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Welcome to International Blind Golf Association [IBGA]
Join the World Wide Blind Golf Association as a Player, Assistant or Volunteer
Be Part of the Growth
IMPORTANT NOTICE! NEW CORONAVIRUS STATEMENT - CLICK OR SEE BELOW
Although there have been blind golf tournaments held since the early 1950's the International Blind Golf Association was officially founded in 1998. This came about through the efforts of Dr. Haruhisa Handa (now Honorary President of IBGA) who arranged meetings in Australia and the United States which resulted in bringing together six countries that were each following their own programme. The number of member countries has grown steadily ever since, allowing for a growth in the participation of sight impaired golfers in tournaments all around the world
Currently there are over 500 registered IBGA players and many more playing who are not yet registered. The number is growing all the time.
WATCH THE IBGA INTRODUCTION VIDEO
Blind Golf
Blind Golf is played strictly to the Rules of Golf produced by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) and United States Golf Association (USGA). They have published "A Modification of the Rules of Golf for Golfers with Disabilities". This allows blind golfers to ground their club in a hazard and their coach/guide to stand on the line of the shot without penalty while the shot is played.
Competitions can be played off scratch within each sight category or off handicap across all sight categories. The IBGA has developed a Handicap Scheme that is operated by all member associations and is used for international competition.
WATCH THE IBGA INTRODUCTION VIDEO
STATEMENT ON CORONAVIRUS APRIL 1 2020
Subsequent to our Statement on Corona virus (dated 13 March 2020) the world situation has generally worsened (as could have been expected). We should probably expect that things will continue to get worse before they eventually get better, and we can get back to a normal existence. We hope that you, and all of your members, are staying safe in the meantime.
Owing to the inevitable risk which will persist for at least several months, the IBGA Board of Directors strongly recommends that Member Associations which have IBGA-sponsored events scheduled for the remainder of 2020 consider postponing (or cancelling) these events until next year for the safety of all concerned.
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Member Countries
Members of IBGA are now spread right around the world on all continents after the forging in 1998 of an association of six countries starting with Australia and the United States. With the advent of that association Blind Golf grew in popularity
and is now not only played in more countries but those countries are experiencing the excitement of having Blind Golf Tournaments organised there-in with the support of the IBGA.
The Blind Golf Association Member Countries now enjoy a fast-growing database of players and supporter including Coaches and Volunteers and appreciate the opportunity to get together at official functions.
Honorary President
Dr Haruhisa Handa is the first Japanese to be appointed to the post of vice president at the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), UK oldest and largest charity, in recognition of longstanding contributions to blind welfare. He is a Member of the Board of Directors at the Association for the Blind of Western Australia.
Dr Handa established the first Blind Golf Club in Japan in 1988, and is known to many in Japan as the "Father of Blind Golf". He serves as Honorary Chairman of the Japanese Blind Golf Association (NPO) and Honorary President of the International Blind Golf Association.
Latest News
The latest news and events including the results of recent tournaments can be enjoyed on the pages of the website.
IBGA Player Sight Database
The October Sight Database has been updated for October 5th and is now online
Despite these difficult times we do continue to grow with again 2 new members to the official player list.
Welcome to new database members Joshua Wood of Australia and Danny Proffitt of the USA.
Thanks also to all our volunteers, coaches, caddies and other supporters who are helping us through these difficult times.
DOWNLOAD NOW AS PDF; OPENS IN NEW WINDOW - CLICK HERE
World Championships and Biennial Meeting 2020
Owing to the continuing threat posed worldwide by the COVID-19 Corona virus the IBGA has no option other than to postpone the World Championships and Biennial Meeting, originally scheduled to take place in Cape Town in September, until April 2021.
Please see the full statement from the link below.
READ FULL BIENNIAL MEETING STATEMENT
2020 Australian Open Results NOW ONLINE
The ISPS Handa Australian Blind Golf Open was held at Rosebud Country Club South Course Victoria from March 19th - 20th 2020.
The results along with a downloadable pdf is now online.
2020 Spanish Blind Golf Event Now Listed
The 2020 ISPS Spanish Blind Golf Open will be held on May 10th - 14th 2020 at Centro Nacional de Golf "Emma Villacieros" - Madrid.
INFORMATION SHEET AND ENTRY FORM AS WELL AS EVENT AGENDA ARE NOW ONLINE
VIEW MORE INFORMATION AND DOWNLOAD INITIAL ENTRY FORM
2020 British Blind Golf Event Now Listed
The 2020 ISPS British Blind Golf Open will be held on June 28th to July 1st 2020 at Galgorm Castle golf club in Ballymena, County Antrim. This is the private golf club that hosts the Handa World Invitational every year in August.
ENTRY FORM, WELCOME LETTER AND EVENT SCHEDULE ARE NOW ONLINE FOR THIS EVENT
VIEW MORE INFORMATION AND DOWNLOAD ENTRY FORM
And so 2019 just about comes to an end
The last of a succesful year with the 2019 results now all in. Congratulations to everyone who participated as a golfer, guide or official and also to those who simply came to watch the action. We look forward to 2020 and as can be seen above we already have details of some events starting to appear on our website.
2019 Australian Open Results NOW ONLINE
The ISPS Handa Australian Blind Golf Open was held at Collier Park, Perth, Western Australia, from September 12th - 13th 2019.
The results along with a downloadable pdf is now online.
NEW VIDEO ONLINE
ABC TV News [Australia] has recently featured an item on Blind Golf including interviews with Graham Coulten and guide Sue Carpenter and Ron Anderson on the creating and playing of Blind Golf.
2019 Japan Open Results NOW ONLINE
The ISPS Handa Japan Blind Golf Open was held at Hakonekohen Golf Club, Hakone, Japan, from September 17th - 19th 2019.
The results along with a downloadable pdf is now online.
2020 Canada Blind Golf Event Now Listed
The first of the 2020 Events is now listed online. The 2020 ISPS Canada Blind Golf Open will be held with 3 preliminary events leading up to it in July and August 2020.
NEW VIDEO: Sports Illustrated Shows Us How To Play Blind Golf In The USA
Sports Illustrated (SI) in the USA has made a short story/documentary on blind golf. SI has given us permission to put the story on the IBGA webpage. There are 2 versions here, 1 has an audio description for the totally blind and other does not.
NEW VIDEO: Vision Sports Ireland James Joyce Art and Essay Competition Launch
A New Year; More Events to Look Forward to
Japan and South African Open Dates Announced
Both events will be in September with more information now online; see NEWS or EVENTS for dates and locations and links to download Information Sheets and Entry Forms.
GO TO EVENT PAGE FOR 2019 JAPAN OPEN
GO TO EVENT PAGE FOR 2019 SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN
READ MORE ABOUT UPCOMING EVENTS
Special Report from Ernst Conradie from South Africa: Blind Golf Stunt!
"I have decided to do another mad stunt this year to show people that blind and visually impaired people can also play golf and that we can do it sometimes better."
International Blind Golf Association