Golf Canada Level 3 Referee, Randy Millage continues to discuss the United States Golf Association (USGA) Rule 25, which covers accessibility in golf. In this video, he covers how this rule allows people with disabilities to compete in golf.
Thanks, ParaGolf Ontario for having me take part in a fun, inspiring production and for allowing me to showcase these videos in my portfolio.
Special thanks to …
-Minister Raymond Cho, Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility of Ontario.
-Timber Ridge Golf Course – Brighton, Ontario.
-Burloak Indoor Golf – Oakville, Ontario.
-Oshawa Golf & Curling Club – Oshawa, Ontario.
-Prosthetics, Bracing & Orthotics (PBO) Group – Scarborough, Ontario.
Music: “Once Again” from bensound.com.
[Music] the introduction of Rule 25 to the worldwide rules of golf is incredibly important especially to anybody who’s playing uh with a disability some of which are defined uh within the roles itself for over 50 years the USGA golf Canada the r anent have been talking about incorporating different types of play people with different abilities into the game drawing circles that brings people in rather than that cut people out and with Rule 25 now the situation has been addressed in such a way that people with disabilities can now play in any golf event in any time uh using that rule that allows them to compete on a relatively equal status with people of differing abilities and people who are fully able in terms of the physical setup of the golf course Rule 25 Begins by identifying four major categories of players with disabilities people that are blind people that are amputees people have assisted Mobility devices and also people have intellectual disabilities then it talks about the ability of people to have catties throughout the process for people who are blind who have mobility issues who have intellectual disabilities as well they can also have an aid that assists them having said that there’s things that they can do Under the rules that participate that help their participation and help their performance of The Game on a more equal footing for instance they can mark the ball that can place the ball on behalf of that disabled competitor when it comes to train the rules have allowed a much greater latitude to committees than they had in the past and the Committees then looking at the specific venue for any event are able to designate various functions whether it’s a bunker that’s inaccessible for people with different types of disabilities uh that bunker can provide to allow relief at a one-stroke penalty taking it out where it’s a two-stroke penalty for for others or they can mark it as ground under repair for that event which means that anyone in that can get free relief without a penalty and you do that assessment throughout the entire course so areas that would be very dangerous that would be uh very difficult or impossible for someone with a disability to play can be addressed within the local rules uh to level that playing field in terms of bringing this from the abstract back to reality uh now groups are hosting events that are specifically for people of all abilities so people with varying disabilities can play together golf Canada is doing that golf Ontario uh paragol funio uh all of these groups are hosting events and that now under the rules allows people in open competitions Club competitions to play whether they’re able-bodied or disabled and one of the ways that makes a big difference first of all is the ability to play with the full field and to have that field balanced the heavy responsibility on the committee for how that happens but being able to look at things like anchoring someone who’s an amputee can anchor the club putting and stabilize the putting where an able-bodied person can’t do that a blind person can have an aid align them to the area where they’re hitting they can have people that uh stand behind for the purpose of observing the Flight of the all and being able to do those things the five areas of the course can be modified in such a way that it provides easier access and fairer competition for people with disabilities so a committee would look at the at the teeing areas of each hole they would look at the way in which the general area is created they would look at issues like introducing the model local rule E5 which allows for a ball that’s believed to be lost or out of bounds to be taken at the place where it’s estimated to have come Direct taking it out to the Fairway in a large catchment area and also there can be pace of play modifications which is very important the committee can look at this how to set up the golf course to maintain a reasonable pace of play consideration for the other competitors but also in consideration for other people that may be using the golf course in the daytime so there’s a broad latitude of decisions that can be made now by the committee under the rules under the model local rules to be able to balance the playing field for people with disabilities playing with other types of disabilities and also playing with able bodyi golfers
