Blind Veteran learns to read the green

Army Veteran Arnold Thomas III poses with his golf buddy, Michael Tullis, at the National Disabled Veteran Golf Tournament at Pleasant Valley Golf Course in Eastern Iowa

Nickolas Sanchez, Public Affairs Officer, VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System

For Arnold Thomas III, the sounds at the first day of the 2026 National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic are more than noise. The rain striking the course, spongy grass underfoot and the crisp click of a golf club meeting the ball provide a map of his surroundings.

Fully blind, Thomas cannot see the fairway. But he is learning to read it through sound, touch and what he calls his “inner vision.”

The National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic, hosted annually in Eastern Iowa by DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and the Department of Veterans Affairs, helps Veterans with disabilities rehabilitate while learning adaptive golf and building confidence and camaraderie. For Thomas, that adaptation begins with listening.

A former Army cavalry scout from Belleville, Michigan, Thomas came to the clinic having never played golf. Jennifer Troyer, the low-vision coordinator at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit, encouraged him to attend.

Thomas saw the clinic as a chance to stay active, meet people and pursue a new challenge after losing the vision he once relied on as a transportation and equipment driver.

“What was taken from me was my vision—the very thing that I needed for my profession,” Thomas said. Still, he has learned to lean on other senses as he continues to grow and adapt.

During his first lessons, instructors coached him on the position of his hands, feet and shoulders, as well as a pendulum-like swing. Thomas relies on verbal distance cues from his golf buddy, Mike, and on the sound that follows a good strike.

“You hear that click,” Thomas said. “If you pay attention, you know that you hit the ball solid.”

Thomas’ “inner vision” uses his mind’s eye to map the space around him. He compares the space around him to the clock-face system many blind people use to orient objects on a plate: 12 o’clock at the top, 6 o’clock nearest the body, with the other positions creating a mental guide. On the course, sound and instruction replace hand-eye-coordination with a different kind of hand-and-movement coordination.

At the golf clinic, amid the rain and the practice swings, Thomas finds more than a new sport. “When I come here, it’s peaceful,” he said. “The serenity—it’s beautiful. It is a different world out here on the green … in my inner vision, in my mind’s eye.”

Thomas grew up playing basketball and football, and he now practices yoga and tai chi to remain active. After his first day at the clinic, he said he looks forward to taking his new golf skills home and playing with other blind and low-vision golfers he has met.

Thomas acknowledges that the VA is a large system, but he encourages veterans to get involved, ask questions and make use of the programs available to them. For veterans facing a disability, he offers a message of hope: “If you have brain injury, if you’re in a wheelchair, or if you lose your sight like some of us that are out here, there’s hope that you can have fun. You can. And in life, you want to maintain hope, and you want to cultivate your happiness. This event helps cultivate that happiness.”