Miss-Delectable
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Deaf duo sensing history in Australia - Liverpool Daily Post.co.uk
WHILE England have won many honours, from the ranks of the professionals to the young ones, some titles have yet to be brought to these shores – the World Golf Deaf Championship for example.
Simeon Hart and Peter Baker from Merseyside will be trying to help England bring that piece of silverware home this season.
While the full England team will not be announced until next month, both Hart, a member of Mersey Valley and Henllys-on-Anglesey, and Baker, of Ellesmere Port, have already been given their places for the start of the seventh championships in Perth, Australia in September.
As usual, they will face a powerful challenge, particularly from America with scratch players in their team.
Hart’s handicap is 19, Baker’s seven. Like others in the 10-man England team, they are now practising in the bid to upset the American dominance and give England its first victory.
Hart, who lives in Aigburth and began playing golf as a boy when his uncle took him to a golf course in Essex, played football, tennis, badminton and cricket before golf became his top sporting interest.
Two years ago he won the southern section of the England Deaf Golf Association competition.
The Perth championship, where teams from 13 countries will compete in sections for men, ladies and senior men, will be his second appearance for England following his debut in Ireland in 2002.
“I came in when someone pulled out at the last minute,” he recalls. “It was a wonderful experience to play with some top players. But I did not play well. I felt really there was a lack of support from the team. But I did learn a lot from that time.”
He has also become more involved with deaf golf. He has been non-playing captain for two other world championships and he is now on the board of management with the World Deaf Golf Federation.
He is 43 and is the administration director for Common Ground Sign Dance Theatre in Liverpool, the only deaf professional dance company in the UK.
Baker, from Eastham, a 41-year-old window fitter, began playing golf also as a boy, when he was at a school for deaf children at Southport.
Like Hart, he had other early sporting interests – he was a talented athlete and ran for the Great Britain’s deaf team.
He has been a member for about five years at Eastham, where in 2005 he won six club events and was named player of the year.
He became involved with the England Deaf Golf Association when he was on holiday in Kent and met a former captain of the Association and was invited for trials.
Hart is totally deaf and was brought up by a deaf family. Baker can hear a little with the help of his hearing aid.
But both men do not find any problems playing golf without being able to hear.
While it might be difficult to find plus points with any disability both do agree with the suggestion that, cocooned in a world of silence, there is no chance of being distracted by sounds, such as other players talking.
Hart says: “Sometimes a ball will pass me and then the player will realise I am deaf and say ‘sorry,’ when they come near and I tell them.
“But there is no problem. I have never been hit by a golf ball, being unable to hear a warning call.
“Yes, I suppose there is the sense of isolation and so there are no distractions and that can help. But I feel my sight is like 180 degrees, so if someone nears me starts to move I do have to ask them to stand still.”
Baker too agrees that in some ways silence brought by deafness can an aid to concentration but makes the point that obviously he is not aware of the cry of “fore” if a wayward ball is coming in his direction. He was hit by a golf ball when younger. But he has a regular playing partner, Kenny Hibbert, who watches for such risks.
As the world championships approaches, the problem of sponsorship remains.
Baker has received help from about nine sponsors, mostly local businesses, including Tradeframe.
He works for the company as a subject contractor. But he is still about £500 short of the required amount.
Both players are practising with keen dedication.
Baker who is playing in the English Open Deaf Championships next month, is also going on training weekends with the English Deaf Golf Association.
Modestly for a player with a single figure handicap he explains the sessions are to “sort out my swing”.
England have not won a team or an individual title in any of the past world championships.
But this year?
Hart suggests that if the United States assembles its strongest team England will face a great challenge.
“It is a scratch tournament and the United States do have a lot of scratch players,” he said.
“With the England players the lowest handicap is four. So it will be difficult.
“Personally, I do feel I will play better than I did in Ireland.
“I will never forget that experience and I have improved from that time. I want to get my handicap down to 15 or less by the time I land in Perth.
“I am going to play in a lot of competitions and I am now practising hard, sometimes at the local park and hitting balls at the driving range.”
Also, sometimes at the range, he is accompanied by his five-year-old son Zachary, who is also showing an enthusiasm for golf and has started hitting balls.
Baker thinks that England could get in the top three at the finish although, like the rest of the England team, he is preparing and hoping England will do better.
The opposition is indeed tough but he says: “I do think we have our strongest team ever.”
If any Golfnorthwest reader would like to help with sponsorship for Simeon and Peter please call Harold Brough, telephone 01704 227501.
