Adaptive golf bringing the game to individuals with disabilities

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Golf courses once seemed uninviting to individuals with disabilities. But no more.

Adaptive Golf clinics and tournaments in the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry are creating opportunities for everyone to take up the game and even take it to a competitive level.

“Everybody here has a disability,’' says Gary Head, coordinator of the Adaptive Golf Savannah clinic. ”It could be a back issue. It could be PTSD. It could be missing limbs or not having the use of limbs.’’

What nobody at the Crosswinds Golf Club on the second Thursday of every month has is limitations.

Because Adaptive Golf Savannah introduces a side of the game that is inclusive, accessible, therapeutic and a lot of fun.

“It’s great for everybody,’' says Head. ”t’s camaraderie, it’s exercise, it’s out in the sunshine. We have professional golfers here and we have professional physical therapists here who can assess what they can and can’t do without injuring themselves and hurting themselves.’'

Some of the players at the Savannah clinic and a similar one in Beaufort are new to golf.

Some are being re-introduced to a sport they thought they might never play again. All are discovering an ability within themselves.

“It’s wonderful. We started about 12 years ago with a couple of the physical therapists in the area just trying to people out to use this as a form of rehabilitation,’' said Steve Giammona, executive director of Adaptive Golf Experience Beaufort. ”Since then, it’s kind of grown throughout Georgia and throughout the whole country.

“We recently had our first national USGA tournament up at Pinehurst and now it is regularly traveling around the country, bringing folks out to compete at different levels.’'

Several of the players from the local clinics are preparing for the Second Annual South Carolina Golf Classic at Hilton Head Lakes in April.

And competing will be another opportunity to overcome a disability the way Austin Fleming did when he returned to golf after a quitting 30 years earlier when he lost his right leg in 2020.

“They may not even be able to complete the 36 holes, but they get the opportunity to be with the other player,’' says Fleming, tournament director of the South Carolina Golf Classic. ”And everybody is so encouraging because they’re all going through their own challenges. And that’s where you get the most uplift and the most encouragement.’'

But you also get that at the adaptive golf clinics, whether it’s from watching someone who is wheelchair-bound swing with from a specially engineered golf cart, or watching a stroke survivor enjoy the sweet feeling of making contact with a driver.

“I have even played with blind golfers,’' said Head. ”And if you really want to be amazed, play with a blind golfer. I’m talking about a blind golfer who’s in the dark.

“It’s absolutely amazing. And that’s the kind of thing that I feel in my heart, that brings me back here. And it feeds me.’'