfer. I can shoot between 95 and 105."

A good day hinges on "getting off to a good start, playing safe and trying to avoid the penalty strokes.

"Blind guys are just like sighted guys. Everybody thinks they hit the ball further that they really do," he said.

The owner of the Mountain Golf Club, his home course in Truro, sponsors him, and has given him a lifetime membership with a power cart, he said. However, when it comes to paying for a local championship that he puts on
every August, it's a struggle to raise enough funds.

For financing he turns to the local Lions Club. "I manage to raise about $15,000 to $16,000 to put it on," he said.

This year, he said, 27 golfers showed up for his tournament from South Africa, Australia, Germany, England, Scotland, the United States and Canada.

He acknowledged he has faced intolerance on the golf course.

"When I first started," said MacLeod, "whenever there was a slow-up they'd always mutter, 'Ah, geez, blind guy up there. That must be the reason why it's so slow here today."'

But now, he said, they know him. "They know I can hit the ball. I don't have any problem with that any more."

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