Tony Bennett: How EDGA is improving golf for all
Since its formation in 2000, EDGA (formerly known as the European Disabled Golf Association) has found ways to help more people enjoy golf with the overall goal of making the sport accessible for all.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the association is the home of more than 4,000 competitive players, alongside coaches and other non-playing roles, and one of the people who has been behind the scenes for more than a decade is EDGA’s President, Tony Bennett.
Tony joined the team in 2013 with the aim of increasing opportunities for players and creating a more diverse and inclusive environment in the sport.
Although EGDA is European-focused by name, Tony and the team now help golfers all around the world, including in Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, facing a wide range of accessibility challenges in the sport.
To do this successfully and with the greatest positive impact, Tony knows that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
“The needs and wants of somebody who is intellectually challenged, as opposed to somebody who is physically challenged, are very different,” Tony told Spautism in an exclusive interview.
“We all see the disabled parking place, the disabled bathroom, and they’ve got this symbol of somebody sitting in a wheelchair, and so everybody thinks, ‘Well, that’s disability.’ But we know that there’s a massive percentage of people who go unseen.
“So, when we start to look at a golf venue, we look at several things. The first one is the environment. What is the clubhouse accessibility like? Are there steps all over the place? Is the bathroom accessible? Can somebody go and get a drink? Can somebody access the locker rooms? Can you get to the tees or in and out of bunkers on the course?
“When you start looking at those questions, you’re looking for physically-limited players including seated players, short-stature players, but then you start looking at the environment for people with intellectual impairments and think, ‘Is there a quiet room somewhere in the clubhouse? Where can someone go to as a safe space?’
“In the reception area, are the staff trained well? Can you train them up to speed so that when a person comes into reception and says, ‘I’m here to play in the tournament,’ they can deal with them in a proper manner?
“It’s about making sure that the attitude of the golf club is a positive one and that they’re doing their very best to ensure that it is a really good experience for the players that are playing.”
Following his Doctorate in disability, Tony has used his knowledge and awareness to reduce the issue of discrimination in golf, but he believes the majority of people’s attitudes are due to a lack of understanding of the facts.
“People will say that I’m biased on this because I’ve been involved in the game for as long as I have,” he continued. “But I would say that 90 per cent of the discrimination that’s out there in golf is unwitting.
“People are not trained to do the wrong thing; they just don’t know. What can we do about that? How can we change that?
“Then the more people who come to our events, they see it for themselves, and they say, ‘Is that all you need to do?’ For example, you need to make information accessible on the individual players so that we can easily see what their impairment is, and which rules they can use.
“A little icon will do that job, as opposed to having to go to the individual and say, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Which is so often the case because they don’t know when a player has an unseen disability.”
Small changes like this can make a big difference, and one seemingly simple but monumental change happened in 2023 with the introduction of Rule 25.
“Years ago, there were no modifications to the golf rules for people with disabilities, so they just played by the same rules as everybody else. Imagine somebody who played with a visual impairment but didn’t have a guide to point them in the right direction – that certainly wouldn’t be enjoyable.
“They brought out modifications in 1997, but in a separate book to the rules of golf. Then four years ago those two books joined together, and inside the rules of golf was one rule called Rule 25 – the modifications – enabling everyone to play to one rulebook.
“That’s powerful because there are very few sports that would do that. So, what can the able-bodied game learn from the disabled game? They need to be kinder, and they need to have thoughtful design.
“It’s being thoughtful about people of different ethnic minorities, people of different genders, and people with different limitations to make sure that they can have a full experience of the game. And we have to do that on a daily basis.”
Another way that EDGA is helping improve inclusivity is by training golfing federations and coaches to know when to make the right decisions and have the knowledge to deal with all disabilities and differences.
Tony explained: “We’re active in lots of different areas, like coach education. We make sure that they are up to speed because one of the things that we find so frequently is that the coaches are really good at coaching golf; they understand the game and how you can play better, but they haven’t been faced with somebody playing from a wheelchair, who is visually or hearing impaired, or who has got neurological challenges that affect their proprioception and their coordination.
“You’ve got to get the federations up to speed, too. I can understand that they are national federations, they’re looking after golf in their country, and they’re trying to make sure that it’s as diverse and as inclusive as possible.
“But by the same token, this is a scary landscape for them because while they’re real experts in golf, they’re not necessarily experts in disability.
“Unfortunately, we’ve all fallen foul of saying the wrong thing, not because we mean to say the wrong thing, it’s just what we were brought up with. But it’s no longer acceptable.
“We’re frightened of saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing, and sometimes the easy answer for a national federation or for a golf club is to do nothing, because they think they’ll get in trouble if they don’t understand what they’re doing.
“We’ve tried to provide them with the tools, the resources, the knowledge, and the knowhow so that they can make informed decisions, and they can no longer be frightened that they’re going to make a mistake.
“I will always forgive a mistake of the head, but not of the heart.”
Tony’s father has been a PGA golf coach for several decades, and passion for the sport runs deep in the family’s blood, with Tony himself taking up the sport at just 12 years old.
Having spent most of his life surrounded by the game, Tony knows only too well the positive impact golf can have on people.
“The game is improving in terms of inclusivity and awareness of those with physical, sensory, and neurological impairments, but there is still work to do,” he added.
“Golf needs to have more choice. It needs to have more opportunities for people with disability to really enjoy and really get involved in the game.
“Mental health issues are more prevalent among people with disability, especially those who have had traumatic experiences, so all those things that golf is good for in the general population, I believe they’re even more important for people who are in the disabled population.
“We’ve got to create the opportunity for them to be able to play and engage in the game in the way that they want to do so.”
