Blindness No Handicap for Golfer

Hojnicki hits for par in Lions Club event

By MELISSA RIGNEY BAXTER - Special to GM Today

June 16, 2007

Joe Hojnicki drives from the tee box on the 10th hole Friday during the Waukesha Noon Lions Club annual golf outing at Western Lakes Golf Course. Hojnicki was born partially blind and his vision is worsening with age.

Ken Sosalla, left, helps Joe Hojnicki line up his shot Friday during the Waukesha Noon Lions Club golf outing.

PEWAUKEE - Joe Hojnicki reads putting greens with his feet.

His guide and golf instructor, Ken Sosalla, leads him to the hole and then back again to the ball position. As Hojnicki, who is blind, slowly covers the short distance, he feels the lay of the land and predicts how the ball will break.

"Sometimes he reads it better with his feet than I do with my eyes," says Sosalla, of Waukesha.

Friday morning, the two golfers, along with Rick Skotzke, participated in a golf scramble event to benefit the Waukesha Noon Lions Club.

Steve Nehs was chairman of the event and said it is the club’s major fund-raiser of the year, raising $12,500 in 2006. The Lions Club participates in many activities to help the blind and visually impaired.

Hojnicki, of West Allis, participated for the second consecutive year. Although his vision is impaired, his golf game is not. Legally blind since 1960, Hojnicki, 53, has never had a driver’s license, but he’s participated in a myriad of sports, including track and field events, football, race walking, ski racing, swimming and, of course, golf. He’s competed in several tournaments for visually impaired golfers.

"I love golf," Hojnicki said. "I’m addicted to it."

Hojnicki grew up in Delaware and lost his sight at the age of 7. Despite his impairment, he said his parents let him "be a kid." He rode his bike everywhere and played golf and football in high school.

"I had a normal childhood," Hojnicki said. "I just couldn’t see."

After moving to Wisconsin in 1990, Hojnicki began work at the Southwest YMCA in Greenfield as a personal trainer. He works with people with disabilities such as multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida and cerebral palsy.

He had believed since a child that his vision was as impaired as it ever would be due to macular degeneration, but nearly 15 years ago he learned that he was misdiagnosed and his vision will continue to get worse because of retinitis pigmentosa.

Sporting dark glasses, Hojnicki looked like nearly every other golfer on the course until Sosalla came up close beside him to strategize his first shot.

"I see a dark high spot," Hojnicki said. "Is it to the right or left of that?"

Sosalla helped him locate the hole, and Hojnicki took a few expert practice swings and made a good shot.

"Can you line mine up, too?" joked Skotzke as he placed his ball on a tee.

Later, Hojnicki read the green with his feet, coming inches from the hole with the second-closest putt on the 10th hole.

"We had a great time," said Sosalla after the event. "Finished even par. Had some good shots and some not-so-good shots."

Besides working with Hojnicki, Sosalla is president of Blind Outdoor Leisure Development. The organization, run by local Lions, helps the blind and visually impaired participate in all kinds of outdoor sports from skiing, golfing, canoeing and more, he said.