Forget lingering resentment, Brad Smith only feels gratitude at the opportunities he is presented with since his disability. Next week, the Englishman – one of golf’s leading all abilities golfers – will tee it up as part of an international field of competitors at The G4D Open.
Held in partnership between The R&A and the DP World Tour and supported by EDGA, the 54-hole championship sees 80 players covering nine sport classes across multiple impairment groups compete over the Duchess Course at Woburn.
With the event now approaching its third edition, Smith – a below-the-knee amputee – is readying himself for his second appearance in what is regarded as the biggest championship within golf’s disability sphere.
A talented golfer since first playing in his early teens, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone cancer at 22 in 2017, resulting in him adjusting to life as an amputee. During his rehabilitation, returning to golf was a source of motivation and over the subsequent eight years he has gone on to achieve various success in a sport that continues to give back so much.
Change in perspective
“I've said this before but I’m happier now than what I was when I had both my legs,” he said. “If I had both my legs, I’d still be happy, but I wouldn’t have been able to go to the places I’ve been able to.”
Since the launch of the G4D Tour – operated by the DP World Tour in partnership with EDGA – in 2022, Smith has competed at venues and locations he dreamed of growing up.
With tournaments taking place on the same course, in the same week, as the DP World Tour, he was thrust into a global platform where the talents of those competing could receive the recognition they deserved.
“Playing at Wentworth, playing in Singapore and a few other places is something that I don’t think would have ever happened for me,” added Smith, who has also teed it up in Abu Dhabi among other locations. “I never thought I'd be hitting balls right next to Ryan Fox, with Rory McIlroy just three or four spots down from me on the range. It was crazy, a surreal experience, something that I'll never forget.”
Life learnings
Like so many who have a disability, Smith holds an incredibly positive outlook on life. But he openly admits his delayed diagnosis after first seeking medical opinion on a swollen knee did leave some initial bitterness.
“For the first four or five years, there were definitely ‘what ifs’,” he said. “I did have resentment for a long time, but I’ve had so many great experiences since losing my leg.
“There are swings and roundabouts. At the time, I didn’t know how to process it. Everyone else around me took it in, really knew what was happening and the severity. For some reason I couldn’t quite process it, because I was chucked in at the deep end.
“I was told I had an aggressive tumour, my leg basically needed to come off and I needed to start chemotherapy. I had no choice in the matter. While they were tough times, I always knew I would get through it and golf kept me in a positive mindset.”
Family support
A young father at the time of his amputation to first child Logan, the support network of his family and close friends was instrumental at a time of upheaval.
Amid the rounds of chemotherapy he underwent in the months that followed, there was relief and joy when his second son, Jake, was born.
Now a father of three, most recently to a two-year-old daughter, Smith has introduced his two sons to golf – just like his father Steve did for him and his twin brother, Mitch. Through his children, his perspective on life has become different.
“If I have a bad tournament or if I am really disappointed with my results, as soon as I get home I see my kids and instantly forget about everything else,” he said. “Obviously my diagnosis was years ago, but I still feel lucky to be here.
“My children know I am a professional golfer so much so that my two-year-old says 'golf' a lot. My two sons love it too, I take them to the course all the time. It provides another way to spend more time with them doing something that I love and that they also enjoy. I’d never push them to do it if they ever didn't want to but it is nice to have that time together.”
Popert friendship
The family feel extends beyond home, with Mitch set to be his caddie during the week at Woburn, and the camaraderie between players is a key attribute within the golfers with a disability sphere.
Among his closest friends on the course is world number one Kipp Popert, who will defend his G4D Open title at Woburn. Last year marked Smith's debut, with a final-round 73 helping him to finish in a tie for 13th.
While a victory on the G4D Tour has so far eluded him, he has won several times in EDGA events since his debut in 2018 and remains determined in his bid to claim further success.
“I think the drive is actually stronger now than what it was,” he said. “I am a lot more confident in myself now than I was two or three years ago with my golf game knowing that I have won a few times, dealt with nerves and pressure.”
And it is the ongoing growth in exposure and awareness of opportunities in disability sport, particularly in golf, that has played a key role in Smith feeling at peace both on and off the course.
