He doesn’t have a fear of drowning, here’s why.
Born on the coast in Piombino in 1972, Stefano Palmieri lives with his family in the nearby town of Follonica, Tuscany. It is a popular place with tourists, known for clean beaches and water, and although he cannot enjoy these elements visually, Stefano loves to walk on the beach and feel the warm sand on his feet. He swims in the sea and he has even recently tried his hand at windsurfing – standing independently – just himself on the board on the choppy waves.
He cannot see the others, the swimmers nearby.
“My blindness is total, 100 percent: my condition is total darkness,” Stefano explains.
In the lapping tide he swims; similarly he has the courage to learn to play golf in the darkness. Most of us find golf a challenging game to begin with, a hurdle to clear. Without sight, it must feel like Everest.
However… Playing with a ball that is stationary at address gave Stefano a priceless opportunity not afforded by many other ball-games. With his coach he could learn the stance, have the ball at the point out in front of him where the downswing of the club could clip the turf. He considered just what could be achieved from there, and then Stefano acted.
Of course, the courage needed to go out there and learn something entirely new is a feeling for Stefano that is highly familiar, he is well-practised in the leaps of faith he must take in order to live his life to the full.
The 54-year-old lost his sight in 2002 due to a road accident. Stefano says he only survived the resultant trauma with the help of his family and friends. From the light into darkness, this can only mean learning to start again.
“I found the strength to continue living, despite everything, and not let go. For me, it started to feel much more than a slogan, I needed to be the guy without limits, where everything is possible,” he explains.
He had never thought about golf at all before he lost his sight.
“I approach golf in this same way, a discipline I have chosen to challenge myself and help me overcome my limits. To show other people that many good things are possible and golf can be a sport they can enjoy whatever their standard of play.”
Stefano adds: “Before golf, as a blind person, I used to take part in road running marathons and I can still enjoy running very much; lately I approached swimming and that has been very nice too. The windsurfing; well, we will find out how that goes!”
Golf also ensures a person can remain active, this Stefano quickly began to understand when friends encouraged him to try. He likes that it keeps his body in good fitness. For Stefano it is also a game of psychology.
“My mind in golf has had to learn. How to manage me, the physical player. This has opened me up to many situations that I would never have experienced, both positive and negative.
“Through the game I like the challenge with myself against my blindness, and the chance to give very strong motivation to other people: showing that nothing is impossible.
“Learning to play golf as a blind person is difficult especially as I started golfing when I had lost my sight, without ever having played before. However, with training and desire I succeeded.”
He remains ever-grateful for the encouragement he needed, not least by the members and staff at his golf club, Riva Toscana, a beautiful course that is close to his home near the coast.
Golf also brings him the peace from being outside in nature and in the fresh air where Stefano can smell the salt spray from the sea, taking part in an absorbing, all-encompassing challenge that ensures this smiling and likeable Italian will always want to return to the golf course. It is not just about the scores, but they are also very important. Those numbers are all part of the test. Stefano knows that a par or a birdie for a person who is blind, can have incredible meaning.
“The friendships are also so, so important,” he reveals, the social interaction that anyone with sight-loss will need. Many of his established friends, but also the new friends he has made in golf, have acted as his ‘Guides’, to support and direct him around the challenges of the course. New friends have revealed themselves through the game, people keen to help and, like Stefano, they are fascinated to see what can happen next.
When Stefano started in the game he didn’t know of a single other player anywhere who was blind, but he has now played in G4D (golf for the disabled) events, both in EDGA-supported tournaments where players from across the disability spectrum compete, and also events which are tailored especially for players with visual impairment.
He plays informal matches at his club with friends, but also club competitions, where he can also make use of Riva Toscana’s excellent facilities. Meanwhile the G4D events he attends have opened up international travel for Stefano, where he is always proud to wear the Italian flag on his shirt.
As well as the Italian championships, he has competed in Japan, the UK, and the Netherlands, where he has won trophies for his play.
Friends, the Guides are important. His own enjoyment of the test is picked up as a focus and challenge shared. He recalls Leonardo Carlucci, Gianluca Ravenni, Luca Santini, Filippo Micheli, Giovanni Ricceri and also other Guides who have helped so much.
Giovanni Ricceri is a close friend who has guided for Stefano many times. He tells us: “We are a team of friends. The confidence is total and we share all of this together. Stefano has enjoyed EDGA G4D tournaments but also he plays in local competitions where he battles against lots of people who have good sight, and yet he can still achieve incredible results in these events.”
