When the U.S. Blind Golf Association’s national championship tournament returns to Birmingham Aug. 17-21, it will mark a homecoming nearly 70 years in the making.
The USBGA last held its championship in the Magic City in 1957 at the Vestavia Country Club, and the winner was Charley Boswell, Birmingham’s hometown hero.
Boswell lost his sight during World War II after pulling a wounded soldier from a burning tank that exploded in his face in Germany in November 1944. He had never played golf before that day. While recovering at Valley Forge General Hospital, Boswell was introduced to the game by rehab specialist Corporal Kenny Gleason. A star athlete before the war, Boswell was skeptical, but he hit the ball cleanly on his first swing and was hooked. His son, Chuck, said his father’s coach would simply position him, align him, set the club and step aside before Boswell swung.
Boswell went on to win 16 national and 11 international blind golf championships. In 1956, he shot an 81 – a world record for a blind golfer – at Highland Park Golf Course in Birmingham, prompting the city to rename it in his honor. The course’s name would revert to Highland Park years later when it was sold to Honors Golf.
Courtesy Encyclopedia of Alabama
Charley Boswell, a Birmingham native, is one of the most accomplished blind golfers in history.
Boswell later served as Alabama’s revenue commissioner and authored a memoir, “Now I See.” His friend Bob Hope, honorary chairman of Boswell’s celebrity golf classic, once called him “America’s greatest inspiration.” He died in 1995.
“He was just a regular dad,” Chuck said. “He played football and catch with us like any normal father. He threw the ball to the sound.”
This year’s USBGA championship, the 80th, will be held at Highland Park, Boswell’s home course, and will celebrate Boswell and his legacy.
“It’s quite an honor for the city of Birmingham and for Dad to have USBGA celebrate their 80th anniversary here and come full circle,” Chuck said.
Among the golfers competing is Brian Oglesbee, who lost his sight as a teenager after complications from cancer and cataract surgery. Depressed and struggling, he resisted his mother’s encouragement to try golf until his father took him to a driving range.
“He lined him up, took a swing and saw what happened,” Oglesbee said, referring to his teenage self. “He made contact with the ball and hit it straight. He realized he should’ve just listened to his mom.”
Oglesbee, a history teacher and head golf coach at Upson-Lee High School in Thomaston, Georgia, has competed in blind golf since 2010 and has won 11 national titles, including one in 2024.
“It doesn’t matter how you do it. It’s that you do it,” Oglesbee said. “At the end of the day, I’m no different than sighted golfers.
“Spectators will witness a little bit of everything,” he said. “We will hit some bad shots because all golfers do, but they will also see some of the amazing things we can do.”
In blind golf, each player is assisted by a coach. The coach helps line them up properly, inform them of the distance, and explain any obstacles in front of them.
As Chuck put it, residents can volunteer or simply come out to support the golfers. As the USBGA motto goes: “You don't have to see it to tee it!”
The event is free and open to the public.
For information about the tournament, go to usblindgolf.com/national-championship or facebook.com/USBGA.