ISPS Handa Austrian Blind Open 2015
2015-06-17
Photos of the ISPS Handa Austrian Blind Open 20151. Trip to Austrian Blind Open, June 4-11, 2015:
Report of daily activities:
Day 1& 2: 4~5June
We departed from HK on June 4 and arrived Austria on June 5 in the morning. After check-in at the hotel
, we started to practice on the 18 holes golf course right away in order for our two golfers to warm-up and get used to the unfamiliar environment. Unfortunately, there were no power carts in the practice golf course and thus, we have to walk on foot throughout the 18-holes course. Moreover, we had jet lag after the long flight. We were all tired but still tried to catch up more practice time and did putting and chipping until 7p.m. Then we had dinner and told our players to relax and sleep early.
Day 3: 6June
We had breakfast in the hotel, followed by exercises and intensive training on bunker shots and various approach shots and putting. I also took the opportunity to social with the organizing committee and players from other countries. We attended the casual dinner gathering with everyone at the hotel and then let our players to relax and sleep early.
Day 4: 7June
We had breakfast in the hotel and then transferred by the shuttle to the GC Lengenfeld Golf Course. The committee provided information and briefing of the tournament followed by registration and sight test. I helped the two blind golfers by explaining them about all the details of the briefing. Then I acted as translator and accompanied them to complete the required sight test successfully. When all the players finished the test, the committee had welcome greetings and group photos session. Tee-off time and group order were then announced for today’s official practice round.
Our Hong Kong group was scheduled to play last . For reference, the length of this golf course is much longer with lots of slope compared to those in Hong Kong and China. Many holes in this golf course are extremely difficult even to get double par. Men are required to play from the gold tee (6536 yards) while ladies are required to play from the red tee (5900 yards). Note that this red tee is normally classified as the distance of men’s blue tee and ladies tee is only around 4800 yards in HK or China. Hence, this was a big challenge for both our blind golfers and coaches as it required more distance and strength.
It was fortunate that we were able to complete all 18 holes according to the USGA regulations within 4 hours and 20 minutes. I ensured that our golfers followed all the rules and procedures properly and counted all the penalty strokes in completing every single hole. The committee was really pleased with our performance and effort and informed us we did not have to record the play time anymore for the next two days. I was glad to receive compliments and encouragements for our outstanding performance and translated back to our golfers to increase their confidence. The day was called off after the welcome buffet dinner at the clubhouse.
Day 5: 8 June
It was the day of the official first round of the tournament. An official score marker followed us throughout the 18-holes to record the number of strokes. His role was to ensure all golfers played according to the USGA rules except that the only leeway is to allow the golfer to ground the club on bunker and lateral hazards. He watched the golfer to complete all 18 holes properly or else, the golfer will get disqualified.
Our men representative, Tsang, who was categorized as B1 sight was informed by the director of the IBGA that he had to play his round with a special goggle in this category. This goggle was painted in black to ensure the golfer was in complete darkness. All B1 golfers were required to wear this kind of goggle in this tournament and thus, Tsang had no choice but to accept this challenge as he never experienced this before. As a result, he was really struggled and under performed in the first few holes. He was very frustrated and nearly gave up but me and Coach Tong encouraged him all the way through to complete all 18 holes to avoid disqualification. I was pleased that Tsang would listen to us and finished the round even though he was not able to adapt to the sudden change in this tough condition.
On the other hand, Mei Ling, who was categorized as B2 sight, shot 144 gross in this first round. She was in the third place temporarily after the first round. I am so pleased and satisfied with her performance that she applied all the techniques that I taught her and coordinated properly.
