He was born without legs, yet had a handicap of 12 in golf, hitting tee shots 200 yards while perched on a kitchen stool.

A 55-year-old father of two, David wears prosthetic legs, but on the course, he abandons the legs and walks on his hands. Once he was ruled ineligible as a wrestler for being too strong!

"We must do the best we can with what we've got," enthused the good doctor before paying tribute to a fellow golfer whom fate, he felt, had short-changed even more cruelly.

Pat Browne Jnr was the best blind player in world golf when he challenged a blind-folded Payne Stewart to a nine-hole match, then beat the former US Open champion by a whopping 25 shots.

"You don't have to see it to tee it," beams Jan Dinsdale, the first lady of Ulster blind golf, on the eve of two of the biggest tournaments of the year — the British Open at Massereene from August 6-8, followed by the World championship for the blind, beginning at Belvoir Park two days later.

Don't talk to Jan about being physically handicapped. Substitute 'challenged' for handicapped, and the first golfer in 60 years of blind competition to have holed-in-one will feel a lot better.

This was back in the Canadian Open of 2004 at Shannon Lake, where Jan's freak shot was marked by the presentation of a diamond ring she now wears with pride.

Since then, four others have emulated this magical bull's eye, among them the American Joel Ludvicek, and he'll be 81 at Christmas.

"Jan will be here, of course," says Keith Harper, Belvoir Park's club captain. "And so, hopefully, will Bruce Hooper. He's both the American and World champion in the B2 section, and usually shoots in the low 80s."

Competitors come in three categories, explained Keith.... totally blind, those with peripheral vision, and others with a visual acuity of between 2/60 and 6/60.

Hooper was a Spalding sales rep before losing his sight 10 years ago. Today, he has only marginal vision, and views life as if through fogged glasses. His wife, Judy, is his eyes and caddie, painting a word picture of each hole, its distance, dangers and characteristics, then helping him with clubhead alignment prior to hitting the shot.

"Bruce has gained a lot of confidence and self-respect from the game," declared Judy. "Like so many sightless people, he has proved you can always beat the odds."

Hooper says he listens for the sound of clubhead-on-ball, and usually knows if he has hit it fat or thin, or off the toe.

"I do the mechanics, and Judy does the visuals," he grins. " We work as a team."

Blind golfers are far from being a unique species. The USBGA goes back over 60 years, and for a long time Philadelphia was the epicentre for the blind community. Bob Hope's 'Hope for the Blind' tournament was first held there in 1967, and the only rules players are allowed to bend is in a hazard. They may ground a club in sand without penalty, a small concession.

Australia, Japan, Sweden, Germany and South Africa are all affiliated to IBGA, the world body, and should be represented at Belvoir Park.

There, every player you speak to will share the sentiments of Ballymena's Drew Cochrane, who once said: "Play golf, and there's a happy life out there after blindness!"