Much of my latest work has been connected to golf for the disabled, or G4D. This work has shaped how I think about opportunity, belonging, competition, and the responsibility golf has to make room for more people.
G4D is about far more than making golf accessible. It asks a bigger question: what can sport do to open routes into the game for a more diverse group of people?
I had my first contact with golf for the disabled, or G4D, in 2007 through my work with The PGAs of Europe. The European Disabled Golf Association had contacted us to ask whether we, as managers of the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, could provide financial support for a tournament they were organising.
That request introduced me to something I had never properly considered before, and it has stayed with me ever since.
This page brings together a mix of essays, research and articles that I hope will offer some context, colour and understanding around G4D, a term I first coined in 2013/2014.
Some pieces will be light in tone. Others will ask for a little more time and thought. Like G4D itself, this section will be varied, layered and shaped by many different people, stories and perspectives.
G4D is far from simple. That is part of what makes it so endlessly fascinating.
Where to start
Golf business news interview.
Marking the 25th year of EDGA, GBN asked my thoughts on how ‘thoughtful inclusivity’ can help many more people to experience, enjoy and compete in golf and grow the whole industry.
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Impaired or Disabled?
The WHO defines impairment as ‘any loss or abnormality of a psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function’.
So what then is a disability?