GOLETA, Calif.—Adelaida Ortega is blind. “I lost my eyesight when I was 45, and it was just a really difficult thing for me. I had to learn how to do everything again,” said Ortega, who lives in Santa Barbara. It was a struggle that took a massive mental toll. “You go out and you can't see things and you miss people's faces. You don't know what their faces look like anymore. So I mean, it, it is really hard,” said Ortega. But adaptive golf has been her saving grace. “I’m constantly feeling and thinking about my body and which way it's turning and twisting. So I don't know if golfers play that way, but I know that's the way I play golf,” said Ortega. This is the first golf clinic that has been hosted by Blind Fitness, a local nonprofit dedicated to empowering visually impaired people through adaptive fitness and outdoor recreation. Brianna Pettit created the organization during the pandemic. “ I became friends with people with vision loss. And just the thought of them not being able to get out and enjoy the things that I enjoyed really got to me,” said Pettit. Since 2021 Blind Fitness has worked with over 200 visually impaired people in the Tri-county area, offering everything from hiking to surfing. The roughly dozen golf players had varying degrees of blindness. “I have light perception. I can't see you, but I could tell where the sky is. but that’s it,” said Bob Resnick, who lives in Santa Barbara.
Bob Resnick is working on his form and preparing for a major tournament. “I never really played golf. Seriously. But it's the only sport I can play now because it's the one sport with the ball that the ball doesn't move. It's on the ground. It'll stay there,” said Resnick. “It’s all about feel and timing and rhythm and learning their own balance. When the blind player repeats the same process, or any player for that matter, over and over again, they become acutely aware of the proximity of the ball, their timing, their feel,” said PGA Golf Professional Instructor Robert Kotowski. Many players here say that losing vision has opened them up to new opportunities. “ Well, I always call it life after blindness, but basically there's a lot of opportunities out there. The only restriction that they have is their own confidence. They have to have confidence,” said Golf Coach Bill Davis. A blind, disabled, and adaptive golf classic will be taking place January 27th at Sandpiper Golf Course in Goleta.
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