By Ben Evans
Several times in this interview Andy Gilford talks about the importance of offering other people hope. This, coming from Gilford, is no glib phrase. Gilford has dominant optic atrophy, he was born almost completely without sight, and now has less than five per cent vision.
Today, having had 52 years to adapt to his condition, Gilford is always concerned when he meets anyone who is experiencing sight loss themselves after once being able to see. He doesn’t want them to lose hope. He knows this subject well, having been through tough times himself.
Unusually, because of his unique experiences in a particular sport, being golf, he is able to offer more than simply good advice to others. Andy knows that golf can unlock something in people that can inspire them for their future; golf in Gilford’s own world has taken away feelings of isolation, kept him enjoying the fresh air out there and feeling fit, while building his confidence mentally and socially.
His advocacy of golf’s health benefits is something of a passion in itself, and in recent times Gilford has become Chair of the registered charity, England and Wales Blind Golf (EWBG). He and his fellow trustees and volunteers want to make the pathway into golf for the visually impaired more straightforward than Gilford's was, when he only learned about EWBG in his twenties on hearing in his living room BBC TV commentator Peter Alliss giving it a mention during coverage of The Open.
According to official figures from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), more than two million people are living with sight loss in the UK, and every day 250 people start to lose their sight.
Along with encouraging more golfers with sight loss, EWBG wants to inspire more volunteer guides to help these players. “There is no blind golf without the guides,” says Gilford.
Who are these guides? Friends, family, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, company employees, anyone (they don’t have to be a golfer); perhaps they are those people who may have started to feel isolated themselves?
Gilford says: “Loneliness is a big killer for many people. How do you get these people out into the community and give them something to look forward to? Guiding is one of those things many people can do and it's a great way of bringing people together. It's the friendships that are formed. The camaraderie between player and guide can be fantastic. We’ve got many people that join the charity as guides who aren't related to anybody. The guide becomes the constant friend on your shoulder, which is an amazing thing to have.
“Another aspect we are really passionate about is driving the children's side of it and getting more families into golf, so that children can spend quality time with their parents and grandparents on the golf course, creating team building skills and enhancing confidence. Family members can make great guides for obvious reasons.
“Growing up as a child without sight, I've walked that journey so I know what these children have gone through, and I know what golf did for me, how it gave me my confidence in life and also has helped me through tough mental times for myself. If somebody had told me, after I came out of school with nothing, that one day I'd have my own business, and also the things we have achieved as a charity, I would be amazed. Golf saved my life in many ways. With the team that I work with at EWBG, giving these kids the opportunity in life can be wonderful.”
Today, Gilford is a business development consultant helping companies to grow, living on the south coast. He grew up near Chorley, England, and thanks his young friends for their acceptance of him and their vital early encouragement to try golf, including Robert Moss, now a PGA professional, referee, administrator and part of the EDGA team.
Gilford says: “We were both at school in Chorley, so we grew up together, went through nursery school, primary school, secondary school and everything. And as a junior, Mossy was a very good golfer. And I’d carry the bag for my golfing friends and they said, ‘Why don't you get some clubs and we'll show you to your ball and everything’. That's where it started with Mossy and a set of his clubs. I was very lucky that my mates would help me like that.”
He recalls the early EWBG tournaments in his late twenties before taking a 10-year break to build his business. “The events in my early days gave me so much. I met my wife Melanie, who is my guide to this day, and it all helped me accept my eyesight. I really struggled with that as a child growing up but this gave me something to be proud of to be honest.
“I used to try and hide it as much as possible as a youngster. I didn’t want to admit it to other people, embarrassed about it at times. I lived my dreams through golf, playing with my mates, imagining you're playing in the Ryder Cup against each other and things like that. Other juniors at the golf club really helped me too.”
