Blind. And deaf. It\u2019s a double whammy working against Kevin Frost each time he swings a golf club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gazing down at a golf ball is like looking through two straws; Frost can see the ball, but very little else. That blind shot we all get worked up about; the reality for Frost is every shot is a blind shot. No worries. No need to sweat the \u201csmall stuff.\u201d Pushing back against adversity is something he\u2019s gotten pretty good at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As difficult as it has been to deal with auditory and visual impairment, it hasn\u2019t discouraged Frost in his pursuit of excellence in golf. Six years since learning how to play, Frost, who has less than four per cent vision in each eye, has become a helluva golfer. A winner. A champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a feel-good story about golf and life. It\u2019s about resilience and persistence and hope. It\u2019s about aspirations and inspiration and dreams. It\u2019s about overcoming obstacles and beating the odds. It\u2019s a story about a 55-year-old from Ottawa who drove a car and refereed hockey games into his mid 30s when he was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome Type 2, which left him with just 10 per cent of his hearing. He\u2019s been wearing hearing aids since he was 11. This is a story about believing in yourself and not being limited by barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI live life to the fullest,\u201d said Frost, who has three kids \u2013 Madison, Montana and Mitchell. \u201cI never feel sorry for myself. I don\u2019t complain. I want to be as happy as I can and make a difference. I\u2019ve learned to live, love and laugh. Do I have challenging days? Yes. Are there obstacles? Yes. Do I have tough times? Of course. Do I walk into doors? Yes. Do I trip over weights? Yes. Do I fall down the stairs? Yes. You can\u2019t stop living. I believe in turning negatives into positives. I\u2019m still adapting; that\u2019s part of the secret to success in the disability world. Even if I lose all my vision, I\u2019ll find a way to beat that barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the help of a guide who instructs him where to aim, Frost, who\u2019s ranked second in Canada in the B2 category (under five degrees of vision) won the Stableford overall title at the Ontario Blind Golf Provincial Championships in August in Simcoe, ON. it got him an invite to South Africa to represent Canada at next year\u2019s world championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being the best at what he does is something that motivates Frost. Not long ago, he was gliding at speeds of up to 46.5 km around the speed skating oval. He was a three-time world champion blind long- and short-track champ. In the able-bodied Masters circuit, he was eighth at the world championships in Fort St. John in 2017. On top of that, he was rowing, running track (his strengths were the 200- and 1,500-metre races) and doing tandem cycling \u2013 making national standards in each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then came golf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A son to Dale and Phyllis, Frost grew up on Southpark Dr. in Blackburn Hamlet. He had dabbled in golf when he was younger. Even though he was a left-hander, he remembers borrowing his dad\u2019s right-handed clubs. Many years later, in 2016, curious about golf possibilities, he visited Gloucester\u2019s Pine View Golf Course. He was spotted by Glen Costello, one of Pine View\u2019s owners, who offered Frost the use of clubs and gave him lessons. Golfers stepped up to be Frost\u2019s \u201ceyes.\u201d And, that got the ball rolling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frost\u2019s first round was 122. He didn\u2019t give up. He never does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe first couple of times were frustrating,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ball wasn\u2019t going where I wanted it to go. I thought back to the first day I stepped onto the ice for speed skating, it was like I was Bambi. Then, I became a three-time world champion. It shows you can accomplish anything. I\u2019ve been able to do it now in five sports. It\u2019s taken me awhile to figure things out on the golf course. Some people with all five of their senses struggle, I\u2019m trying to do it with three. I\u2019m learning to hit straighter shots with my driver. My short game is awesome. Putting is so unpredictable. It\u2019s different for blind golfers. I have to rely on my guide to tell me the slope, whether to turn my club left or right and give me a rough distance by club lengths. My straight is not the same as your straight. Sometimes I\u2019m guessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like climbing a mountain. You\u2019re going to stumble a few times. In golf, you\u2019re going to have some good games and some bad ones. You keep going. When you get to the top, you\u2019ve accomplished a goal. But there are more mountains to climb. The mistakes make you stronger. That\u2019s how I succeed in every sport I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rules of golf still apply to blind golfers. One change: You\u2019re allowed to ground the club in the sand; it helps the golfers get a better feel for where the ball is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under Cerulean skies, with the hues of late autumn \u2013 red, yellow and orange leaves blowing onto Pine View\u2019s early-morning-frost-hardened fairways \u2013 Frost played into the second week of November. During golf season, Frost plays in a weekly Navan Lions event at Pine View. He also gets a weekly round in with a friend, Nigel Bruce. Other on-course guides include John McCarney and Frost\u2019s fiancee Loretta Lachance who he proposed to at the U.S. nationals in April (he put the engagement ring into a box and had it placed into the cup on the 18th hole).