Matthew Gamble is so used to the daily challenges of life that he believes he has become something of an arch problem solver; whether that’s cooking spaghetti carbonara one-handed in his flat in Fulham, London, or aiming to hit a golf ball 180 yards over a lake to the flag on a windy day.
In golf, the 25-year-old Englishman has a flowing golf swing with a high finish that a tour professional might be proud of. Unlike the tour pro’s he watches on TV, Matthew swings with his left arm only (in tennis terms, like a back-hand shot).
As ‘G4D’ (golf for the disabled) continues to grow for a great many golfers with physical, neurological, sensory and intellectual disabilities, different players seek different things. Some will play for fun, friendship, exercise, others will endeavour to discover just how far their potential can take them in terms of improvement. This subject is a fascination to Matthew as he works hard in the gym, and on the practice range, striving to shave shots off his already impressive 7.0 golf handicap, which only three years ago was 20. (A handicap of seven means he would expect to tackle a par 72 golf course in 79 shots.)
He wonders how far he can progress and, at his age, and with only 10 years in golf so far, he’s in a good place to find out for himself, playing as much as possible in EDGA G4D tournaments, and club matches and competitions at Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club with his local friends.
It could have been so different. A huge trauma for the family when the accident happened in a field in Kent, southern England, in 2002, when the then three-year-old Matthew lost a lot of his right arm in a lawnmower accident.
The field was adjacent to his Grandfather’s garden and they had been cutting the grass with the ride-on mower as was needed every Spring. Matthew slipped under the mower. Fortunately, today Matthew remembers nothing of the accident but he has been told that if it hadn’t been for the rapid arrival of a helicopter from Kent Air Ambulance, he would likely not have survived.
Later, when Matthew was 15, his Grandfather Richard walked with him into the very same field so the teenager could try golf for the first time. He offered Matthew a pitching wedge which he took in his outreached hand, held it, and established the feeling of hefting a club. He swung the wedge and his life changed again. They stood 50 yards from the scene of the accident.
Since that day, the game has helped Matthew find lasting friends who he loves meeting whenever his work in London as a banking regulator permits. Matthew will tell you that golf has helped him build necessary confidence as a person with a disability in an at times judgemental world. His family has been so committed in their support over the years that in return he wants to achieve only good things for everyone he is close to; and the high level of focus he puts into his golf and work can help him to achieve these aims.
“Family and friends play an important role in being that support network around you,” Matthew tells us. “When I was younger, looking out for you when you’re doing hundreds of different things, especially my Mum – just for example going on a family holiday and understanding the need to call a bike centre before you go, to make sure that they can adapt the bike to work for me.
“These are all challenges and they don’t want you to miss out on doing something. Then obviously with friends when you’re at school, there’s another support network pushing you forward, encouraging you, and that’s so important throughout life.”
In the field in Kent, his Grandfather made a small, rough golf hole and encouraged Matthew to hit the first shots. The boy had liked watching the major US tournament ‘The Masters’ on TV and was immediately keen, then when he went to university he joined its golf society and “then just made loads of friends”.
Matthew adds: “Golf is now really important. Whether just playing for fun, G4D competitions, club competitions, or working with our club coach Josh White on all the technique, and just enjoying all the creative parts of the game, it gives you a sense of purpose and is great for your physical and mental wellbeing.
“Golf has become quite a serious hobby but then there is also the social side, I’ve met so many people, whether that be through EDGA or just my old school friends who have started playing, it keeps us all in contact.”
Matthew talks a lot about the creative side of golf and “problem solving”, something he has needed to do lots of both in his thinking about life generally, and the nitty-gritty day-to-day.
“I certainly had a few ups and downs early on in school. I remember being bullied a bit, but I learned quite quickly to create a bit of a hard shell. Words don’t particularly affect me. I’ve learned how to just push them away and stand up for myself. I’ve definitely had to stand up for myself.”
