Family ties unite Italian duo

An Italian who was inspired to pursue a career in golf by his blind father is helping him put disabled golf on the map in his home country.

Alessandro Calcaterra, (above right with his father) a 33-year-old second year PGA assistant from TopGolf in Surrey, and his dad, Andrea, have been instrumental in forming the Italian Blind Golf Association (IBGA).

Andrea has been the catalyst for the creation of the organisation, which is a member of the Blind Golf Association, and has set out his stall to encourage more disabled golfers to take up the game.

Meanwhile his son, Alessandro, as well as acting as guide to his father when on the golf course, is also coach to the Italian team which recently competed in the ISPS Handa World Blind Championship.

“I always wanted to be a professional, my dad got me into golf when I was very young although I stopped playing for a while because I was into other sports,” said Alessandro.

“But when dad lost his sight and decided to take up golf again, I was on his bag and helping him out and started really getting into golf again.

“I practised a lot and moved to the States where I trained at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy for a few years and also took a degree in golf management.

“I played a lot of amateur golf and then moved back to Italy where I really missed learning about coaching so decided to enrol on the PGA training programme. I wanted to do it with the GB&I PGA because it is known to be the best programme in the world so I really wanted to learn from the best.

“I’m learning a lot in terms of swings and technique. It’s been a great experience and I’m grateful to be part of the PGA programme.”

Alessandro, who is also TPI certified, has a special affinity with disabled golf and he and his father (pictured in action below) attended a special coaching clinic at the ISPS Handa PGA Seniors Championship at Stoke by Nayland which was run by Craig Thomas, a PGA Advanced Professional and lead tutor for the ISPS Handa PGA Academy Programme which specialises in teaching how to coach golfers with a range of disabilities.

“It is inspirational to be working with my dad, I’ve been working with him quite a few years, more than 10, and obviously learning about swings and techniques helps so I can analyse the swing and know what has to be done golf wise,” he adds.

“Two months ago I took part in a PGA organised CPD course where I met Craig (Thomas). I learned a lot from that course. It helps with coaching my dad and the other Italian blind golfers.

“I’m going to travel around with the Italian team, not only as a guide but also as a coach for them so they can refer to me if they need help with parts of their game.”

For Calcaterra senior, who played international golf for Italy before he lost his sight in the early 2000s, setting up the IBGA has been a significant milestone.

“The Italian Blind Golfers’ Association was set up last November as a result of an agreement with Italy’s main golf federation and it was formed to help run golf for blind players in and outside Italy.

“We are a full member of the International Blind Golf Association, which was created by Dr Handa in 1998, and we are 14 full members and three associated members.

“We enjoy playing golf around the world and organise international tournaments and every two years we have the ISPS World Blind Championship, the last one we had this May in Australia.

“We’ve tried to develop this possibility for the blind to play golf because we can all be united through golf.

“My main target is to let people know that we are willing to do anything, and if  you want to make it you can make it.

“Golf is the best, it’s a great environment, you are in nature for four or five hours and playing with this little ball is a good excuse to improve your fitness, free your mind and forget for a while your day to day problems.”

** Watch Andrea in action in a special film of the ISPS Handa disabled clinic here.