Jimmy Murray has always been sporty. He competed in athletic events right into his 40s and now, in his 60s, he regularly plays golf for his country.

His achievements sound impressive, until you realise that Jimmy is blind -- then they enter the realm of the incredible. He has just finished representing the Republic in the World Blind Golf Championships in Belfast, where he achieved his goal of finishing in the top 20.

He is the founding member of the Irish Blind Golf Society, and lives in Greenhills, Dublin, with his wife of over 30 years, Maureen, who is also blind.

They have one son, Brendan (32), who currently lives in Australia. Jimmy tells his story to Declan Cashin.

'I'm originally from Kilkenny, but I moved to Dublin when I was young to attend St Joseph's School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Drumcondra. It was a big cultural shock when I first arrived there, but then I met lads from all over the country who were in the same position, so it helped me to just get on with it.

I've had low vision my entire life, but it has deteriorated seriously in recent years. In terms of blind golf, there are three categories of vision: B1 is totally blind, B2 is very low vision, and B3 is the best. I am in the B2 category.

I didn't start playing golf until much later in life, but I was always interested in sports, particularly athletics. Even when I was in my 40s, I used to run at events organised by Irish Blind Sports.

I rely a lot on memory and instincts in all areas of life, including golf. I never had a guide dog. Maureen had one for years, but I never thought of getting one. I thought I'd get by OK and I always did. For instance, I do the shopping twice a week, and I cook for myself and Maureen a couple of times a week too. It's not a bother to me.

Maureen is from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. Like myself, she also had some vision when she was younger before it deteriorated. She tells a great story about how we met. We were both at a dance in the Tara Towers when I approached her and asked her to buy me a pint.

According to Maureen that's true, and I don't contradict her! I thought it was a great opening line.

Setting up a home together wasn't that great a challenge to us. Like every other married couple, we had our obstacles along the way, but we had great support from relatives and friends, as well as our neighbours here in Greenhills. It's not as big a problem as it would appear from the distance.

We have a son named Brendan. He's 32 now, and has been living in Sydney for five years. Brendan has perfect vision. It was a great relief to us when the doctors told us that. Genetically, the chance was 60:40 in our favour that he would be born without any problems. We fell onto the lucky side.

It was a bit tricky raising a child, but you learn your way around it pretty quickly. He was a good lad which was a huge help. We made sure that his home life was as normal as possible. We wanted him to do everything his pals were doing and not be inhibited by our disability.

He's coming home for a visit in September, but it's easy to keep in contact with email and everything else. Our computer at home has the JAWS system, which is software that reads out the various functions and the information from the screen. Maureen had no problem with it because she was a genuine touch typist before and she taught me then.

I worked as a telephonist in the Ulster Bank head office on College Green for 26 years before retiring in 2002. I have very happy memories of my time there. I was active in the bank's golfing group, which was a great help to me in my early stages of learning to play.

I started playing golf seriously through my association with Irish Blind Sports. They asked for someone to investigate the golf situation in Ireland for blind people. It was a great challenge when I first started, but one that was very worthwhile because of all the good things that surrounded it.

A group of eight of us started in the Spawell Golf Centre in Templeogue. It's very important for anyone starting the game to have a good level of support, and the staff at Spawell more than did that for us.

I play with the help of my guide, Fergus Fealy. I can see the ball on the tee, but can't see the ball in flight. That's the only visual input I have into it.

The guide is crucial: he lines them up, gives you distance and the clubs to match and reads the situation for you. It's down to me then to do the job. A blind golfer takes full responsibility for what happens with the shot. We never pass any blame on to the guide.

We play as a group about twice a month, but I practise every week with my friend Ian Corr, who is the captain of our golf society. My present handicap is 34, while Ian is playing off 45 at the moment.

My mission now is to attract younger members into the Blind Golf Society who will keep it going. Golf is for all ages so hopefully we'll see more coming in over the next few years. Apart from that I have no other major ambitions left. I'm quite happy the way I am and always try to keep a positive outlook on life.

I have no regrets, they are a waste of energy."

Jimmy is the subject of This is Me on RTE 1 tonight at 7.30pm. You can contact Irish Blind Sports on 01 2020118 www.ibsports.ie

- Declan Cashin