MAY 18, 2011 | Vets ♥ SMGA; SMGA ♥ Vets
  

  
Today, I helped out with an SMGA clinic in Watertown, New York.  For those who do not speak in golf acronyms, SMGA stands for Salute Military Golf Association. The SMGA is a not-for-profit organization that provides rehabilitation experiences through golf to wounded veterans.  The organization was co-founded by PGA Professional Jim Estes, the 2010 PGA Patriot Award winner, who was in attendance today. PGA and LPGA Professional and author Judy Alvarez was also in Watertown to help Frank Dorchak get the SMGA’s New York Chapter started out on the right note.
  
The SMGA provides learning experiences through private lessons and group clinics to our wounded men and women in uniform to help them through their rehabilitation process.  Golf can help Vets in their rehab a couple of different ways.  First, golf is of course a sport and requires physical movement.  The golf swing can act as physical therapy for participating Veterans because it involves all parts of a person’s body.  You may be wondering how someone with injuries, sometimes severe, can benefit from therapy that would involve their whole body.  SMGA events are run by trained PGA and LPGA Professionals who know how to work with disabled golfers, even amputees.  
  
These Professionals are experts in the golf swing and know how the body works when swinging a golf club; they discover a person’s limitations and then work around them and focus on their advantages.  For example, a golfer with one leg may have difficulty with balance, but may have fantastic hand-eye coordination and even speed.  PGA and LPGA Professionals will look to minimize their disadvantages and maximize their present skills and abilities. Jim Estes, who is also the PGA Director of Instruction at Olney Golf Park in Olney, Maryland and Judy Alvarez, who also helps with the Wounded Warrior Golf Project, have worked with many patients from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, many of whom suffered very serious injuries during their tenures in Iraq and Afghanistan and are experts in working with seriously injured Veterans.
  
SMGA events can also help Vets through their rehab by simply taking their minds off injuries, surgeries and doctors.  Yes, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an injury, and a very serious one.  Focusing on making their golf swing and game better can allow Veterans to escape to a simple, yet challenging, and fun world of golf!
  
The typical SMGA curriculum stretches over an eight-week or eight-session period that covers everything in golf from putting to driving!  The feedback from participants in the clinics and events has been very positive as I understand it and I was personally amazed by how much fun everyone was having today in Watertown.
  
The SMGA also works with the Folds of Honor Foundation, the brain child of PGA Professional and Major Dan Rooney, which provides scholarships to killed or wounded Veteran’s children and spouses; Folds of Honor also helps spearhead Patriot Golf Day, which raises approximately $5 million every Labor Day weekend.
  
Although many PGA Professionals have learned to teach the golf swing to disabled people through their mentors and coaches, I personally believe that The PGA of America should incorporate a rehabilitation/ disability teaching component to their PGA Golf Management instruction curriculum.  If a PGA Professional’s mission is to spread the game of golf as best as he or she can, then shouldn’t he or she be able to successfully teach all people, not just the “able-bodied?”  Although The PGA does touch on the subject in it’s education, I believe that a more concerted effort should be made so that all people can enjoy the game of golf.
  
The PGA could easily expand on ideas already taught in Checkpoint Seminars and create a more detailed chapter in (or supplement to) the PGA Teaching Manual.  I was lucky enough to meet Judy Alvarez during my Level 2 Checkpoint in 2009 and I thought she did an excellent job portraying ways to teach the disabled, but unfortunately, she doesn’t teach every single seminar.  I hope the PGA Education Department makes it mandatory to teach PGA Apprentices and Students how to give a lesson to people with both minor and major injuries and disabilities (both in self-study courses and in Checkpoint Seminars). PGA Golf Management Universities are at a major advantage in this regard because most will have access to physical education and therapeutic recreation departments on campus.  I am sure most professors would leap at the chance to teach their passion to new students, or this case, golf professionals (as Food and Beverage professors already do).
  
