Bernie García, resilience and commitment on the green

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After an accident that transformed his body and life forever, Bernie García found in golf a new way to recognize himself and a voice and a platform to spread a message of commitment, resilience, and new ways of understanding society and being more inclusive. Learn more in this exclusive interview for Statement.

What is Adapted Golf?

Straightforward, it is a way of playing golf adapted for people with disabilities. Golf is a very benevolent sport for this sector of the population. Disabled people can play in a wheelchair, with adapted carts, keep playing after having suffered a stroke, or like, in my case, with a paralyzed arm. Full disclosure, I didn’t know anything about this aspect of this sport, and this life, until I started researching. Then I started practicing at home because I wanted to return to sports cause I knew it was something I needed in my daily life, but due to all the disability issues, I had not been able to do it. I began to investigate and discover that there is a world of people who play it, only that in Mexico, there is a lot of ignorance, to the point that many people do not see golf as a sport but as a social issue or business opportunity.

Little is known about golf in Mexico; it is a formidable sport for people like us, and clubs have increasingly strived to create accessible spaces and entrances for people with disabilities.

How did you start your career in adaptive golf?

For me, golf was originally an occasional hobby. I decided to become a professional adaptive golfer, it was only recently since I had my accident 9 years ago, and it was only a year and a half ago that I firmly decided to continue down this road. I had a real estate company and a steady job. When I decided to take up the sport again, golf came with the support of my father, my father-in-law, and the Mexico Golf Club, who have helped me persevere in this dream.

They helped me have everything I needed to participate in my first amateur adaptive golf tournament. There, I finished last but returned with the thorn of saying yes I can have a better level to dedicate myself to this and raise the name of Mexico and adapted golf.

Playing with these people was wonderful, they are very forward-thinking people who do not know self-pity as disabled people, but rather take this as a challenge to move forward. They are a very open community that profoundly welcomes you, supports and helps you, and makes you feel part of something.

In Mexico, we currently have the information of having approximately twenty active adaptive golf players, and of these, perhaps, five have gone to tournaments abroad. Fortunately, my wife, children, and the sponsors have been fundamental in paving the way and persevering in this effort. My wife and I have been together for ten years; she has been my rock, we have been through everything together, and this new adventure is also to show my children that if you want to do something and you put the effort, discipline, and passion into it, things work out because they work out. That’s how I got my first sponsor to organize the first adapted golf tournament at the Mexico Golf Club, with twenty-five players with disabilities.

What led you to create this opportunity in the face of adversity?

After what I have experienced, I am convinced that I am living extra time given to me for some reason that I do not know, but I know that 99% of people who have an accident like the one I had do not get out of it. There’s something you stayed for.

I held a job from Monday to Monday which consumed practically all of my time; I was fully dedicated to real estate, doing well, and had a normal life. But I felt that small emptiness of believing I was not doing anything else for anyone. It was all me, my family, my things, and that’s it.

For me, golf is an excuse to open my mouth and normalize the vision of disabled members of society. Finally, stop being perceived as someone who can’t, need pity or favors; I don’t ask for help or favors. I dedicate myself to this, there is a benefit for the people and brands that support me and I am obliged to deliver results. Golf is a space to raise my voice and share a message for society.

What changed in your mentality after your accident?

Most of us do not take into account disability and what it entails until we become one or have a child who suffers from it. Even with parents, it is often natural for them to understand the passage of time and its consequences. When something happens to you or someone very close to you, you start to consider it.

From this comes a tremendous desire for people to see this. We are not only talking about improving the facilities of companies and their facilities but also about raising awareness and educating at managerial, directive, and social levels to improve dealings with this sector. There I realized that I could do more, and take this platform to, from my trench, seek to help change things for others. Golf is the means to reach the people at the top and make them listen.

What values define you personally as a professional adaptive golfer?

Nowadays, to me, the most important value for me is transparency- letting people know that you are having a hard time. Looking from the outside, seeing a golfer, it is very easy to think that everything is peachy without seeing the work done every day. Also, the empathy and other values that you try to transmit and share with the companies I seek alliances for sponsorships.

What Mexican and international courses would you like to play on and how accessible are these for adaptive golf?

Quivira is a dream; being able to play on a field like that is a dream of mine. Mexico’s province has spectacular fields. In the city, golf is very inaccessible, but in the province, there are certain places where golf is becoming more accessible. It would also be incredible to play in Augusta, St. Andrews in Scotland, and without bragging, here in the city, my home, the Mexico Golf Club is one of the best there is.

Due to logistical reasons, it is not easy for these courses to open their doors to adapted golf, but little by little, we are making way.