“In off-time from school I played in local clubs in Greenville starting when I was about 14,” Phil recalls. “In Spartanburg we played at places like the Four Seasons, the Longhorn Supper Club and private parties.”

Those times were only memories from another life, the world of sight, before the bright future that should have been his vanished.

“I was very depressed when I came home,” Phil remembers. “I would not touch my guitar. My music was basically over.”

Languishing about one day, Phil absentmindedly touched the keys on his mother’s old piano. It had been a fixture in the house all of his life and yet he’d never even thought about learning to play it.

One plink lead to another and soon Phil’s uncanny musical ability was producing some “hot” sounds. His family was amazed and word spread fast.

Phil learned that music is the ultimate equalizer. Being blind in this world didn’t matter.

“Someone asked me if I’d play keyboard in their band. That brought me back,” he smiles.

Not only was Phil back to music, he was engaged in life again and finding a way to support his young family. He was determined to become an even better musician and devoted himself to practice.

Being a free-lancing musician on the east coast, doing studio work near home, and playing area gigs during the 70’s and 80’s was an exciting and creative time for Phil.

He connected with BMI and added songwriting to his repertoire of talents.

One of his songs, “Down on the Sand,” recorded in 1987 by artist Little Royal, contains lyrics where Phil tells us all about the grit to go on when “life’s got you down… all you need is a little sand in your soul.” Check out “Down in the Sand” under Music at www.philblackwell.com.

While rich in musical experience, those years were also filled with the ugliness of discrimination that was not only racial. “When we would pull into a motel or restaurant we would all be stressed,” Phil recalls. “Many times I would be asked to leave because of my Seeing Eye Dog.”

There were also lighter moments on the road. “They always made me carry the money,” Phil laughs. “If we were held up, no one would figure the blind guy had anything.”

“It’s not just being blind that gets me down sometimes,” Phil explains. “Yeah, there are rejections and so much I would like to do that I can’t, but I’m like everybody. I have my ups and downs. I have my faults.”

His awe and love for Sybil over their 44 years together is obvious. “For a lady to put up with me and all of my transitions and things that have happened to me in my life – she’s a much better person than me. There’s no doubt.”

Phil was slowing down and looking to spend more time with his family in the winter of 1997 when his son-in-law, Rod, convinced the family to surprise him with what he thought would be a great Christmas gift – a set of three clubs.

Phil feigned delight but was actually very disappointed and even thought it might be a joke. “I was thinking, why would they give me golf clubs? I didn’t know anything about golf.”

But since Rod was an enthusiastic golfer, and also he was his son-in-law after all, Phil gave in to his invitation to go to the driving range but regretted it almost immediately.

“When I came home, I said to him, ‘Don’t take me back, Rod. I don’t want to do this.’ In addition to not finding anything positive about being at the driving range, Phil was also worried about the other people that he couldn’t see. “I was afraid I was going to hit somebody in the head.”

However, Rod was persistent and so Phil went along with golf. Even though the game was perplexing at least he was getting outside and spending time with Rod which was enjoyable.

Rod soon found a valid reason to be encouraging. He commented to Phil one day that he had natural rhythm in his swing that perhaps was somehow linked to his ability with music, and that this gave him an advantage.

“Rod was a very good instructor but he didn’t know what it required for me to play golf as a blind person,” Phil remarks.

After a period of about three months Rod took Phil to a Par Three golf course. By this time Rod had learned his role as Phil’s assistant or “coach.”

Like other things in his life that ignited his interest, once Phil decides to take something on, he gives it his all. Now golf was in that category and, oh, boy, this was just the beginning of things to come. Phil was hooked and anxious to get going.

The rules of golf for the blind and how their coaches assist:

• The rules are essentially the same as for sighted players, however, blind golfers may place their clubs on the ground in a sand trap or a hazard.
• Coaches are permitted to assist in foot placement, offer advice on clubs and distance, as well as place the club behind the ball.

Phil doesn’t realize that sometimes he is downright amazing. Keep in mind that he’s playing in total darkness.

In his unassuming demeanor he says, “I can see every shot I play in a round.”

Phil has the remarkable ability to memorize a golf course. “If I can play a course once, I can get a pretty good idea how I want to play it,” he adds.

Phil hit the ground of golf running. He had qualified for membership to the USBGA near the end of 1998, and about six months later in June, 1999 Phil and Rod played in the Georgia USBGA Golf Tournament in a tremendous amount of rain but managed to win First Place. This first win was motivating and Phil devoted himself to practice. It paid off big time.

Astoundingly, in September of 2000, Phil won First Place at the International Blind Golfer’s Association (IBGA) Millennium 2000 World Championship in Edinburgh, Scotland.

It appears that there’s a pattern in Phil’s life to achieve extraordinary feats but almost never in the usual order. But this is the way he does things -- he won the World Championship first, then he won the USBGA National the next year. Go figure.

So, it was in June, 2001, a little less than a year after their World Championship First Place win, that Phil and Rod won First Place at the USBGA National (referred to as “the Masters for the Blind”) in Mount Kisco, New York. (They didn’t know it then, but this would be their first win with five more to come as of this writing.)

Following are the incredible stats and that Phil accomplished along the way since picking up those 3 clubs in 1998:

• 20 First Places out of 29 sanctioned tournaments
• First Place 2000 Millennium World Championship, IBGA, Scotland
• 6 times – First Place, “Masters for the Blind,” Mount Kisco, New York
• 4 times - First Place, USGBA National Championship
• Second Place, IBGA World Championship, Canada
• Second Place, Regional Tour, Arizona
• Second Place, Masters
• Second Place, USBGA National
• Third Place, USBGA National
• Fifth Place, Japan Invitational

Phil has found that like music, golf is another way for a blind person to engage with the sighted world on the same footing. “Golf is a great equalizer,” he says.

Phil is 63, retired, and living in Greenville, South Carolina. However, the main thing to say about Phil today is that he is far from ever being “retired” -- from golf or any other of his interests. He is a member and past president of the USBGA, and also a member of American Blind Golf.

Phil lives in a state of mind that’s open to inspirations that might help him to always be “moving forward.” He continues to rack up impressive golf stats, plays great music, writes songs and is venturing deeper into his artistic side with pottery.

Phil is passionate about sharing what he has learned in his life with others.

I feel like what I have in me from my life experiences – if I could share it with anybody and it could make a difference that would be the next step in my life.

It’s a learning process. If you grab hold of those things that could make a difference, I think you can take that next step. And I have slowly done that with the ups and down in my life as best I could.

I hope that someone else will say, ‘I could be doing that maybe or I could get out and do something.’

And I hope that that would inspire somebody that’s lost some vision or is blind or is vision-impaired.

There are some things we can attempt and enjoy. That’s what I hope I can pass on to someone else. I feel I owe it to that someone, and I want to give it to that someone.”

With love, music, and a “little sand in his soul,” Phil Blackwell will be out there finding a way to share his message with others.