Byline: LINDA WHITWAM
Kevin, who is a Town season ticket holder, has attended four of these events and they have given him a new lease of life. He counts the days to the next competition and has taken on the role of DGS handicap secretary. (His own handicap is now 18).Kevin, 52, of Pinecourt Mews, Netherton, had previously been a passionate sportsman, playing football, cricket and volleyball.A number of taster sessions at driving ranges and golf courses are also planned for September and October.He said: "The DGS is a wonderful thing, seeing the joy that it brings individuals with a disability.One by one, as his ankle injury worsened, he had to give up these sports. Then he found a new passion: golf.It meant his days of playing golf were badly hit. But now he hopes to set up a branch of the Disabled Golf Society in Huddersfield, to help people like him."If you are disabled and already playing golf, there is a high standard of golf and some healthy competition within the society."I would not go out of the house and became depressed and angry."He is now looking for local sponsors for this and future events and hopes to start a dialogue with other golf clubs in Kirklees which may be able to offer facilities.Members enjoy playing golf at all levels and overcome such disabilities as limb amputations, hip and knee replacements, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, autism and blindness.The society, which welcomes both experienced and new golfers, organises golf days and competitions throughout the country, although most are in the south of England or Midlands. Each event includes a taster session, often with specialised equipment, which gives non-golfing people with disabilities a chance to try out the sport.He said: "My life changed a couple of years ago after the bad fall. I felt like I had gone from hero to zero.DGS is a not-for-profit organisation which runs in tandem with the Fairways4all charity.KEEN sportsman Kevin Booth felt his life was over after a bad fall left him unable to walk more than a few yards."In fact we are looking for some good disabled golfers to join a team to take on Scotland at Slaley Hall in Northumberland in October. We need some true Northern grit.Kevin said: "We encourage anyone interested in disabled golf to attend at Dewsbury to support those playing and see what the society is all about.The society caters for all disabilities.He has already had his first success. On Monday, September 5, the first-ever Disabled Golf Society event will be hosted in Kirklees at Dewsbury District Golf Club. It will be a qualifier for all disabled golfers who hold an EGU handicap or an equivalent society handicap and can complete 18 holes."If you are disabled and have never tried golf, it can be very rewarding and gives people a new lease of life."Kevin, who is registered disabled and receives a war pension from the RAF, discovered the Disabled Golf Society (DGS). It was set up by a keen golfer who suffered serious injuries in a car crash and in less than two years it has grown to a membership of over 500."I have been inspired by people at these events and I am channelling all of my energies into the society."The accident, in 2009, was the latest in a series of falls caused by an old injury sustained in the 1980s when he was a ground radio engineer in the RAF."At a recent day at Northallerton and Thirsk Golf Club, the club captain was moved to tears. He had not realised what a humbling experience it was.Kevin regularly played three or four times a week and became one of the game's elite single figure golfers with a handicap of six. He was even captain of Rutland County Golf Club, near where he was living in 2002.* BIG HIT: Kevin Booth, handicap secretary for the Disabled Golf Society, with wife Cerise. Left: Amputee Keith Dolman at a society eventWhen wife Cerise suggested he needed to find a new interest, he typed "golf " and "disabled" into an internet search engine and from that moment on, his life turned around.CAPTION(S):
* BIG HIT: Kevin Booth, handicap secretary for the Disabled Golf Society, with wife Cerise. Left: Amputee Keith Dolman at a society event
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