“Disability golf has obviously kicked on massively in the last few years than what it had done previously,” he said. “All abilities golf is the foundation of it all. The DP World Tour getting involved with the G4D Tour events, giving us a platform to play on has enabled us to show the world you can play golf with a disability.”
Grinnell excited for Woburn
Elsewhere, it’s a special week for Carol Grinnell as she makes her debut at Woburn in The G4D Open.
In 2017, Grinnell lost her left foot in a boating accident but has found a love for golf in recent years and is excited to tee up among the best players in the world.
“I'll just go out and enjoy it,” she says. “I don't care how far the others drive the ball because I know that at the end of the day we've all got to get that ball into the hole in our own way.”
By chance, the immediate aftermath of the accident in August 2017 was filmed by an on-board camera crew for the network TV show ‘Emergency Helicopter Medics’, during which viewers learned how 71-year-old Grinnell was about to be airlifted to safety after falling from the back of a boat as it was being moored on the Norfolk Broads. Her foot and ankle had been slashed by the boat’s propeller.
Adjusting to challenges
As they awaited the helicopter, Carol’s daughter Susie took control and wrapped a tourniquet around Carol’s leg. This may have saved her life but on arrival at hospital the news was shocking: amputation of the lower left leg was needed, just below the knee.
Her family: husband Patrick, children Susan, Ben, Jules and James feared for Carol. Her active lifestyle was a source of family pride (playing all sports growing up including athletics, and at county level, squash, badminton and swimming, then later horse-riding, tennis and golf).
This took place just over seven years ago, and Carol has since adjusted to her new challenges.
She remembers, “They encourage you to name your stump to help accept the situation. So being supple I used to bring my knee upwards and kiss ‘her’ saying, ‘You’ll be alright Peggy!’ Well, this made everyone in Critical Care laugh. I was determined not to feel sorry for myself. It was an accident, they happen.
“Since then I have been inspired by playing with golfers with far more complex amputations and other serious conditions; highly resilient people who put my injury into perspective.”
Global championship
Grinnell will take her place at Woburn in Sport Class Standing 3 among 80 players from 20 countries.
Her qualifying has excited the whole family and Carol has been practicing hard, but her commitment to her fitness since the accident has been outstanding. The 79-year-old looks younger than her years, helped by a comprehensive daily regimen of varied strength, stretching and aerobic exercises, including 50 to 80 lengths of the local swimming pool, supplemented by at least three rounds of golf per week, using a buggy at present – although Carol remains determined to walk the course again. “Age is just a number,” laughs the grandmother of ten (she has three great-grandchildren).
“The moral is ‘little by little’,” she urges. “When I started doing ‘the plank’ two years ago I could manage five seconds, but you build up gradually, the same with weights, a little at a time. Set a time of day in your mind and just work from there. I promise you that you will see results.”
Patrick had introduced Carol to golf in 1969 but their young children got in the way, Carol returning to the game aged 60. After many happy rounds together, she lost her “best golf and tennis partner” Patrick in 2022.
“Golf can therefore become very important as a social outlet. The most important thing is getting out into the fresh air playing with lots of people,” says Carol, whose Handicap Index is 27. The “amazing” people at Tadmarton Heath Golf Club in Oxfordshire provide an inclusive feel, encouraging partners for competitions and friendlies against other clubs.
Entry at Woburn free for spectators
Carol found G4D through the Disabled Golf Association last year and from there she learned about EDGA events and then The G4D Open.
She notes, “It hasn’t always been a bed of roses. I refuse to give up and sometimes have had the most horrendous raw blisters on Peggy, and then been forced into a wheelchair for a spell while they heal.”
Carol reveals she is playing two rounds in Hampshire before the practice day at Woburn and then the three-day championship itself, six rounds in six days. “I’m using a buggy, Peggy will be fine,” Carol stresses.
This from a woman recently filmed by the family doing a diving back-flip off a jetty into the sea in Cyprus as she approaches her 80th birthday. Carol still loves the water, despite family research that lists a great-grandfather who died on a whaling ship in Tasmania, a grandfather who worked as a bosun and died on the Titanic, while her grandmother on her paternal side was lost swimming in the Bay of Biscay.
Spectators are encouraged to attend at Woburn from 15-17 May, with attendance and car parking free of charge.
