Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2021 - 40

BACKSPIN
Blind Ambition
* BY MARK CRAIG *
A USBGA Regional tournament comes to
Minnesota in July, but blind golf has even deeper
roots in the state.
C
urt Jones was bored and tired of fishing, so he turned
to lifelong buddy Perry Nouis with an idea for how
they could spend a lazy summer day in the cozy community
of Battle Lake, Minn.
" Out of the blue, he asks me, 'Hey, would you take me to a
driving range? I'd like to hit some balls,' " Nouis says. " I'm like,
'You want to do what?' "
That was three years ago. Jones was 62 years old. Had never
touched a club. And, oh yeah, he's been
totally blind since he was 3 years old.
" Last sight I remember was watching
'Huckleberry Hound' or 'Captain
Kangaroo,' " Jones says. " I've never seen
a golf course. "
But the retinoblastoma that robbed
Jones of his vision couldn't steal his
fearless attitude. So on that day three
years ago, he went with Nouis, a fellow
Little Falls Class of '74 alum, to Balmoral
North Driving Range. He had
Nouis line him up and set his club face.
He swung away and, well, it was love at
first feel.
Jones researched the United States
Blind Golfers Association. Founded in
1953, the USBGA's motto- " You don't
have to see it to tee it! " -has Jones' approach to life written
CURT JONES
all over it.
" Curt started traveling to our tournaments, " says USBGA
President Greg Hooper. " Three years later, he's on our board.
Now, he's hosting a tournament. "
With many thanks to head pro Kevin Swenson, Pebble Lake
Golf Course in Fergus Falls will host the first USBGA Midwest
Regional July 18-20. The only different rules in play are allowances
for grounding clubs in bunkers and using " coaches " to
line up golfers. Nouis is Jones' " coach. "
Jones says he's a 54 handicap. But Swenson, Jones' teacher,
says he played five holes with Jones two years ago, " and he
parred a par 3 and a par 5. "
According to the USBGA, blind golf entered the national
40
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2021
radar in Minnesota in 1932 when Ripley's " Believe it or not "
featured a Duluth man named Clint Russell, who was shooting
in the low 80s eight years after losing his sight. Russell's
ensuing matches with other elite blind golfers became such
a phenomenon that even Time magazine reported on them.
Decades later, a thankful Jones praises his parents, Marion
and Dale, for not being overprotective. Jones graduated from
St. Cloud State and ran a vending machine business in the
Twin Cities.
He played drums in a rock band for
48 years. He played " Beep Baseball, " a
form of baseball for the blind. He plays
in a blind darts league. He's a skilled
craftsman with his own wood shop.
And, shoot, he even deer hunts.
" Nothing has ever stopped Curt, "
says his wife, Tisa.
" My parents' attitude was, 'It's a sighted
world and you need to learn how to
live in it,' " Jones added. " But I'm not
much different than most blind people. "
The USBGA has 52 U.S. members in
PERRY NOUIS
three categories. B1 players are totally
blind. B2 players are more visually impaired
than B3 players.
The oldest member is 86-year-old
John Casolo of New York. He's totally blind and can't break
200. Sometimes, he's paired with Jeremy Poincenot, a B2 player
in his early 30s and a former World Blind Golf Championship
winner who breaks 80 routinely.
" One day, John says, 'What'd ya shoot, Jeremy?' " Hooper
says. " Jeremy says, 'Not good, 98.' John laughs and says, 'Jeremy,
I just shot 236 and I had the time of my life!'
" That's perspective. We're not here to take home trophies.
We're here to show you that whatever disability you have,
there's a way around it. You can always go hit that little ball
again. "
Mark Craig is the NFL/Vikings columnist and a golf writer for
the Star Tribune.
mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org
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