John Eakin: “Golf for the visually impaired is a team game…”
John Eakin understands the value of teamwork, saying: “Golf for the visually impaired is very much a team game, I couldn’t do this without my ‘guide’, Christopher Vaughan, who has guided me around the course for 20 years. Trust is a great thing to find in life.”
Christopher, meanwhile, like the player he supports, doesn’t seek the limelight while putting in remarkable assistance for his old mate. He recently shrugged all this effort off with a witty remark about helping John to play his best which wasn’t quite printable.
John cites family members, and friends at Royal Ashdown Forest GC in East Sussex, who have also been his guides for regular rounds of golf in order that he can continue to play the game he has enjoyed since boyhood, after losing his sight around two decades ago. He says he loves most playing with friends, in focused but relaxed matches; experiencing all the pleasures, challenges and health benefits of the sport.
Thinking back to the time of his sight loss, John will tell you he eventually adapted well given the intense personal challenge in his life at that time. In golf, being able to make that needed adaptation, across his whole way of playing and with a guide’s support, he found he could carry on playing golf, something that has been front and centre to him being in good physical and mental shape today.
For John, now aged 67, the guide is there to see what he cannot see; to assess each new situation on the course, advise with clarity and help the player in ‘set-up’ before striking the shot. To be the calm guide in a joint venture, where the lie of the ball, the target, obstacles, terrain, weather and the potential risk and reward of each shot must be considered and a decision reached in timely fashion. Then to provide desired feedback on the shot as required by the player.
So experienced now and well-matched with John is his guide and caddie Christopher, that when it comes to the pressure of a competition, together they have built a smooth engine that purrs along, fuelled by humour, and respect disguised by the odd barbed joke.
This teamwork spans the second era of John’s life in golf, which all began far from England.
“I was about seven years old when I first tried golf, taught by my father in Malaysia where we lived. Father worked there after the war,” John tells us. “I was born in Malacca. I can remember one Christmas there he let me swing a club on a course and I’ve loved the game ever since.”
This warm-hearted and articulate Englishman was later schooled in Somerset before embarking on a career as a reinsurance broker in London.
John’s problems with his eyesight started to arrive suddenly in his mid forties, in a form of Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). He talks of losing his sight, step by step over three years, gradually at first and then quickly, losing colours suddenly as the shadows built up in front of him.
“It was difficult. I was very angry with life for a year or two but my family and friends were so good to me and supportive, they were fantastic,” John says, and talked of a determination to overcome this trauma and carry on, to live well in fact, and importantly, strive to keep playing the sport he loved.
He took lessons and put in the considerable effort to rediscover his game. John can see light coloured objects in the visual darkness, the “fluffy white ball” in the shadows on the tee and when on the green; sometimes the flag in the near distance, and he can make out outlines of trees.
The safe haven of Royal Ashdown Forest GC is important, as a welcoming club can be a major boost for a person with visual impairment, where the trust of familiar members and staff creates a comfortable and safe environment in which to concentrate on golf and enjoying life. It is known as a “foursomes club”, this alternate shot pairs format naturally leads to supporting your partner through the round.
John adds: “The game is about enjoyment, health and great friendships. Golf, I feel, has always helped with stress. I mainly play foursomes at Royal Ashdown, which is ideal for those with poor sight. It is a very friendly club.”
His trust in Christopher has enabled John to play many club and regional competitions in recent years; he still plays to a high standard at 67 with a Handicap Index of 10.3 at the time of writing.
John is one of a number of G4D (golf for the disabled) players who has now played in all four G4D Opens; this a leading Championship for golfers with a disability, staged by The R&A in partnership with the DP World Tour, supported by EDGA.
The Championship in 2026 featured 80 men and women from 19 countries; held at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales for the first time after its first three years at Woburn, England. This contest is played across nine ‘sport classes’ on the Roman Road Course, as golfers with physical, neurological, sensorial and intellectual impairments were welcomed from as far afield as Canada, the USA, Australia, Cameroon, South Korea and Japan.
The East Sussex representative John Eakin was returning to defend his two successive titles (2024 and 2025) in sport class ‘Visual 2’, although he had been typically modest about this achievement. After three solid rounds, he would be happy with a good second place finish for 2026, acquitting himself well to the rolling Roman Road course.
John said that the rigorous test of The G4D Open each year has helped keep him playing to his best standard. “They are great fun, and challenging courses. My challenge in the run-up is to practise well, and the key is maintaining my concentration on the course, which can be an issue.”
If the last few years around The G4D Open can be deemed something of a purple patch in his later golfing career, John experienced a further significant highlight in July, 2026, when he was part of the winning England team in the EGA European Nations’ Cup in Italy, held at the sumptuous Golf Club Genova Sant’Anna in the coastal region of Liguria.
This tournament is run by the European Golf Association, supported by EDGA, and sits alongside the European Team Championship for Golfers with Disability (played at the same time, same venue; this event was also won by England, creating a historic double victory).
The European Nations’ Cup has mixed teams of four (selected from four ‘bands’ that cover all impairment groups) completing 54 holes of golf in team pair Stableford scoring. John and his England teammates prevailed in some intensely close scoring, beating Ireland, Italy, Czech Republic and Belgium over the challenging Genova course.
To arrive for this Italian adventure, John was selected for the first England Golf Disability Performance Squad in the Autumn of 2025, a group of G4D players benefiting from attending coaching camps (John joined the Spring camp) and ongoing support under the guidance of leading national coaches.
Of the Nations’ Cup itself, John says: “I loved it, we had fantastic fun, two England teams together at a venue with a really good set-up, with fantastic staff and volunteers, and very friendly local people. The championships were a great credit to the EGA, assisted by EDGA.
“I really enjoyed playing with my partner Aimi Bullock, we shared a great spirit, and my guide for the event was Doug Coute, an England Golf volunteer. Doug is a near scratch golfer and did a brilliant job in giving me the right advice. He was exceptional at reading the greens and I soon started to trust him implicitly. That trust is just so important. I’m very grateful.”
John adds: “I felt very honoured to be selected for the England Golf Disability Performance Squad last September and then to get to play in Italy. It was terrific to be part of a team building up to play and it was great to win our trophy.”
We notice after each of the events he plays in, John gives special mention to the excellent volunteers present to support all the players, something he has done at Woburn, Celtic Manor and now in northern Italy in G4D events.
The most crucial volunteer for John however, is his guide Christopher.
Christopher used to work in finance before becoming a committed amateur cyclist, a successful ski instructor and a ‘mate’ on racing yachts. When talking together in public John and Christopher make a double act that is just on the line of being well-behaved but you can tell this friendship has plenty of shared stories and in-jokes to draw upon.
“Christopher has been a friend of the family since I was 17 and we have been on the golf course together for the last 20 years or so. We do have a close bond and it’s special,” says John.
“It’s shared enjoyment as part of a team. The ultimate thing is trust.”
Wishing John well for his future golf, we closed by asking him what he loves about the game?
“That would definitely be the friendships,” he replies, “and playing on some wonderful courses worldwide.”
John has played many of the top courses in the last 20 years. However, just as long as John can be there in the fresh air, ready to play a shot on any course in pleasant weather, alongside a friend or friends old and new, then golf is offering John Eakin so much.
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