When people ask Stefano how it works, he enjoys the explanation.
“For the description of my shot it happens like this: the Guide views the fairway and the green ahead and gives me a short description of the hole. Then, how the ball is lying on the grass, and together we decide which iron or wood we will use. He then selects the direction of the shot [helping the player to line-up to the shot]. We share all this without using unnecessary information.”
Stefano laughs here and adds: “If there is a lake to fly over for example, I don’t want to know this before the shot!
“Then I take a practice swing near the ball to understand the ground around the ball and then the shot happens!”
Stefano adds that the walk that he and his Guide then take to the ball is not always the same, and often reflects the shot just played. He says: “Cool and relaxed when good, with a ‘nice shot’: a little more reflective if the shot is not so good.”
Once on the green for the putt the player and his Guide count the steps together from the ball to the hole to get a sense of the distance of the putt; the Guide then decides the direction and helps to align the player.
“I can feel if the green is climbing or descending and then I’m able to identify the force that I need to use,” explains Stefano.
“My senses are very important, and of course this aspect is very much relevant for the blind player along with all the other technical things that are basic to the success of the shot.”
For technical improvement Stefano relies on his much respected professional coach, Alessandro Resseguier, who also works with the player and his Guides. Stefano and Alessandro work in harmony to improve.
“I have also learned to train on my own on the driving range with sticks on the ground for direction. I can place the ball behind the stick and shoot independently.”
The Tuscan golfer is proud of qualifying for The G4D Open in 2023. This inaugural Championship staged by The R&A and the DP World Tour, supported by EDGA, is at the pinnacle of the global game. Stefano travelled to Woburn, England, to join an international field of 79 players from 17 countries, from as far afield as the US, Canada, Australia and Turkey.
His encouraging Guide was leading coach, Stefano Bertola. Stefano Palmieri played in the ‘V1’ Sport Class, one of nine sport classes covering all impairments, physical, intellectual and sensorial. V1 is for players who are totally blind. The Duchess Course at Woburn is a hugely challenging test which Stefano met with skill, and many a smile.
Although Stefano didn’t play the following year, his photograph and story were captured on one of a series of 10-ft high player boards exhibited at the Woburn venue for the following year’s players and spectators to discover for themselves (below picture).
More recognition followed. Stefano received an honorary membership from the Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, which was home to the Ryder Cup in 2023.
For many years now, Stefano has been at the service of the community in Follonica, his adopted home town, where he lives with his wife Monica and his two sons Mirko and Gaia. Committed to community work as a volunteer, Stefano meets many young people in schools all over Italy, recounting his personal experiences and talking to them about the values of sport.
This selfless work earned him the Italian Values Award, the official prize for Italy on World Values Day, where human endeavour and personal growth is celebrated.
Stefano wants to assist other golfers with visual impairment going forwards and he is pleased to hear that more national federations have shown the desire to encourage Guides to support new and established players.
“I’m lucky because all my Guides are friends and they help me as friend, but it is not always the case for everyone,” he says.
“Without the Guides we could not be here on the golf course, so to give visibility and more training, and also forms of economic recognition, would be really nice and educational I am sure.”
For the future of his own golf, Stefano says he is “pushing hard”: he wants to make progress via technical improvement with his coach, and also through better communication with his Guides on the course to aid course management and shot-making.
His friend Giovanni tells us: “In the last years, there is a good group of friends who caddie for him and it’s great that we all continue to play together at Riva Toscana, but we are aware that our player relies on really good communication. The Guide and player are a team, they are side by side and so their input is very important. As simply a fellow golfer, I love to play with Stefano because we have shared many important moments but also many funny moments together, that we love to remember.”
Meanwhile, Stefano will tell you that the game has changed his life. He remains grateful towards so many.
“I have to thank first of all my family: my wife Monica and my sons, and then all the people who have helped me to achieve these beautiful results, not least everyone at Riva Toscana, who have helped me so much.”
This is a man who loves wearing the badge of Italy on his golf shirt, who is not afraid to live his life with dynamism, through his family, in the community, on the golf course and even in the water. Moving against the current at times perhaps, but always with courage. When he became blind Stefano said he needed to be the guy without limits, where everything is possible. You can’t write that on the scorecard, yet it is reflected in every shot he plays.
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