A FERNDOWN woman teed off on her 90th birthday – despite being registered blind.

Irma Keyes, who is blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other, uses a yellow ball to play with her seven friends, known as The Elderberries, at Ferndown Golf Club.

Mrs Keyes, who was born in Egypt, said: “I have a little yellow ball. I put it down and go through the motion to hit the ball.

“But where it goes, I have no idea. When I get to a certain point I place myself so many steps from the green.”

A club member for 32 years, she has used a white stick on normal walks since her sight deteriorated seven years ago.

“I used to sew and do needlework,” Mrs Keyes added. “But now it’s like a veil of mist or fog descends.

“I’m hoping to go on playing.”

Her husband Harry is 91, and needs a buggy to get around the course.

Irma moved to Dorset in 1981 with her late husband of 40 years, a Shell engineer. They settled in Westbourne after posts in Trinidad, South Africa and Borneo.

When he died, she met Harry and they have been married for 25 years.