I was very proud to help out today and work with the fantastic military men in attendance.  I look forward to helping our wounded Vets in the future at Malone Golf Club, hopefully as an official SMGA representative.  Veterans (and their families) sacrifice so much for our safety and our way of life, yet sometimes they’re shoved to the side of society and are forgotten.  Participation in SMGA events is just one way that golf professionals can help say “thank you” to our Veterans and help them through difficult periods of their lives and help make their day brighter and more fun.

Accessible golf: Lessons given so pros can teach
 
By Mike Sorensen
 
Deseret News | Wednesday, June 24, 2009 9:38 p.m. MDT

  
For years, Stan Haacke enjoyed golf and played to a 15 handicap when he was struck with bone cancer in his left leg six years ago. After having a large part of his left hip removed, Haacke couldn’t walk normally, with his left leg basically reduced to a weak limb with an inability to support his weight. He figured that, at that point, his golfing days were over.
  
These days, though, you might see Haacke out on the golf course riding in a cart and hopping over to his ball with the aid of crutches. Once he gets to the ball, he puts his feet close together and it takes him several seconds to set up. His swing is unorthodox, with all of his weight on his right foot. But he makes solid contact and, once the ball is in the air, it looks like your typical golf shot.
  
The 49-year-old from Bountiful is actually playing the best golf of his life these days with his handicap down to a 12.9. He has more time to play golf and he makes the most of it.
  
“I can’t hit it as far, but my short game is better,” said Haacke.
  
Bob Wassom is a 59-year-old from Salt Lake who broke his neck when he dove head-first into a shallow reservoir at age 22. He looks able-bodied but, with a fused spine and a fused right ankle, he can’t make the proper moves for a golf swing.
  
Wassom is constantly on medication and says “everything works, but nothing very well.”
  
But watch his shots on the golf course, and they go straight down the fairway. Haacke and Wassom are among the many golfers with disabilities who are beneficiaries of Adaptive Open Golf Classes, which are available at Mick Riley Golf Course throughout the summer.
  
Classes are taught by trained professionals in the Salt Lake County golf system for individuals ages 8 and up with a variety of disabilities. They participate in group or individual lessons and are allowed to bring an assistant or mentor along with them. Salt Lake is one of five areas of the country where these classes are available, thanks to the National Alliance for Accessible Golf, along with Portland, Ore.; Toledo, Ohio; Hattiesburg,Miss.; and Wilmington, N.C.
  
Gary Robb and Judy Alvarez, who work for the NAAG, came to Salt Lake’s Meadow Brook Golf Course last month to teach a couple of dozen golf pros how to teach golfers with disabilities and show off some of the golfing aids available.
  
“We’ve developed a program to integrate people with disabilities into golf,” said Robb, who formerly lived in Utah and now lives in Indiana. “The outcome we hope for is inclusion. People with disabilities haven’t had that accessibility because they haven’t felt welcome and comfortable trying to play golf.”
  
Alvarez has been a teaching pro for a couple of decades and involved with the NAAG since 2001. She spent much of the day at Meadow Brook, showing the golf pros what it’s like for golfers with disabilities to try to learn the game and how to instruct them. She used a variety of examples, such as teaching without talking to the student or putting blindfolds on some and using special golf carts with seats for golfers who can’t walk.
  
“When you’re working with golfers with disabilities, we truly don’t know what they’re going through,” she said. Alvarez said she’s seen what a difference it can make in people’s lives and that people with disabilities just need opportunities. “Golf should be available to anybody regardless of ability or disability,” she said. “There’s more to it than just hitting the ball. There’s the social aspect of it, the family orientation and building self-esteem and self-confidence. It doesn’t matter what your skill level is. You can hit balls on the range or play three holes or nine holes or 18 holes.”
  
Robb added, “We believe golf is a great vehicle to get people with disabilities more active with something they can do for the rest of their lives with family and friends. Success to us is not necessarily in numbers, but that people with disabilities feel more included.”
  
