Golf for all
A beginning was made with a small tournament for the disabled, an initiative by the Delhi Golf Club
The picture was unusual. The scrawny upper half propped up by a pair of crutches, the black pants flapping around lifeless legs and feet, dressed in black shoes, dragging along the grass. Pradeep Kumar couldn’t help but smile.
Neeraj Yadav looked quite the athlete. Broad chest, flat stomach, bulging biceps and long, flowing hair falling around a square jaw. He turned down offers of assistance as he rolled his wheelchair through the soft turf. There was excitement written all over his strong face.
These happy men were golfing, and a golf buggy, yes, but crutches and wheelchairs are not your standard equipment on a golf course. It wasn’t just the two of them; there were 21 differently-abled children and youngsters smacking around golf balls on a hot, sultry afternoon at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC), and they were having a ball.
Kumar would adjust his crutches and take his stance, clutching the golf club with his right hand before sending the ball scurrying down the fairway. After playing a hole as part of a competition, the day ended with a “long driving” contest. This was muscleman’s territory. Shifting around in his wheelchair to get into a comfortable position, Yadav then flew the ball over 100 yards to emerge as the clear winner.
Only one shot per contestant but he was game to go at it all day. Turns out he’s ranked second in the country in wheelchair tennis and he’s a gym enthusiast. “I can’t afford a pot belly,” says Yadav, the vocational therapist at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre in New Delhi. “I would love to take up golf,” he adds, itching to get back to hitting balls.
Also a victim of childhood polio like Yadav, Kumar comes up with a wonderful take on his situation. “You know, everybody can’t do everything so I look at myself as somebody who can do fewer things. That’s all.” Golf is something he would like to do; he would also like to learn computer programming. He already has a college degree.
This motley bunch at the DGC (from 16-20 August) was an initiative by the club teaching professional Jasjit Singh and his wife Archana, a “special educator” working on a PhD in disability studies. It was Delhi’s infamous roads that triggered it. “I was driving near the DGC one day and a (Maruti) Gypsy suddenly braked in front of me. I honked in irritation and then noticed this blind man crossing the road in front of the jeep. Guilt-ridden, I headed straight for the blind school next to the course and told the principal what had just happened. He was quite taken aback and more when I said I wanted to teach golf to some blind children,” says Jasjit.
The coach got his wish but couldn’t expand on it for the lack of funding. A chance conversation with entrepreneur Pratap Dube, polio-stricken himself, changed that and a beginning was made with a small tournament for the disabled. The duo also set up the Golf For All Foundation (GFAF) in New Delhi, which held a five-day camp earlier this month. Participants came from the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre as well as from special schools in the National Capital Region. They were paired with as many “able-bodied” volunteers from the club, all of them children, and a majority of them Jasjit’s students. The “buddy” system went down well.
“Our main aim was inclusion. Disability is not inability. People who don’t fit in the ‘normal’ mould just need to be handled a little differently,” says Archana, who has her share of road experiences, having come across Kumar during a vegetable-shopping trip.
The Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, which has a full-fledged sports section as part of its rehabilitation programme, is contemplating adding golf to its curriculum with a chipping and putting area. At the prize distribution, DGC president Manmohan Singh announced ₹ 1 lakh for the foundation and ₹ 10,000 for Kumar, who would undertake a 2-hour journey to get to the club for the camp.
Buoyed by the response, Jasjit is thinking big and planning an Indian Open for the disabled next year, with golfers from 25-30 countries and a pro-am with the able-bodied.
Ritesh Kishore, a Down Syndrome patient, was lonely, depressed, almost suicidal. The golf camp and a TV appearance have transformed the young man. He had a lunch party for his new golfing buddies. “This is a huge victory for us,” says Archana.
Smiles all around and golf embracing diversity. She’s right.
Prabhdev Singh is the founding editor of Golf Digest India and a part-time golfer.
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First Published:2 Sep 2021, 10:05 AM IST
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