How Olli Ingram is pioneering golf for everyone

For Olli Ingram, it all started with a stag do. 

The Mansfield native picked up a set of golf clubs for the first time in 2021 - simply wanting to avoid disgracing himself on the course at a close friend’s stag party in Portugal. 

After sustaining an incomplete spinal cord injury nine months later, Ingram is now a pioneer in the sport and hopes to take golf to places it has never been before. 

“I’m quite proud of myself and my resilience,” said Olli. “I think my girlfriend and parents are too. 

“To believe that I could possibly make a difference to other people, that’s such a massive, amazing thing to think about. 

“Let’s get people moving, because for people who are in a similar position to me, there is light at the end of the tunnel and it does get better.”

Olli plays with the assistance of the Paragolfer, an incredible piece of technology developed by a German medical equipment manufacturer. 

Deployed with the support of the Matt Hampson Foundation, the Golf Trust and Edwalton Golf Course, it allows him to stand up while playing shots.

He has learned to adapt to hitting the ball a shorter distance off the tee, noting a marked improvement in his putting and short game.

“When I first encountered the machine, it looked a bit scary,” he said. “I have an incomplete spinal cord injury, so I have movement in my legs to a degree and it is getting better, so that gives me the push to carry on.

“It was quite hard to adapt to at first and I’m still adapting. But I was always very determined to have a go and I managed to do it.”

The Paragolfer has given Olli a lot more than just better putting technique.

“When I’m out on the golf course, it’s like I’ve got myself back,” he says. “I just love being on the machine, the freedom of moving about in it, being able to stand up and hug my Mum and Dad. Just being able to do something small like that becomes massive.”

By sharing his journey with his social media followers and telling his story in a powerful way, Olli is finding lots of doors are now opening for him. 

He plays in tournaments all around the world, most recently in Mallorca, and hopes to do so even more in the coming years.

He is now coaching other players, has recently recorded content with Sky Sports and ITV and struck up a friendship with Mike Tindall through the Matt Hampson Foundation. 

On coaching, Olli recalled one particularly impactful moment.

“I was coaching a lady who had never picked up a golf club before, having had an accident more than a decade ago,” he remembers. “When she started off, she couldn’t hit the ball, but she spent an hour in the Paragolfer and by the end she was pinging them 30 yards.

“Seeing the smile on her face was amazing, I’m very grateful that I was able to be a part of that. To be able to give someone that feeling just for a few hours, is such a gift.”

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