Haacke said playing golf has made a big difference in his life since he saw a notice on a bulletin board for golfers with disabilities.”There are all kinds of guys like me in the same situation who don’t know where to turn,” he said. “I know there are others out there sitting on their couch, not knowing what’s available to them. You have no idea what your new life will allow.”
  
The Adaptive Open Golf Classes, under the direction of Jeff Burley of the Salt Lake County Recreation Department, have been going since May, with weekly sessions at Mick Riley Golf Course from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays or on Saturday mornings from 9 to 10. Private golf classes are also available at Mick Riley, which has two special golf carts, worth $5,500 apiece, available for golfers with disabilities.
  
For questions, call Copperview Recreation Center (801-561-0075) or Mick Riley Golf Course (801-266-8185).E-MAIL: sor@desnews.com
  
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Friday, December 12, 2008

Grant, Golf Helps Veterans Rehabilitate

By David Shefter, USGA | April 18, 2008 | Solorider

Temple Terrace, Fla. – David Windsor hovers over his pupil, issuing instructions in the kind of upbeat enthusiastic tone one expects from a teaching professional.

“Hit down on the ball… We don’t want to scoop the ball… You gripped it too tight… I want to see that follow through… Sweep the tee… Good!… Great follow through there…Look at that. Great shot!”

The hyper-energetic Windsor, a 37-year-old from upstate New York who now resides and works in Sarasota, Fla., repeats this routine for the rest of the abbreviated round. Walking the course with his ball-picker, he is constantly chatting, whether it is rudimentary tips for his pupil or doling positive information about his special program to a visitor.

On this particular morning along Florida’s west coast, the fundamentals being disseminated by Windsor are to a young man with severe disabilities who is using golf as a rehabilitation tool.

Michael Kuhn, a 29-year-old from Ocala, Fla., was on leave from the U.S. Navy when he suffered horrific injuries from a car accident. Currently confined to a wheelchair, Kuhn’s speech is slurred and his fingers are slightly deformed, the result of traumatic brain damage that has affected his nervous system. Even before the accident, Kuhn had been drawn to golf by his grandfather and the two often played together.

But while the residual affects from the crash ambushed a lot of his physical ability, it didn’t zap Kuhn’s desire and passion to play golf again.

AGE Director David Windsor, left, has been extremely pleased with the physical progress Michael Kuhn has made on the golf course over the last four months. (John Mummert/USGA)

Thanks to Florida Adaptive Golf, and specifically the American Veterans Adaptive Golf (AVAG) program just outside of Tampa, Kuhn is again enjoying the game. His family makes the weekly 80-minute drive so he can participate. With the help of a specialized single-rider car and individualized instruction, Kuhn is slowly rehabilitating his body and muscle movements.

“If you could see Michael last November when he was here [for the first time] and then to see how much he has improved, it’s amazing,” said Windsor, whose energy could be slipped into anyone’s coffee for a pick-me up. “He could only bring [the club] back this far (pointing to his hip) before he started his downswing. Now you can actually see he is taking the club further back. Right now he is hitting it good when he connects.

“His mobility is increasing and that is helping him function better in doing daily chores. Just when he goes to put on his shoes in the morning, it makes a difference. The guys here have made him part of the team. He feels great. And he wants to come here because this is where his friends are.”

Getting Started

Meeting every Friday morning at the nine-hole executive Terrace Hill Golf Course, the USGA-supported AVAG program gives military veterans with disabilities – both physical and mental – the opportunity to receive free golf instruction and play the game. For some, it’s a chance to rehabilitate. For others, it’s a therapeutic social gathering, a chance to join a group with others sharing the same predicament.

For those who need them, equipment and single-rider cars are available. Many of the clubs have special shafts that make hitting the ball easier for those with disabilities. Ken Walters, the president of the Adaptive Golf Foundation board, also is a member of the Professional Clubmakers Society. He has used modern shaft technology to build clubs that better fit individuals with a disability.

