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Stefano Palmieri loves playing golf and also swimming, but it is a challenge every time he tries.  “My blindness is total, 100 percent: my condition is total darkness,” Stefano explains. The 54-year-old lost his sight in 2002 due to a road accident. “I found the strength to continue living, despite everything, and not let go. For me, it started to feel much more than a slogan, I needed to be the guy without limits, where everything is possible,” he explains.   “My senses are very important, and of course this aspect is very much relevant for the blind player along with all the other technical things that are basic to the success of the shot. “Through golf I like the challenge with myself against my blindness, and the chance to give very strong motivation to other people: showing that nothing is impossible.” Stefano is moving against the current, but he keeps moving. Experience his story with EDGA here.

Just a few years back, Davinia Barton wasn’t leaving the house much, not for almost a year, as she worked around treatments and coped with the damage caused by her health condition, cystic fibrosis.  Frequent and protracted hospital stays have been a feature throughout her life since she was very young, although recent medical advancements, and her continued ability to adapt, all paint a more positive picture today. Emerging in that picture, and becoming brighter with every round she plays, is her new sport.   “I never thought for a minute I could ever even try golf, never mind play it regularly and get involved at a golf club,” Davinia says, smiling.  This friendly and bright Lancastrian has gone from being a spectator, to a ‘first-go’ sampler, to becoming a regular player, and more. “I think if someone with a health condition is thinking of taking up golf, they should be brave and do it. There are lots of ways to start, it's incredible. “When I’m out on the course, I feel free, all the rest is put aside and I can love the game on a beautiful golf course, with friends.” Enjoy Davinia’s story here with EDGA.

When Thomas Matsson views a long, undulating putt across the green, he knows the odds are against him. But he is used to that. These tricky shots don’t faze him at all. He has courage to spare, two decades after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.Thomas’s haven is the golf course. He took up golf in 2012. Apart from forming an immediate obsession with the technique of the game, he will tell you that golf has given him a “huge release”. Golf offers Thomas the chance to relax and enjoy the fresh air around him, while the personal challenge tests his movement and coordination.  The intelligent and determined Swede says he is now on something of a mission to show others with an illness or disability that if you can keep active (golf being a great way to do this), it can help in innumerable ways.   You can can read or listen to Thomas’s unique story here with EDGA.

“Never give up. Try everything: it's possible more than you think,” says the 61-year-old Jörg Pliskat.   Looking back, the 22-year-old version of Jörg did well to survive the accident. He recovered limited use of his left leg over time but the damage was severe. He had loved to play sport, football and tennis, and the leg injury bluntly closed a chapter in his life that he had enjoyed immensely, and that had helped to give him his identity.  Time heals wounds. In discovering golf more than three decades later in 2019, starting aged 55, Jörg completed a remarkable turnaround.   “I learned that if you keep trying in any activity, and trust yourself, you can get there,” Jörg tells us.  “You can play at any age. It is great exercise, relaxing to play and there is the social connection. Golf is absolutely a sport that you can play very well with a disability. It gives you a really good feeling and makes you confident when you realise what is possible.” Enjoy Jörg’s story here with EDGA.

John Eakin cites family members, and friends at Royal Ashdown Forest GC in East Sussex, who have been his guides for regular rounds of golf in order that he can continue to play the game after losing his sight around two decades ago.  He says he loves most playing with friends, in focused but relaxed matches; experiencing all the pleasures, challenges and health benefits of the sport. Thinking back to the time of his sight loss, John, now 67, will tell you he eventually adapted well given the intense personal challenge in his life at that time.  In golf, being able to make that needed adaptation, across his whole way of playing and with a guide’s support, he found he could carry on playing the game, something that has been front and centre to him being in good physical and mental shape today. Enjoy John’s story here with EDGA.

After Nikki Etheridge first started her golf journey nearly three years ago she would adopt the encouraging thought, “progress not perfection”, and this genial and upbeat Scot now laughs and confirms, “There is a lot of progress, but no perfection yet!”  However, the 37-year-old from the West of Scotland is actually quietly building an impressive golf game.  In 2015, Nikki was diagnosed with having a sarcoma tumour in her left foot, and is now a below-knee amputee. Her playing with friends and thoughtful sessions on the practice range combine well with some joyful trips up to the Highlands to play with her Dad, Peter, while Nikki’s working week is also much prized, in her role as a specialist health and work practitioner for the famous Beatson Cancer Charity in Glasgow.  Enjoy Nikki’s story with EDGA here.

Every time he enjoys a round of golf, Harris Abu Bakar from Malaysia knows the sport has played a vital part in his rehabilitation from a life-changing car accident in 2008.  Memories of his father’s golf bag as a boy, and an understanding of the technology around golf today, all inspired Harris as he rediscovered the facets of golf again as a player using one arm: the personal challenge, the peace it brings and being a great way to make new friends.  “I was in search of something for the next chapter in my life. I started to feel that golf could be exactly what I needed,” says Harris.   “I think it’s the best game that mankind ever invented. Golf can restore a sense of independence and self-belief. The deepest benefit of golf for me goes far beyond sport. It sits at the intersection of identity, healing and purpose.”  Enjoy Harris’s story with EDGA here.

