[NFB_of_Georgia] Blind Georgia golfer overcomes disability to become champion | 13wmaz.com: Article

[VIAS, ARMANDO]

Sorry about that. I thought I included the article, but I didn’t. Here is the article included with this message.
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/sports/if-you-dont-know-it-it-doesnt-exist-blind-thomaston-golfer-overcomes-disability-to-become-champion-2/93-50595679-270f-42c1-ba2c-2a3c34deca39

Blind Central Georgia golfer overcomes disability to become champion
Most would consider the inability to see as a great disadvantage on the golf course. For Brian Oglesbee, it’s his greatest strength.

Connor Hines

Play Video


'It doesn't matter how you do it, it's that you do it.'

Under normal circumstances, the approach to most sports is very different for disabled athletes, but for one golfer in Thomaston, that just isn't the case.

On the golf course, all things are equal -- at least that’s how Brian Oglesbee sees it.

“Even on a bad round, there’s always one shot that will bring you back,” Oglesbee said.

For Brian, that one shot came from his own mother, who pushed him to keep playing the game he loved even after losing his eyesight at the age of 16.

“I tried to explain to her that golf was not exactly the easiest sport when I could see,” Oglesbee said.

“My dad took me to the driving range, swung, and two things happened. One, I hit the golf ball, and two, I hit it straight, and that was something I couldn't do when I could see, so I figured she was maybe onto something.”

Blind Thomaston golfer overcomes disability to become champion

1 / 7

Local golf pro Jim Hickman has taught the game in Macon for more than 40 years. It didn’t take long for him to see that Brian was special.

“I came over and we met,” Hickman said, “So we started hitting balls and I said, ‘I don't know what you need help with. You hit the ball straighter than almost anybody I've ever seen.’”

Three decades after losing his sight, Brian is a four-time American Blind Golf national champion.

As if that wasn’t enough, he stays busy coaching the golf teams at Upson-Lee High School in Thomaston.

“The main difference in visually-impaired or blind golfers is that we have to have someone that's our coach, someone that helps us find the golf ball, lines us up,” Oglesbee said.

For Brian, that someone is his lifelong best friend, Jason Hogan.

“He's been a friend that's put up with a lot, because in the heat of the moment, it's definitely his fault, it wasn't my bad swing,” Oglesbee said with a smile. “After the fact, I realize the truth -- it was all me and it had nothing to do with him.”

But as for all of the good shots that Brian has made over the years, the secret lies in what he cannot see.

For Brian, less is more.

“You don't need to necessarily know that there's water 50 yards in front of you or there's a sand trap to the left of the green because that kind of stuff intimidates sighted people,” Oglesbee said. “If you don't know it, it doesn't exist.”


When Brian is on the course coaching his team, there will be plenty of pointers given on how to better swing a club or hit a golf ball, but just having him out there at all day after day -- that might be the most important coaching tip there is.

“I have students that have perfect eyesight, great physical strength,” Hickman said, “And all they want to do is beat the ground with a golf club after they hit a bad shot. I'll tell them about Brian and I'll say, 'If you play the game the way Brian does, I won't say you won't get upset, but it doesn't last long.'”

It’s the power of perspective, the power of sport, and the power of Brian’s message to us all: “All things are truly possible if you believe. It doesn't matter how you do it, it's that you do it.”


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfb_of_georgia_nfbnet.org/attachments/20220209/ad162e79/attachment.html>