This weekend I had the pleasure of assisting at the Disabled British Open at the East Sussex National at Uckfield: it was a humbling experience.

But, as I followed the competitors making light of their various disabilities and enjoying the heat of competititon, the thought occurred to me - why do we need separate competitions for disabled golfers?

The beauty of the handicapping system that is, as far as I'm aware, unique to this game is that it takes account of the widely varying abilities (and disabilities) of all golfers. It caters for all abilities. So if local clubs simply make the effort to integrate disabled golfers - by making reasonable adaptations to facilities where necessary, and by agreeing local regulations/rules where, for instance, para-golfers are unable to enter bunkers or need to bring their vehicles/buggies on to greens - then, unlike so many other sports, golf is ideally placed to see disabled golfers competing alongside us, their (more or less!) able bodied colleagues.

This was my first experience of disabled golf, so I'm sure the subject must have been aired before. So what's the answer? Why not fully integrate disabled golf into the mainstream golfing community?

I think it is good sometimes to just compete amongst your peers. My main sport is running and at age 44 sometimes I compete in "masters" events against other "older" runners. It is a rare chance to actually be competitive - and not just against handicap...

Also, for disabled golfers, I am kind of assuming 28 handicap may not be enough in all cases to fairly compete in club comps with able bodied golfers?

'Birds of a feather flock together.'

Utopian integration largel fails, and will always fail, simply because humans like to draw unto themselves others who are similar. The similarities can be minor or quirky - black, homosexual, arm missing. But for those people, those facets are seen as being an important constituent of the human bonding process / deep affinity. Indeed for many people such minor things can become who they are / essentially how they see themselves.

So, it's not a question of liberating any particular group but better of leaving them to it. They will integrate as much as they care to.