| Deaf golfer breaks new ground in golf course design
Ben Stephens of SAS Golf Design is not just opening up new opportunity in his role as Secretary of England Deaf Golf he is also breaking new ground in his professional life as a self-employed Architect and golf course designer showing that deafness is no barrier to following a career within the sports industry. |
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| Ben has begun a reconstruction project at the 36 hole Grey’s Green Golf Course in Oxfordshire near Henley on Thames. The project will take over four years which sees a transformation to an existing facility. Ben is working alongside Adrian Stiff an experienced golf course designer with other projects in the pipeline in the UK. Ben has previously done golf course design work in the past in his home county of Rutland – with courses such as Rutland Water and Greetham Valley Golf Courses getting his visionary touch.
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| Talking about being an architect and golf course designer Ben said “I am passionate about sport, but it does not just need to be about participating in sport. There are so many other opportunities to get involved in coaching, development, media, retail and much more. Even though I am still an elite player and proud to be part of the England Deaf Golf Team it is nice to know that I will be involved in the industry in ways other than playing” he went on to say “being able to combine my love of sport with my career was the perfect combination for me. Sport has so many opportunities within it if you are just prepared to work hard to achieve your goals, being an elite athlete teaches you these skills and I just needed to learn the technical stuff”
Ben is not the only Deaf person to be working within the golf industry, with deaf people also working as Green keepers and club captains the sport really does have opportunities across the board.
Ben went on to say “deafness does not need to be a barrier to working in any industry, I have worked hard to get the qualifications that I need and build a reputation as an architect and golf course designer by working on challenging building and golf course design projects. |
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It should not be about what you can hear, but about knowledge you have and then delivering that to the best of your ability” “I would urge anyone that wants to work in any career to commit to the effort and hard work that it will take to be a success and not allow any impairment to limit your thinking” |
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