“It’s completely changed my life”
Stuart Hutcheson became the first blind golfer to win the British Open and the British Masters within the same year in 2025.
But this incredible achievement came just four years after taking up the sport again.
At 25 he was diagnosed with a rare eye condition called Stargardt disease, which means he has gradually lost his sight more over the years.
“It’s a form of macular degeneration and it effects my central vision,” he told Adelphi Live.
“It’s virtually all gone now. I still have my peripheral so I can see what’s either side of me. It’s how people’s eyes go when they get old.”
Stuart started playing golf at the age of six and played off a handicap of 11.
But due to losing more and more of his sight, he stopped playing the sport he loved at just 25 and didn’t start playing again until he was 50.
“When you lose your vision, it’s a very personal thing and you feel like you’re on your own,” he explained.
“When I lost my sight I went 25 years without doing anything with other unsighted people. I didn’t know anyone else who was blind.”
But through taking up blind golf, Stuart has now made many friends and met other people in a similar situation to him.
“Since joining the England and Wales Blind Golf association it’s changed my life,” he said.
“My mental health is so much better because of it … meeting people with different conditions makes you realize you’re not on your own.”
Stuart uses what’s called a blind square to navigate himself round the golf course. “This tells me when I stand on the tee how far away the centre of the green is,” he said. “It can measure how far you’ve hit your shot as well if you press it down.
“It’s a really valuable tool which has helped my game a lot.”
Stuart hit a hole in one recently – one of only two blind golfers to achieve the feat.
“It was in a friendly match when I got a hole in one,” he said. “When it went in I said ‘it sounded like it hit the flag’. They all said ‘no it’s in the water’, and it wasn’t until we went down and we found it in the hole that we knew it had gone in.”
He added: “It went straight in. No bounces, a slam dunk, and I’ve got a little trophy at home with the ball on as a reminder.”
Stuart is anticipating a big year ahead as he looks to defend his titles from last year, but he’s also eyeing up the World Championships in 2027, which will be held in Spain.
“I’m in a competition to qualify and need to be in the top three, so it’s a tough ask but I’m here for the challenge,” he said.
Blind golf is not a sport that has been included in the Paralympics yet, but behind the scenes they are aiming for it and are hoping to have it done by 2028.
“They are trying hard to get it included and that would be the dream really,” he said. “To play in that would be fantastic, but we will have to wait and see. It’s in the pipeline.”