Yet without the assistance of 52-year-old Terrace Hill head pro Ken Juhn and the cooperation of the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, AVAG never would have gotten off the ground. It now serves as an auxiliary to the pre-existing Florida Adaptive Golf program, which has been in operation since 1998 (it received non-profit status in 2006).

Florida Adaptive Golf is a byproduct of Adaptive Golf, the brainchild of amputee Sonny Ackerman. Ackerman started a program 16 years ago in Suwanee, Ga., and formally founded the organization in ’96 (it received non-profit status in 2002). Since then, Adaptive Golf has expanded beyond Georgia. Ackerman died in 2006 and Windsor now acts as the executive director for both the Adaptive Golf Foundation and Florida Adaptive Golf.

With his Sarasota program now a major success – he received a $50,000 matching USGA grant in February 2007 for instruction, equipment and single-rider cars – Windsor took the necessary steps to expand. Last June, he wrote a letter to the Tampa VA hospital, explaining what Florida Adaptive Golf had accomplished over the previous nine years. A week later, he was put in touch with Steve Scott, the head of physical therapy, who in turn contacted Bob West, a Vietnam War veteran and amputee who volunteers as a counselor for hospital patients.

At the time, West was working with Randy Gallup, who had served in the Gulf War and recently lost his arm and nearly his legs in a motorcycle accident. His wife of three weeks also tragically passed in the accident, leaving Gallup in a depressive disposition.

Through the grapevine, West had heard about Windsor’s special golf program. He knew plans were in the works to have a special day in November, but he was hoping to get a group of disabled individuals out to the golf course earlier. The ever-eager Windsor didn’t hesitate to accommodate the request.

So on Sept. 28, 12 individuals participated in what has now become a weekly Friday session of lessons, golf and socializing.

That original group of 12 grew as plans were finalized for a special Veteran’s Day weekend community day. Windsor worked closely with the hospital while also procuring sponsorship from SoloRider, a Colorado-based single-rider golf car company whose owner, Monroe Berkman, lives in Tampa and is a polio survivor. Judy Alvarez, a teaching pro in the PGA of America’s Wounded Warrior Project, was also invited. In fact, it was Alvarez’s program that was the genesis for Windsor to create AVAG.

Because so many military personnel from the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered physical and mental injuries, Windsor and others saw the need to use golf as the ideal therapeutic treatment.

Golf Therapy

More than 350 individuals – some from the VA and others that were not – participated, making the entire day an overwhelming success. The disabilities ranged from amputees to those suffering from strokes or mental traumas as well as other ailments such as cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.

Program participants who never thought golf was a viable recreational opportunity now have discovered its inherent values, both spiritual and physical. Even those suffering from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) depart a Friday session with an entirely different outlook.

“They come back to the hospital talking golf,” said Jim Switzer, the amputee case manager for James Haley Hospital. “Many can’t wait to get back out again.”

Windsor and Juhn never know how many in-patients are going to show from the VA on a given Friday. But they can always count on their regular out-patients, most of whom are Vietnam veterans like West and Jerry Lemoyne, who lost his right leg during combat. West had his left leg amputated due to Agent Orange exposure that eventually led to diabetes and later forced doctors to perform the surgery in 2001. In Vietnam, West started out in the infantry and was later transferred to the military police. He was in Saigon during the Tet Offensive and later served as the chief of security for the VA hospital in Palo Alto, Calif.

At a recent Friday get-together, West and his fellow cohorts are milling around the driving range, swapping stories and jokes. Many are impressed by Kevin Vigilione, a formal Navy man (1975-78). Up until a few weeks ago Vigilione had never picked up a club. He moved to Florida four years ago and last year broke his left leg doing construction work. The leg required amputation after developing a severe staph infection known in the medical world as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Before his injury Viglione was an avid recreational ice hockey player.

He discovered AVAG through the VA and decided to give golf a try. It turns out he was a natural. His easy, free-flowing swing gave the appearance of a 20-year veteran of the links, not someone playing for the second time ever.

