This thing has been blown out of proportion

DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

Joel Ludvicek, 79, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had a hole-in-one while playing golf in March. And he is legally blind.

"This whole thing has been blown out of proportion," he said recently over the telephone. "A representative from The Letterman Show called wanting me to appear. Paul Harvey mentioned it, too."

He aced the 168-yard No. 12 hole at Twin Pines near Cedar Rapids with a driver.

"I'm not totally blind," he said. "I can see a TV screen from three feet away. I can also put a golf ball on a tee and swing. It looks hazy, though. The fellows I'm with follow it for me."

Amazingly, it was almost his second hole-in-one in a week. "Last Thursday on a windy day I hit a 5-wood on a 130-yard par 3 and missed by less than a foot," he said. "I said then that I was glad it didn't go in because I'd have to say I used a 5-wood on a par 3."

When he gets within forty yards of a hole he can see the pin, usually. The flag looks hazy, though. He has difficulty judging distances.

"And playing is easier when it's sunny," he added. "When it's behind me sometimes I can see the ball in the air up to fifty yards out. But even then I can't determine its true direction."

Besides golfing with buddies, Ludvicek the last six years has played in the TEE Tournament in Iowa City, Iowa, an annual golf event for legally blind veterans. With 350 volunteer assistants helping them, almost 150 golfers from 26 states drive, chip and putt on four golf courses over three days. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Blinded Veterans Association sponsor the event.

"[At the TEE Tournament] I play with some golfers that are totally blind," he said. "A caddy tees up the ball for them. They ready their stance and feel where the ball is. When sinking a two-foot putt, for instance, and hearing it drop in, some of them let out loud whoops of joy."

Ludvicek can no longer drive a car and can't recognize faces. He has become legally blind because of macular degeneration, a disorder affecting the center part of the retina, which causes decreased visual sharpness and often a loss of central vision. By age 75 about 15 percent of Americans have it.

For more, see www.danieljvance.com or www.nih.gov