01/19/2012
ISRAELI GUIDE DOG CENTER
Thursday, January 19
We will be hearing from Zohar Sharon, who is a blind golfer on tour throughout the United States. He will be in Palm Springs for two days and we are very lucky to have him attend our meeting. Traveling with him will be a volunteer veterinarian, Yoni Peres, (son of Prime Minister Shimon Peres) to act as interpreter, and Michael Leventhal, the Executive Director of the Israeli Guide Dog Center. Zohar will talk about the importance of having the Guide Dog Center in Israel.
When an admiring spectator approached Zohar and asked for a golfing tip, he simply replied, “Close your eyes.”
He was not joking. He uses the same principles to play golf as those he learned as a sniper in the IDF. “Visualize the target. Place the club in its direction. Execute the swing and hit the ball with your head entirely focused on your target.”
Since losing his sight – and some of his hearing – while defusing a bomb during a 1979 military exercise, Zohar has been driving himself as hard as his golf balls. His philosophy is quite simple: “I have to prove I am the best.”
And he has become the best. The reigning champion and three-time winner of the International Blind Golf Championships held in Scotland, Ireland, and England, Zohar has even prevailed on the rugged, mountainous terrain of the Japanese Open. In addition to his championship credentials, he has FIVE hole-in-one shots on his resume!