“It’s a nice group to be involved in,” said Viglione, who still hopes to skate again. “We’ll see how it goes. I’m not committed to [golf].”

The longer he spends time around people like West and Lemoyne, Viglione might find swinging a club more enjoyable than taking a slap shot.

West stood there sporting a freshly minted Florida Gators air-brushed tattoo on his prosthetic left leg. He played one year of freshman football at the school.

“We have a lot of fun,” said the retired West. “I tell you what, I am hitting the ball farther now than when I had both legs. This program is helping tremendously.”

Added Lemoyne: “[At first] I couldn’t get the ball in the air for one thing. I am playing a lot better now.”

West, Lemoyne and others have formed the American Veterans Amputee Support Team (AVAST). They serve as mentors to first-time participants from the hospital as well as other players with disabilities who discover the program.

That would include 60-year-old Al Landers, a non-veteran diabetes sufferer from St. Petersburg. The disease got so bad that doctors had to amputate several toes before finally taking his right leg. Three of his toes don’t have any bones in them. Landers played before his disability and regularly shot in the high-80s. He found AVAG through a local amputee group and his outlook on life went from grim to exultation. And now, thanks to a single-rider car, he’s able to enjoy golf again.

“I’m so happy,” said Landers, trying to fight back emotional tears of joy. “I get choked up about it because I’m so excited with what is taking place. I don’t feel handicapped at all. It’s a little different playing this way, but it will always be different for me. You get used to it and go on from there.”

Kevin Viglione, left, took quickly to Terrace Hill G.C. pro Ken Juhn’s instructions in just his second visit to the American Veterans Adaptive Golf program in Temple Terrace, Fla. (John Mummert/USGA)

Landers has since become an advocate for golfers with disabilities. He is trying to fight through bureaucratic paperwork to get the city of St. Petersburg to purchase a single-rider car for the Mangrove Bay Golf Course. The American Disabilities Act (ADA) requires all public and semi-public to provide handicap access, but that doesn’t mean they are purchasing specialized golf cars or are required to do so.

On a separate note unrelated to ADA requirements, Berkman said all military golf courses – 165 are listed worldwide – plan to purchase at least two single-rider cars over the next few years so that individuals with disabilities can enjoy the game.

Not only does Berkman own SoloRider, but he also uses the product. The electric cars can be operated by hand and the seat swivels to allow for shots to be played while sitting in the vehicle. Using hydraulics, the seat is able to prop up and get the player in the proper angle and posture for a shot to be played. And the vehicles are safe enough to drive through bunkers or greens without causing any damage to the course.

“Look at me,” says Berkman, now 67, “I’ve been playing for six years when I shouldn’t be able to. With this cart, it’s a source to continue playing.”

A Ray Of Hope

Ray Garcia, 28, is charming and affable. He grew up playing football and baseball in his native Texas. On the surface, he looks like your normal military man replete with a tattoo on his left arm. Following high school graduation, he joined the U.S. Army and has since served four tours of duty – three in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

Everything about Garcia looks normal, outside of a couple of physical scars – on his arm and buttocks – the result of coming in close contact with an IED (improvised explosive devices) on five occasions.

Garcia is a mess mentally. While in Iraq, he watched in horror as insurgents shot up his gunner. His fallen comrade had already written death letters for his family, and Garcia had the unenviable task of mailing them back to the U.S. He also has killed.

This has caused depression and led him down a path of heavy drinking. It’s also affected his family; Garcia is married with two daughters, ages 12 and 4.

Fortunately, Garcia still has the use of all his extremities. But his mental problems – he has PTSD – led him to be admitted to James Haley Hospital in Tampa. Through his therapy sessions, Garcia’s doctors and therapists recommended AVAG as a rehabilitation avenue.