Although never thinking too much about his limb difference, he admits that inevitably a lot of life’s more daunting aspects revolved around being a teenager, meeting girls for the first time, establishing his independence, all “social challenges” as he calls them. Golf helped break down the barriers, and helped to forge his sense of identity – one reason he elects not to use a prosthetic to play golf, saying, “Why change something real?” (he does however use prosthetics for key tasks like cycling and driving a car). Today you meet a well-adjusted 25 year-old Londoner who who works hard – in his job at the Bank of England – and plays hard, in a happy friendship group that since 2019 has included his girlfriend Sophie, who has been a willing caddie at recent G4D tournaments.
Matthew is an easy-going person, a lively conversationalist, so it can become all too easy to forget what having one arm means, how it can affect a person every day in every physical process: facing new technologies, new products, from going on a journey in London, to cooking your evening meal. Matthew is in no doubt that his having one arm has given him a unique outlook on the challenges in front of him.
“You have to be like that because every day there’s a new problem to overcome. It can be as small as learning how to cook something, but you won’t be able to do it in quite the same way as they explain on the YouTube video. So you have to adjust: let’s think about how I can actually do this. That builds up your resilience when you’re surrounded by the ‘able bodied’ world.”
This problem solving also fosters creativity, a part of golf Matthew loves.
“I’m obsessed with understanding how to swing the golf club with one hand and what issues this creates. I constantly ask my coach Josh questions about why I’m doing this, to understand, with my one hand on the club – does it mean that I’m going to be unable to get the club here, or be able to keep the same wrist angle? Just all those sort of things. I love to understand, and I’ve become a bit of a self-taught kind of ‘golf swing nerd’. Working all that out with one hand is just a puzzle in itself.”
By playing G4D tournaments it has also helped Matthew to realise the genuine value of sharing trust and mutual respect with others who face similar challenges, in what has become a strong new friendship group.
“I think when it comes to G4D and EDGA, I was 21 when I realised that there was another world and community of people out there. There were older members, who had experiences of dealing with life’s challenges with a disability, and they were happy to share their experiences and offer words of wisdom. There is a really supportive community in G4D.
“I guess my message for any youngster is to be realistic. There will be challenges you will have, you’ll probably doubt yourself a little bit as you grow up and it’s unrealistic to say everything’s going to be absolutely perfect, but it’s important to realise that there’s a huge community of people out there, like with EDGA in golf, who care and want to help you. And actually, when you take up a sport or a hobby that people may doubt a person with a disability can do, and you do it just as well as any other person or perhaps better, then trust me, the reactions you get are pretty incredible and drive you forward.”
Looking ahead, Matthew has put in a lot of strength and fitness work as he seeks to push himself towards longer drives, and gain more stability and power in the swing, while recognising that it will be important in his later life to ensure there is strength, suppleness and a healthy balance around his left shoulder, which isn’t designed to take on the workload of a powerful golf swing on its own. Matthew will also say he doesn’t yet work enough on every aspect of the game. He admits to being obsessed with wedge shots, interestingly the first club he was handed by his Grandfather Richard.
In 2024, Matthew qualified for The G4D Open held at Woburn, the flagship tournament staged by The R&A in partnership with the DP World Tour, supported by EDGA. Describing it as “an awesome event” in which 80 players contested from 19 countries, he now seeks more competitive highs like this in the 2025 season and beyond. Along with his coach Josh, he thanks Ben Davies from Front Nine Fitness, all the team at Caddi Club and also Mizuno for their expert support.
Matthew is on a journey as a golfer who happens to have one arm, and is intrigued as to what level he can reach as a player. Focus, the fun of playing and all the great friendships he has made, are what drives Matthew now as we talk about those first shots in that field in Kent which inspired him. Each day presents a new challenge as does every hole on a golf course, but Matthew’s story shows that if you keep practising the wedge shots, and the spaghetti carbonara, you will find the solutions.
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