EDGA GOLFERS FIRST PODCAST

“Unfortunately, knowing The Rules doesn’t help the standard of my own golf, but it does allow me to help many others to enjoy and succeed in the game,” says Peter Fisher, EDGA Head Referee for Tournaments. 

Peter has added further to his CV recently in attaining The R&A’s Level 4 Advanced Referee Qualification, and today he leads a highly dedicated core team of EDGA referees which oversees many championships supporting golfers with a disability to reach their potential in competition. 

Peter, who is a volunteer for EDGA, explains that maintaining high standards is a must.

Peter says: “In my earlier career I knew too many people who held on to information and didn’t share with colleagues. Anything I have learned I want to give to our team so that we can all benefit, as I am continually learning from them in return. We have a wonderful group of referees at EDGA, each bringing their own skills and their golf and life experiences to the fore, and this makes us stronger as a group.”

Learn more about Peter and the EDGA refereeing team in this episode. 

Welcome to this latest EDGA podcast, in which we greatly enjoyed speaking with English golfer Carroll Grinnell, who needed life-changing surgery following a boating accident during her retirement in 2017. 

Rather than this holding her back, Carol displays a zest and joy for life which shows us that positive thinking can unlock so many doors in sport and in our wider lives. 

Carol says: “Nothing is impossible until I’ve tried it, and found it to be so. Golf can also become very important as a social outlet. The most important thing is getting out into the fresh air, playing with lots of people.”

Enjoy Carol’s story with EDGA here. 

Gary Barrett played golf as a teenager in Ireland, but stopped playing after his above-the-knee left leg amputation aged 22. 

Golf came back to him on his 50th birthday. Gary says: “I’m so thankful that my wife had the idea. I only started playing golf again 18 months or so ago when Jill bought a set of clubs for my birthday.

“I now love nothing more than jumping into a golf buggy and starting a round of golf at 7:45am before everybody else has even put their golf shoes on.

“I have recently joined Rathfarnham Golf Club. It is a stunning location at the base of the Dublin mountains and I love playing there. The EDGA Tour has a great bunch of people. I have met many new friends, which is something you don't expect to happen at 52.”

Enjoy Gary’s story with EDGA here.

Steven ‘Spud’ Alderson says: “Follow your passion, whatever it may be”. In this EDGA Podcast we connect with Steven, an Australian golfer with autism, who is winning friends and influencing people in G4D, from his home club of Willunga to Woburn in England, and beyond. We also hear from Steven’s caddie and friend of the family, Trent, who is supporting Steven on his golfing and personal journey.

Using sport, and in this case golf as a platform, Steven and Trent seek more tolerance and understanding from the wider public for those with the condition of autism, while they also want to demonstrate just how beneficial golf can be for everyone’s mental and physical health, how it can free up all its players through a great game in a safe environment. 

We caught up with Steven during The G4D Open at Woburn in May and learned more about how, after some difficult times, he is thriving through golf. 

Enjoy Steven’s story here. 

When Alexia Girault of France qualified for the 2024 RSM European Net Play-offs it was in part the summation of a remarkable comeback through golf, that has significantly helped Alexia’s physical and mental health after facing a major trauma in her life. 

When aged 30, Alexia awoke paralysed due to a tumour in the spinal cord. Alexia tells us: “We ask ourselves a lot of questions at such times but I was very well supported by those around me. I wanted to recover and I gave 200% to get there. My passion for golf motivated me to get back up, I absolutely wanted to play again.”

Recovery to walk and find her balance was a triumph in itself. In Alexia’s story here with EDGA, we learn how courage and determination can drive us forwards to love the life ahead.

Paul O’Rahilly, 61, from Kilkenny, is a former engineer who lost his sight as an adult. He developed a remarkable resilience to help him navigate a way to thrive in life and golf, and this is underlined in this EDGA story. 

Paul says: “I started golf by caddying for my Dad. As my sight deteriorated golf has been a way to keep going, to feel included. It's too easy as a blind person to become isolated and lonely. The camaraderie and exercise is key, and it's a privilege to play the game with a partner, who assists.”

This partner, his ‘guide’, is his great friend John. With John guiding Paul this golfing partnership shows that anything is possible with the right mindset. Paul, meanwhile, talks us through a formative experience he had as a young caddie, when a former US Women’s Open Champion inspired him to think independently to improve the life ahead, for Paul himself and others he has helped through golf. 

Enjoy Paul’s story here with EDGA.

25-year-old Matthew Gamble has a flowing golf swing with a high finish that any golfer would be proud of. Unlike the tour pro’s he watches on TV, Matthew swings with his left arm only (in tennis terms, like a back-hand shot). 

The game of golf became a great discovery after a traumatic childhood accident, and Matthew’s need to be creative and problem-solve since then has become very much part of his golf today. 

The Londoner says: “Golf is now really important. Whether just playing for fun, G4D competitions, club competitions… it gives you a sense of purpose and is great for your physical and mental wellbeing.”

Enjoy Matthew’s story here with EDGA.

Dianne Conway, a genial and intelligent golfer from Northern Ireland, would go to the course nearly every day if she could, but a serious injury to her lower left leg suffered in the late 1980s still causes her pain to this day, and she therefore must ration how much she plays. A disturbing memory can fire from the injury, but playing the game is also an antidote to the pain, and surely a sign of her resilience.

Dianne loves the game on all levels: competition, personal challenge, the exercise, and to a great extent the people she meets. This is a generous-hearted golfer who is interested in people, welcoming them into this inclusive game.

She tells us: “Golf stops me feeling so depressed about what I can’t do and helps me feel proud of what I can achieve. It is a place where I am treated as an equal and enjoy the camaraderie and competitiveness of the game. It is very important in my life and that’s why I love it.

“I just can't emphasise enough how good golf is for your mental health. I really can’t.” 

Enjoy Dianne’s story with EDGA here. 

The mental landscape of the game is a fascination for Scotsman Gordon Mclay: seeing, feeling the next shot, thinking ahead to the different scenarios like the chess player. Gordon used this process first subconsciously when teaching himself to play as a boy, then as a competitor good enough to compete in the Scottish Amateur Championship, and later working as a professional caddie on the Legends Tour. 

In life of course it is much harder to predict the bounce of the ball. A motorcycle accident in 2007 would eventually lead to Gordon needing the amputation of his lower right leg in 2022 after years of pain that nearly took golf away from him completely. 

If someone had told him that just two years after the surgery he would be playing in a big championship on the Old Course at St Andrews, he would have been amazed.  

But life is like golf, and you can never really tell how that ball is going to bounce. 

Enjoy Gordon’s story with EDGA here. 

Catherine Gracie, a recently retired teacher in international trade from Brittany in France, is on the tee at her home golf course, melodically humming along to a famous song from the 1980s. “I’m so excited… and I just can’t hide it…” 

Catherine only started playing golf 10 years ago but for a good reason, and the game has welcomed this golfer who must swing and strike the ball with one arm only.  

“My greatest joy is to play golf with friends, new friends, abled and disabled. It’s a great source of resilience,” she starts to explain. “When I come back home, I feel better, I feel good… I really think that golf helps me to tame my disability more than I would have imagined before my accident.”

The game – which many non-golfers think might be exclusive rather than inclusive – has been a haven for Catherine since she started learning to play. 

Enjoy her story here with EDGA.