According to RNIB statistics, 23 per cent of people living with sight loss have age-related macular degeneration (AMD); they are losing vision as they age. Gilford has met adults who have gone to the opticians with what they thought was a minor problem only to be told that their sight was failing and they couldn’t drive home. On hearing the news that they will lose their sight, they may be told that it will be a three-month wait before they can see a mental health specialist, thus perpetuating the crisis. Here, hope can evaporate with the speed of dew on a green at Augusta.
“People can start to lose hope and give up,” he says. “Pride gets in the way of asking for help. They fear that they are being a burden, so there is the danger that they stay at home becoming increasingly isolated and then depressed; there may be anger and grief there for them.”
Gilford adds: “In golf, this can be particularly true of older golfers. These are people the game loses as they are too proud to question things, and they have that awful feeling that their challenges on the course might hold up the people behind them. We want to offer them a chance to keep playing, or return to playing.”
I've been very lucky, but my success is my guide’s success
Gilford has won the World Blind Golf Championships and has played in five ‘Vision Cups’ (both of these are run by the International Blind Golf Association), the latter a Ryder Cup style match between North America and the Rest of the World. However, when playing in a club competition in England, though Gilford has been successful in dealing with his condition, running a business and chairing a charity, he still to this day has that fear of being labelled as a slow player and inconveniencing a sighted golfer.
EWBG is actively fundraising and looking to grow awareness to encourage more guides to volunteer. Their value can be terrific for both parties, says Gilford, offering an acute sense of achievement for any guide, while helping a golfer who is visually impaired to discover or rediscover the feeling of being around nature on a golf course; to smell the cut grass and hear birdsong. New samplers to the game can enjoy simply putting and chipping with a guide at a welcoming golf facility or experience their first golf lessons with a PGA professional.
“I've been very lucky, but my success is my guide’s success,” he says. “I can't do it without Melanie, and the joy that the guide gets when you hole a long putt and you hear it go in – and the guide has worked it all out and everything – it’s great camaraderie.”
Gilford says that he and Melanie are grateful for the support from those around them in the sport, not least everyone at Ham Manor Golf Club in Sussex, including the club’s PGA professional Jon Nicholas, who himself has a tip for those older people who may be experiencing deteriorating sight.
Explaining the tip, Gilford says: “A visit to your club pro could really help; they can often give you some great advice in helping you with your set-up and making sure the ball is always in the correct position, while their input can provide valuable extra confidence.”
He adds: “I've always said that we can all inspire somebody, and that's the guide or the player. There will be potential guides out there who are struggling in life themselves and saying, ‘Well, I've no interest in golf’. I say come along and see what's involved, and then make a decision after that. It is getting people out of the house and keeping them active – from children right through to 90 year olds.”
Guides and players have been welcomed to a series of ‘Have-a-go-days’ that EWBG are running this year with the support of Wales Golf and England Golf, whereby anyone with an interest can come to a chosen venue to try golf. Here, the use of technology such as Trackman and Toptracer is proving particularly exciting for new samplers, hitting shots and then receiving the data on shot flight and distance – creating a fun early playing environment, taking away that fear factor for players who don’t feel quite ready for the golf course.
“Using the technology in these sessions has been a huge hit with everyone, especially the youngsters. We now want to encourage them out onto the course for the next step.”
Just over a year ago a father approached EWBG looking for a sport that his son Bailey, who is totally blind, could play. EWBG supported the youngster with some funding towards lessons and Bailey, who had never picked up a golf club in his life before, was soon playing in his first GolfSixes League matches with the national children’s charity the Golf Foundation, playing in a team of sighted children, all as part of a team and making friends.
Andy says: “I can only imagine as a parent but also as a blind golfer, the conversation around that dinner table when they had a good round. And the feeling of joy between the whole family as they're talking about it. That's something I'm very passionate about, finding the next generation of blind golf."
EDGA, supported by the DP World Tour, will be conducting a development clinic during the week of the DP World Tour's Betfred British Masters for other golfers with a visual impairment.
Gilford was speaking in the build-up to the latest G4D Tour event - the inaugural Nations Cup - being held ahead of the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at The Belfry.