Dave Zimmaro, youth golf director at Villanova’s Overbrook Golf Club, learned first-hand that blind people can play golf, and they can play it well, writes Natalie Pompilio for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Zimmaro saw teenager Patrick Molloy, blind since birth,send a drive soaring with a left-handed swing so smooth that it had once been compared to World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson’s.

Now Zimmaro’s a coach for the  Junior Blind Golf Association,which partners blind or visually impaired young people with a PGA teacher for regular lessons.

On a recent September Saturday, Zimmaro was hosting JBGA players and coaches at Overbrook, putting them into foursomes with sighted students from his youth program.

“To watch these kids play and see the way they love it is a revelation,” said Norman Kritz, who cofounded the JBGA in 1993. “We’ve had so many kids involved, about 75 right now, and it’s very gratifying. It’s important that parents of physically challenged kids know there’s something out there for them.”

New JBGA students start with small swings. Some coaches will put a metronome behind a hole so the player can hit toward the sound.

Read more about the Junior Blind Golf Association here.

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