WHILE England have won many honours, from the ranks of the professionals to the young ones, some titles have yet to be brought to these shores – the World Golf Deaf Championship for example.
Simeon Hart and Peter Baker from Merseyside will be trying to help England bring that piece of silverware home this season.
While the full England team will not be announced until next month, both Hart, a member of Mersey Valley and Henllys-on-Anglesey, and Baker, of Ellesmere Port, have already been given their places for the start of the seventh championships in Perth, Australia in September.
As usual, they will face a powerful challenge, particularly from America with scratch players in their team.
Hart’s handicap is 19, Baker’s seven. Like others in the 10-man England team, they are now practising in the bid to upset the American dominance and give England its first victory.
Hart, who lives in Aigburth and began playing golf as a boy when his uncle took him to a golf course in Essex, played football, tennis, badminton and cricket before golf became his top sporting interest.
Two years ago he won the southern section of the England Deaf Golf Association competition.
The Perth championship, where teams from 13 countries will compete in sections for men, ladies and senior men, will be his second appearance for England following his debut in Ireland in 2002.
“I came in when someone pulled out at the last minute,” he recalls. “It was a wonderful experience to play with some top players. But I did not play well. I felt really there was a lack of support from the team. But I did learn a lot from that time.”
He has also become more involved with deaf golf. He has been non-playing captain for two other world championships and he is now on the board of management with the World Deaf Golf Federation.
He is 43 and is the administration director for Common Ground Sign Dance Theatre in Liverpool, the only deaf professional dance company in the UK.
Baker, from Eastham, a 41-year-old window fitter, began playing golf also as a boy, when he was at a school for deaf children at Southport.
Like Hart, he had other early sporting interests – he was a talented athlete and ran for the Great Britain’s deaf team.
He has been a member for about five years at Eastham, where in 2005 he won six club events and was named player of the year.
He became involved with the England Deaf Golf Association when he was on holiday in Kent and met a former captain of the Association and was invited for trials.
Hart is totally deaf and was brought up by a deaf family. Baker can hear a little with the help of his hearing aid.
But both men do not find any problems playing golf without being able to hear.
While it might be difficult to find plus points with any disability both do agree with the suggestion that, cocooned in a world of silence, there is no chance of being distracted by sounds, such as other players talking.
Hart says: “Sometimes a ball will pass me and then the player will realise I am deaf and say ‘sorry,’ when they come near and I tell them.
“But there is no problem. I have never been hit by a golf ball, being unable to hear a warning call.
“Yes, I suppose there is the sense of isolation and so there are no distractions and that can help. But I feel my sight is like 180 degrees, so if someone nears me starts to move I do have to ask them to stand still.”
Baker too agrees that in some ways silence brought by deafness can an aid to concentration but makes the point that obviously he is not aware of the cry of “fore” if a wayward ball is coming in his direction. He was hit by a golf ball when younger. But he has a regular playing partner, Kenny Hibbert, who watches for such risks.
As the world championships approaches, the problem of sponsorship remains.
Baker has received help from about nine sponsors, mostly local businesses, including Tradeframe.
He works for the company as a subject contractor. But he is still about £500 short of the required amount.
Both players are practising with keen dedication.
Baker who is playing in the English Open Deaf Championships next month, is also going on training weekends with the English Deaf Golf Association.
Modestly for a player with a single figure handicap he explains the sessions are to “sort out my swing”.
England have not won a team or an individual title in any of the past world championships.
But this year?
Hart suggests that if the United States assembles its strongest team England will face a great challenge.
“It is a scratch tournament and the United States do have a lot of scratch players,” he said.
“With the England players the lowest handicap is four. So it will be difficult.
“Personally, I do feel I will play better than I did in Ireland.
“I will never forget that experience and I have improved from that time. I want to get my handicap down to 15 or less by the time I land in Perth.
“I am going to play in a lot of competitions and I am now practising hard, sometimes at the local park and hitting balls at the driving range.”
Also, sometimes at the range, he is accompanied by his five-year-old son Zachary, who is also showing an enthusiasm for golf and has started hitting balls.
Baker thinks that England could get in the top three at the finish although, like the rest of the England team, he is preparing and hoping England will do better.
The opposition is indeed tough but he says: “I do think we have our strongest team ever.”
If any Golfnorthwest reader would like to help with sponsorship for Simeon and Peter please call Harold Brough, telephone 01704 227501.