Welcome to this EDGA article on Dr Kibaya Laibuta, a golfer who is visually impaired from Kenya, who wishes to raise awareness to help grow the game for more people with a disability, including in his home country.  There was a time when the game of golf for Laibuta, then a university student (later a judge), seemed like “a game for idlers”—a leisurely indulgence far removed from urgency or purpose. Years later, in Nairobi, the game returned—this time through the quiet influence of friendship.  Early attempts to play were predictably difficult—missed balls, heavy strikes, misjudged contact—but persistence, coupled with patient guidance from coaches, caddies, and friends, gradually yielded fluency. “The grip, the stance, the swing,” he explains. “Those are the fundamentals. Once you begin to understand them, everything else starts to follow.” Follow Dr Laibuta’s journey here, including his appointment as the first judge of Kenya’s Court of Appeal who is blind, being a published poet, a church leader, family man, and today, a golfer.

When The G4D Open staged its inaugural edition in 2023, the event wasn’t anywhere on Lucy Leatham’s radar, but later that year she was involved in a life-changing car accident.  Despite surgeons saving her life, following 13 hours on the operating table, Lucy required a right arm amputation above the elbow aged 34. Fast forward three years to May, 2026, and Lucy was making her Championship debut at Celtic Manor Resort in Wales.  Lucy had been a golfer before her accident, it was time to be one again. “I am always one of those people who love to have a go,” said Lucy. “It didn’t really worry me as I knew I would struggle, but I love the game too much not to try.” Enjoy Lucy’s story with EDGA, read or listen here.

This latest EDGA article is on G4D player Graham Freeman of Belgium, a tough international competitor and also a true lover of the game. As we wrote this feature, Graham, his wife Naomi and their dog Poppy were all on a month-long golfing road-trip, stretching from home in Antwerp all the way up to Scotland and St Andrews, then south to London Golf Club, before heading west to the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales for The 2026 G4D Open. Graham wears his heart on his sleeve as a player, and has encouraged many other people to play the game. This week, he is one of 80 players from more than 20 countries who have qualified to play in The G4D Open in Wales, the fourth staging of this Championship by The R&A and DP World Tour, supported by EDGA. The man known as ‘the Belgian Bear’ was a Champion of The G4D Open's ‘Sitting 2’ Sport Class in 2023. We know Graham will look to repeat this feat in Wales and we wish all the competitors well for their challenge ahead.

Discovering golf proved to be only good medicine for Italy’s Loris Stradi after a serious car accident changed his life.  It would take two months in the hospital and two years of rehabilitation before Loris could walk again. He would never forget his wife Gabriella's help. During his rehabilitation, passing a golf course on his way to the physical therapist, Loris thought of golf, of its stationary ball and the fact that it's a non-contact sport, and something clicked in his mind. Loris recalls: “When I was first working to get over my injury, golf was like a foreign country to me. When I would go to the health spa each day, I passed by a golf club; so I suddenly thought maybe I could play golf, and here I am.” Enjoy Loris’s story of a remarkable comeback in life, with golf as his focus, here with EDGA.

During a golf session for youngsters at Kenya Railway Golf Club you can hear the shouts of joy as children with a disability play on a golf course for the first time. “Watching the kids sharing something special as they play golf together, it makes everything worthwhile,” says Ann Wangui Irura.  Anita, as friends call her, is an administration assistant at a school for children with special needs in Nairobi called Kenya Community Centre for Learning (KCCL). Eight years ago when trying different sports to engage with the students, she tried golf and realised the game could help them to focus on a task and see personal improvement. Something clicked.  Today, Anita is the founder of the community venture Golden Tee Inclusive Golf, bringing the game to disadvantaged youngsters with a disability, changing lives through the power of golf.  Enjoy Anita’s story with EDGA here.

Stacey Johnston-Gleason lives practically on the first tee box of the Mission Mountain Golf Course, a flat sweep of green nestled against the rugged peaks of western Montana. To some, living on ‘Hole One’ might sound like a flippant remark, but to Stacey, it’s something more—a way of being, a kind of metaphor for how she’s tackled life: one shot, one challenge at a time. Her connection to the Special Olympics runs deep. Born with fetal alcohol syndrome and adopted later in life, she found her family through the community that had already given her so much. Golf is not just a game to Stacey. It’s a lifeline, a thread of connection, not only to the fairways and greens but to something bigger.  Discover Stacey’s story with EDGA today.

“When I was a little boy the doctors told my family that I wouldn’t be able to walk, run, bike or swim, and would spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.” Fast forward 20 years and Guy Harrison, 23, from New Zealand, was preparing to play on the G4D Tour in Spain; playing with some confidence after working hard on his game and competing to a high standard – off his 8.3 golf handicap – propelling himself up the Net World Ranking for Golfers with Disability.  Guy, who has cerebral palsy, says today: “Golf is my true love – getting out on the course with mates, seeing new places. It was a massive benefit to start golf at a young age so I can enjoy progress in the game. “With the support of my parents we proved the doctors wrong and kept me out of the wheelchair using golf a lot to help me. I started my golf at five years-old going out a couple of times a week with my Dad to a local nine-hole public golf course and it just went from there.”      Follow Guy’s story in golf today with EDGA.

Riccardo Bianciardi is a strong advertisement for all the good in Italian golf as he says hello to us in his smart azure blue Italian shirt bearing his national badge, and greeting us with a wide smile.  For some time now, golf has been a salvation for him, helping him engage with life following the neurological condition he was born with but also as a balm for recent struggles. In October 2018, Riccardo had a kidney transplant that wasn’t successful. He therefore had to start kidney dialysis, and looking for distraction after five months in recovery he took part in his first EDGA event, the Italian Open which, remarkably, he won!  Fate would play its hand again in 2022. Riccardo had a second kidney transplant, which this time went well, and nine months later he won the EDGA Giovanni Nasi International, also in Italy. To be able to get himself well and record such a feat is surely amazing and a mark of the man. This is an interesting story from one of the most generous golfers out there. Enjoy Riccardo’s story here with EDGA.