After the completion of the first round, everyone was offered to dine at the clubhouse with the traditional Austrian entrees. It was a nice dinner gathering and golfers from other countries told me they were very impressed with Mei Ling’s performance. They were surprised that she had only learned golfing for two years while most of the other golfers are full-time golfers who have more than fifteen years of golfing experience with personal coach and direction guide. They all play at least four 18-holes golf rounds weekly and practice everyday at their own golf club. That’s why they were so amazed that both Mei Ling and Tsang only have group coaching and practice for two hours per week. This was a nice evening with delicious food and gathering which we had the opportunity to build strong relationship with IBGA and other world-class blind golfers and coaches. We shared lots of experience and I was honored that they were very pleased with my coaching program for the blind golfers to develop newbies like Mei Ling and Tsang as the blind golfer can follow the learning system progressively with confidence and achievable results.
Day 6: 9June
It was the day of the second round of the tournament. Shuttle took everyone to the golf course after breakfast for the final round of the tournament.
The rules and procedures were basically the same as previous day.
As we mentioned in the first round, Tsang found that it was too difficult for him to play with the special goggle as he used to see the paleness and glimmer of light. We went through some counseling discussion the night before to help him overcome this psychological barrier and solve the adaptation issue. We had to build his confidence so that he could perform with his normal performance. It was nice that Tsang played much better in the second round with 6 strokes better than the first round and finished within the given time.
I was so delighted to see that Mei Ling was performing better and better each day upon our first day of arrival. She was able to achieve better score day by day and her scores of round 2 was 10 strokes better than round one and 27 strokes better than practice round. Her final score without handicap was 134 strokes in this lengthy golf course and that she was only 3 strokes behind the second runner-up who was an experience Italian golfer who has full-time coach and guide with her everyday. I was proud to see this inspiring result as she had achieved her best score and the highest record in HKBSF. I am sure that if she is playing the normal ladies tee in the golf course in HK or China, she would have score 10 strokes better than her score in the final round.
Everyone attended the gala dinner at the clubhouse in the evening. It was a wonderful evening with food, drinks, laughter and sportsmanship. I talked with all the members of the IBGA committee, golfers and coaches. We all shared our expertise and experience with blind golfing. People were amazed to see the HK group with excellent performance, good manners and friendly attitude. We took photos with everyone and exchange contacts to keep in touch. Furthermore, the director of the committee officially welcomed us to attend the upcoming Germany Blind Open in July with compliments during his closing speech.
2. Conclusion :
In general, we are very satisfied with the performance and outcome of this trip. In order to promote HKBSF, we actively took the initiative to communicate with everyone in this event including the IBGA committee members, blind golfers and coaches, from different countries. It was my great honor to represent HKBSF to participate in this event. Even though we were extremely tired especially with the jet lag and long day of golfing, we attended all the social gatherings each day and hanged out with everyone in the evening. I had great conversations with the IBGA chairman, Mr. Derrick Sheridan and IBGA director, Mr. Andrea Calcaterra which gave me a chance to answer lots of questions about the mission and duties of HKBSF and how we are well supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club so that we can promote blind golfing and raise the public awareness of blind golfers.
In addition, we definitely changed their past perception of our HK blind golfers in terms of the ability and sportsmanship. We demonstrated that we are able to compete at the international standard with good golf etiquette such as good pace and follow the rules. The overall feedback was excellent. We are welcomed by the IBGA committee and other golfers to participate in their upcoming events and tournaments. The director of IBGA also told me during our conversation that we are invited to join the next IBGA tournament in Munich which is a big event with lots of media attention.
As a matter of fact, we can see that HK blind golfers have great potential if we can provide proper training and guidance with customized blind golfing program. I really appreciated that HKBSF has given us this great opportunity to prove that our training methods and techniques designed specifically for blind golfers are successful. Unfortunately, we cannot have enough coaching, training and on-course experience due to the fact that we have limited resources and funding. Also, some of the blind golfers of this program was persuaded to obtain other coaching from different sources which has counter effects on their skills development. There are feedbacks like confusions and misinterpretations of mixed concepts and training syllabus. In view of these, there is no doubt that we have to be focus and consistent on our program when we coach the blind golfers. Furthermore, we have the potential to take part in global competition and thus, we have to promote the awareness of blind golfing and obtain sufficient resources to train potential blind golfers to represent HK.