During the short ride from the hospital to the course, Garcia told his recreational therapist, Kathryn Bryant, that he wasn’t sure if playing golf was a good idea. Like so many first-timers to AVAG, he had a pre-determined negative attitude toward the game. Then he met Juhn on the driving range and all the pessimism and anxieties were instantly swept away. Suddenly there was joy in swinging a golf club and making solid contact. Juhn then took Garcia out to play a few holes. At the short par-3 ninth, his second and final hole of the day, the free-swinging Garcia sent his tee shot onto the green, some 25 feet above the flagstick. He lined up his putt as if he were Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open, and just like the world’s top player, he sent the curling right-to-left putt in the hole for a par.

Not long after the abbreviated round, Garcia was back on the practice range, hitting golf balls. AVAG added another patient to the hooked list.

“I can’t describe the feeling I’ve got now,” said Garcia, who was admitted on March 2. “It’s phenomenal. Wow! I didn’t think it was this easy.”

Added Bryant: “This particular golf program is exceptional. It provides so many secondary and tertiary benefits. It’s a real motivator. The community re-integration is a real motivator.

“[In Garcia's case], he was glad to get the lessons because now he has the confidence to get out there and try a new recreational pursuit.”

Future Plans

Long-term, Windsor is hoping to take AVAG to every VA hospital. Plans are in motion for programs to start in Gainesville, Fla., Denver, Colo., Portland, Maine, Syracuse, N.Y., and Rochester, N.Y.

“Nothing happens fast enough for me,” said Windsor.

Windsor also has developed a training manual for all of his instructors on how to teach the various disabilities. Working with a stroke victim, for instance, is much different than teaching someone who has lost a leg or has cerebral palsy.

Led by Foundation president Walters, the board of directors is working diligently to have each program instructor properly certified. Consistency is the key, even if the teachers aren’t PGA of America professionals.

In fact, Bob Howser, an original Florida Adaptive Golf participant in Sarasota, now is a mentor for 13 juniors who come regularly to the Bobby Jones Complex. He also has three more juniors in Venice, Fla., and a program is about to start in Bradenton. Howser, a World War II veteran, rose to sergeant major in the Army, which is the highest rank anyone can achieve without attending West Point. Howser was on the south shore of England during the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944.

“Dave saw that I had potential because I am a retired sergeant major,” said Howser.

To successfully expand, Windsor understands the need to secure more funding. The USGA’s financial assistance has provided a boost, but now he is looking beyond golf associations. Someday, he hopes to have major corporate sponsorship. But considering a year ago AVAG was a still a pipe dream, Windsor is seeing movement at warp-like speed.

Adaptive Golf Programs have launched or are launching soon in Greenville, S.C., Roanoke, Va., Overland Park, Kan., and Augusta, Ga.

If he were still alive today, founder Ackerman would likely be proud of what Windsor has accomplished in such a short period of time.

“I think this is going to end up more than just being a dream,” said Windsor. “Big things like that (having a program in every VA hospital) I know can happen. They have happened. That’s going to be our goal.

“I know the PGA wants more people involved in the game. Our Play Golf America initiative has focused on minorities, women and juniors, and now they are starting to turn to the disabled community. This is just a whole new segment [of players].”

Windsor likes to tell the story of Tom Boyle, who suffered a stroke while playing at the University of South Florida course. His buddies all thought he had passed out because of the heat, but it turned out to be much more serious. Boyle was paralyzed on his left side, leaving him the ability to swing a club with just his right arm. When Boyle first started in Windsor’s program, he could barely get the club back. Through hard work and instruction, Boyle was able to finally make a strong shoulder turn.

A year after being in the program, Boyle was at a local course in Sarasota when he reached a par-3 hole. He took out his 7-wood and made perfect contact. The ball soared toward the flagstick and eventually into the hole for an ace.

“He ran into my pro shop at Foxfire and gave me a big hug,” said Windsor. “He told me I wouldn’t believe what he just did. He told me he could hardly play the last couple of holes. He was trying to call everybody. That’s when I knew we were doing something special.”

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.