Mari Berkers appreciates the challenges of the game
Mari Berkers loves golf, what the game brings him, and how it gets his mind working. He took up the sport at the age of 32 in 2011.
“Making the right shot, the personal challenge and the nature, are all part of me loving the game of golf so much. Being out there, in beautiful surroundings, hitting the shots that you visualise, and always trying to beat your lowest score,” says Mari, a business developer for a leading food company from Tilburg in the Netherlands.
Berkers is proud to have represented his country in G4D (golf for the disabled), but wherever he is playing and whoever with, he wants to find the positive experience, like drawing refreshing, clean water out of a deep well.
“I also play because I enjoy competing, in a tournament or against myself during a fun round,” says Mari. “I love all the challenges the game brings. Golf improved my creativity and I learned to solve problems on the spot, thinking outside the box. You learn to never give up and keep a positive mindset.”
For Mari, the intricacies of these challenges, including developing a good golf swing (his WHS golf handicap is 2.5 at the time of writing), all help him to maintain fitness with his condition, and keep him feeling confident on the course and in his wider life.
Mari explains: “I have CP (cerebral palsy) because of oxygen deficiency during birth, so the complete left side of my body (arm, hand, leg and foot) are poorly developed. My left foot is deformed and there is a length difference between my left arm and leg: they are both shorter than my other side.
“My Mother, who passed away recently, always believed in me and gave me all the opportunities to play sports which was especially important when I was a young boy. I learned to accept my body and make the best of it, knowing that I had to practise harder than people with a ‘normal’ body.”
Today, the fitness aspect is very important. “I try to walk as much as possible on the golf course and during training. As I’m getting a bit older it is becoming more difficult to keep in shape but golf reminds me to take care of my body.”
Mari adds: “The most challenging part of playing golf for me is to maintain my balance during the golf swing. It becomes even more challenging if the ball is above or below my feet, as I already lean into the ball because of the difference in length between my legs.”
The convention for many is to be introduced to golf by family or a friend but Mari took the logical step of taking it up because business clients played the game, joining his Golfclub Landgoed Nieuwkerk in 2012. “That’s when the addiction began!” Mari laughs. He then heard about EDGA events through the club’s teaching professional, Kevin Broekhuis, and he remains grateful for Kevin’s advice “to give it a try”. This is also something Mari would say to others, any person with a disability who wants to find a game that can help get them more active and enjoying themselves in the outdoors.
“Besides learning about yourself you will meet a lot of new people and make more friends,” explains Mari. “At our Golfclub, and I think every club, there are a lot of accessible (fun) competitions that are not all about winning.”
Mari will remind you that he was in the same position not that long ago, and he agreed that anyone can enjoy starting the game at any level to suit them, even just putting and chipping, or playing short forms of the game with friends and family.
After a little over 10 years in the game, Mari is still doing this but on a bigger scale. In July, 2024, he took part in the EGA’s European Team Championship for Golfers with Disability (Mari’s fourth time representing his country in this way), held at Golf Club Hösel in Germany. He said it was a privilege to take part with his Dutch teammates led by the National Coach Marcella Neggers. New event rules to enable more competitive team opportunities for players with different impairments met with Mari’s approval. “I saw a lot of new players who I hadn’t seen in previous tournaments and it really felt like an all-inclusive tournament. Also, because all the rounds were played in two teams of two players, you had to adapt to your team mate, and as we all know, good teamwork makes the dream work!”
When we were talking with Mari in August, 2024, he was preparing to represent the Netherlands once more, qualifying for selection via the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability to play for his national team, in the G4D Tour @ Betfred British Masters (26-27 August, 2024) at The Belfry, in England’s West Midlands – this series of events run by the DP World Tour and supported by EDGA.
This followed in May, Mari’s qualification for his biggest individual event so far, The G4D Open held at Woburn, England, which he described as an “amazing” experience. He describes the European Championship and the G4D Tour as the “pièce de résistance” of these EDGA supported tournaments. Mari has played regularly on the EDGA Tour and says: “The EDGA tournaments are organised perfectly on fantastic golf courses and bring lots of players from different countries and different playing levels together in one single event.”
Looking ahead, Mari will be looking to enjoy each moment on the course while seeking to improve, challenging himself. “I would like to get a bit longer off the tee to compete with the young guys, but the thing that I need to improve the most is my short game. I have to become a bit stronger, fitter and a bit more flexible to achieve these goals. This also will help me with my balance and eventually I will hit better shots because of it.”
We ask Mari whether the game can seem at times just too difficult to master? “Well, golf, yes it is difficult to master, but practise makes (almost) perfect. The more energy you put into practise, the better is the result on the golf course.
“Practise does make perfect, so it helps me a lot to get the feel for the right balance in my swing. When you practise you feel your skills improving and it helps me a lot on the course when you have to make a difficult shot. Finally I like to be good on the greens, so that’s what I practise the most. My chipping is something that I want to improve, it is still the worst part of my game, so it’s ‘#workinprogress’.
“To become a better golfer you have to have a teacher or a coach. Because your golf swing is personal a coach can monitor your development and give you the training tools to become a better player,” he explains.
A golfer ultimately plays the shot alone, but Mari understands that you don’t arrive at that moment to swing the club as a person who is alone. He is very much aware that he didn’t get to be a proficient golfer with a 2.5 handicap simply by himself. Mari had explained that his Mother had helped him develop the mindset to get the best out of himself and through golf he his grateful for the encouragement from his club coach Kevin Broekhuis, his friends and not least his caddie, Christine.
Mari concludes: “My girlfriend Christine (love you honey!) has always supported me on the course as a caddie but above all as a person. She has definitely seen the good and the bad but always supported me. My coach Marcella and the Dutch Golf Federation have made it possible for me to compete in the EDGA tournaments and of course all my mates and friends that I have made on and off the course, but especially at my home course of Golfclub Landgoed Nieuwkerk. Everyone only adds to what makes this such a great game for us all.”
NB: When using any EDGA media, please comply with our copyright conditions