Disability no barrier to Kenny’s golf links

​Not only will Kenny be taking part, he will be captaining the team – the pinnacle of a golf career which has already established countless friendships across borders, taken him to the finest courses in the UK and made him an outstanding ambassador for disabled sport.

Captaining in California does not faze him. He says: “I’ve already captained for overseas trips – across the Sound of Harris to Askernish and Benbecula”.

It has, in every respect, been a remarkable journey for Kenny. Throughout his life, he has repeatedly overcome a physical disability to achieve his goals and continues to apply the lesson learned along the way: “You have to fight your side to be able to do these things”.

He left school to become a fisherman, which in these days was the Scalpay way, spent many years at sea as a Merchant Navy officer and now holds the post of Harbour Master for the Western Isles with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. For more than 30 years, these career progressions have been combined with a love of golf, forged on the links of Scarista.

In California, he will be fighting to hold aloft the Phoenix Trophy which brings golfers together in a format similar to the Ryder or Solheim Cup, foursomes , fourballs and singles. It adds an extra dimension that one member of the American team is indeed a former Ryder Cup professional, of which more later.

The contest will doubtless be intense but the programme also sounds pretty sociable in the Santa Ynez Valley. The only worry as Kenny prepared to fly out on Thursday was from the weather forecast. “There’s a hurricane flying into California for the first time since 1939”, he says, “though it would probably just be a normal day in Harris”.

By the start of this week, the Hurricane Hilary warning had been cancelled for the Santa Barbara area but flooding remains a possibility. Looking on the bright side, the forecast until the weekend is calm, sunny and 25 degrees. So fingers crossed it stays that way.

Kenny was born 50 years ago on Scalpay with a condition known as Congenital Pseudoarthrosis of his right tibia, a bone defect which nowadays might be addressed by surgery to “achieve bone union, correct limb length discrepancy and maintain the limb alignment during growth”, or so the medical dictionaries tell me.

In his case, at the age of five, it was decided to amputate his leg below the knee. “It was amputated in Edinburgh in 1977. Then after a couple of years they operated again to finalise the whole thing. I have known nothing else so it has never bothered me. I used to play every sport when I was younger”.

The magnificent achievement that is Scarista golf course had been brought to fruition in 1985 and one of the benefits it created was to give youngsters in Harris at that time an opportunity to sample golf that had not previously existed. Kenny recalls: “The first time I picked up a club was when the headteacher in Scalpay, D.J. Morrison, took a few us down to Scarista. I didn’t follow it up at first but when I was in my 20s, I would go down now and again. One Saturday, I joined a few of the guys for a competition and that was it.

“When I first got a handicap, it was 25. I played in the competition for the Faldo Fiver (named in honour of an honesty box contribution from the famed golfer) and scored net 57 and 58 so my handicap was slashed pretty quickly”. From the outset, Kenny was on a level playing-field with his peers.

He explains: “Golf is a fantastic game for someone who is disabled because of the handicap system. Disabled golfers can compete against anyone. No matter the disability, the handicap system levels it all out. For me, this is why golf is unique. I don’t think there is any other sport in which you can compete on these terms”.

Not long after he started playing regularly, Kenny read about an organisation called Scottish Disability Golf Partnerships. “They have golf tournaments all through the summer for golfers with all disabilities. I started playing in a couple of competitions though it’s difficult for me because of the travel. You’re always overnighting, so I only do a couple a year on the mainland”.

The fact that Kenny was very good at the game soon took him to greater heights. His handicap fell as low as nine and he was selected initially for Disability Golf’s Scotland team. “This will be my fifth time in an international team event. I’ve played in a couple of Scotland-England matches and in the Phoenix Cup a couple of times as well”.

Next week’s event in California will be the 29th occasion on which the Cup has been played for. It began when disabled golfers from Canada and Scotland got together to arrange a “North American v Rest of the World” encounter in Ontario. Since then, it has been flexible in exactly who plays who each time, while maintaining its competitive format.

The organisers describe it as “the world’s first fully inclusive team international where disabled golf groups from around the world are invited annually, bringing together teams to compete and continue to develop the sport for players of any age, with any type of disability. To date, the Phoenix Cup is still the only pan-disability match-play team golf event in the world”.

Two years ago, an American team was due to travel to Scotland for the event but were unable to do so because of the travel restrictions imposed by Covid. So the contest became Scotland versus the Rest of Europe and the venues were sensational for any golfer – Gleneagles, Blairgowrie Rosemount, Carnoustie Panmure, Carnoustie and Trump Aberdeen.

Last year saw Scotland, England, Wales and the USA competing at the Forest of Arden near Birmingham. After three rounds, the Scottish team which included Kenny came out on top. Next year will also be a bit special with the Old, New and Jubilee courses at the home of golf, St Andrew’s, as the venue in October.

Over the years, the Cup has been played for by 829 golfers from 18 nations. Those travelling to California this week are drawn from Britain and Ireland, a couple of Norwegians having become late withdrawals. Kenny’s team includes golfers who are visually impaired, paraplegic and one-armed. The whole team has been supported with funding from Harris Golf Club and its members.

The former Ryder Cup player in the opposition is Ken Green who had five wins on the PGA tour in the mid 1980s. He played in the 1989 Ryder Cup at The Belfry and finished seventh in the 1996 US Open. Along the way, he picked up a reputation for “bad boy” antics which included sneaking friends into the sacred Augusta course during the Masters in the boot of his car and drinking beer on the course while playing with Arnold Palmer. So there should be no shortage of stories over dinner.

Disaster struck in 2009 when his motorhome blew a tyre and left the road. His brother and girlfriend died while Green’s right leg was amputated below the knee. He vowed to return to golf and has played since in disabled events with a plus 5 handicap.

After a tournament last month in his native Connecticut, he said: “To me, it’s as positive a week as any other tournament I’ve ever played. It’s about life and golf and then the mixture of both and what golf can do for a person who has been given the worst of the worst blows. They use golf to help them fight through all the negativity that happens sometimes when you lose limbs or eyesight or paralysation or any of those other impairments.”

These are undoubtedly sentiments that Kenny Morrison would identify with and endorse. He describes Scottish Disability Golf and Curling (as it is now called) as “an incredible charity for giving people with all kinds of disabilities a route into sport and getting them out to play”.

Locally, this was again put into practice during this summer’s Golf Week in Stornoway when the Back range was used to offer people with disabilities the chance to try the game. Kenny points out that it is not only physical disabilities that golf is good for but also to support people suffering mental illness. In this respect, he speaks particularly highly of Highland Disability Golf based in Inverness.

Kenny’s handicap has edged up to 13. He says: “In the last couple of years, my mobility has got worse. I used to walk the course and it’s only a few years since I did the 72 hole challenge walking the whole lot in a day.

“Currently, I’m waiting for a new prosthetic and am due to get a hip replacement, also on my right side. It has really affected my mobility. I used to walk four miles every day with the dog – now I’m lucky if I can do 400 metres”.

Nobody walks the course in California and it’s certain there will be a spring in Kenny’s step when he takes to the first tee of the tree-lined, par 72 Alisal Ranch golf course on Monday morning – a long way from Scarista. It really will be the experience of a lifetime and he carries with him the admiration and good wishes of the Western Isles.

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