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe purpose of a guide is to line me up to where I want to hit the ball and tell me what obstacles there may be,\u201d said Frost. \u201cThey tell me things like, \u2018You\u2019re roughly 190 yards off the tee and you have 100 yards to the green.\u2019 Their voice is my eyes. The guides are the secret to blind golfers doing well. It\u2019s why we can golf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frost is chipping away at his 21-handicap; his scores keep getting better. With a set of clubs provided by Cobra Puma Golf, his best score is 84 and he shot an 87 in tournament play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy goal is to shoot mid 80s \u2026 consistently,\u201d said Frost. \u201cIf I can stick to the fundamentals, I think there\u2019s a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe is a very good golfer; I think he\u2019d beat 50 per cent, if not more, of the golfers who play (at Pine View) on a regular basis,\u201d said Bruce. \u201cHe\u2019s got a great swing, a great temperament. Technically he\u2019s good. Mentally he\u2019s good. While he doesn\u2019t see where the ball actually goes, he knows roughly where it is from the swing. I\u2019ve never seen Kevin low, I\u2019ve never seen him have a bad day. He\u2019s an inspiration. His accomplishments are amazing. He\u2019s happy for me to correct him; some golfers aren\u2019t happy to be coached.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, Bruce watched Frost jar both a pitching wedge from 90 yards and a 52-degree wedge from 70 yards. Frost has also missed a hole-in-one by six inches. Frost\u2019s immediate reaction: \u201cOh, I must have used the right club.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt would be so cool to see the ball go in,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, for a blind person, that\u2019s not the reality. You have to cherish the moment by the voices of others who can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frost\u2019s vision started disappearing in his mid-20s. His automobile licence was taken away in March of 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy goal was to be an NHL linesman,\u201d he said. \u201cI refereed 20,000 hockey games and went to two NHL camps. I was fine until my last game after I was diagnosed. There were 11 goals and I only saw four go in. I was 30. They told me I was at about 18% vision. Legally blind is under 20%. A funny story: I ran into a couple of hockey players after I stopped refereeing. They said, \u201cWait, you have a guide dog?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah.\u2019 They laughed and said, \u2018We always knew you were blind.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until recently, Frost relied heavily on Lewis, his 11-year-old longtime guide dog, but The yellow golden Labrador Retriever was retired after being diagnosed with Stage 2 kidney disease. Nemo, his black lab, died in 2013. Frost is on a waiting list for a new service dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe dogs are my guidance, they get me from Point A to Point B,\u201d said Frost. \u201cIf somebody calls my name, they\u2019ll stop. The dog makes sure I don\u2019t walk into things and can stop on a dime to make sure I don\u2019t get hit by a car; Lewis saved my life a couple of times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With such an inspirational story tell, he\u2019s written a book, Deaf Blind Champion (available on Amazon or at www.deafblindspeedskater.com). In the book\u2019s pages, there\u2019s a message of hope, a reminder to others to think about the possible, not the impossible. One of the book\u2019s chapters: Winners Never, Ever Quit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy message is every day is a great day,\u201d said Frost. \u201cNever give up on your dreams. If you fall, get back up, keep going, learn from your mistakes and you will be a champion no matter what happens in life. I lost my job, my driver\u2019s license was taken away and I had to stop refereeing. I hit rock bottom, I was in a dark place. But I picked up the pieces, got help and moved forward. And I became a champion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Blind. And deaf. It\u2019s a double whammy working against Kevin Frost each time he swings a golf club. Gazing down at a golf ball is like looking through two straws; Frost can see the ball, but very little else. That blind shot we all get worked up about; the reality for Frost is every shot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n