Instructor Gary Hooks demonstrates proper form at Desert Pines.
Photograph courtesy of OPAF.
OPAF hosted a First Swing Learn to Golf on September 3 at the Desert Pines Golf Club, Las Vegas, Nevada, which was led by instructors W.C. Fields and Bob Tipton, PT, members of the National Amputee Golf Association (NAGA), and Gary Hooks, a First Swing instructor. More than a dozen people with amputations and rehabilitation personnel were on hand for three hours of instruction at the driving range.
Another clinic was held September 20 at the Morningstar Golfer’s Club, Waukesha, Wisconsin. Therapists, golf instructors, and O&P professionals were hosted for a morning of classroom instruction in methodology, terminology, adaptive devices, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. NAGA instructors Don Zommer and Dan Cox later challenged the participants to make contact with the golf ball as they swung a golf club with one arm, while standing on one leg, from a seated position in a wheelchair, and with their eyes closed to better understand the challenges facing students as they learn the game. Local participants with amputations, spinal cord or brain injuries, or stroke-related conditions were invited to golf during the afternoon session. Therapists helped participants learn to drive the ball, chip, and putt. The event was underwritten by the Ed Halperin Memorial Golf Outing. Halperin, who had bilateral transtibial amputations, was an avid golfer. The Halperin family attended the event. “[R]arely can you donate to a charity and see firsthand how the money is spent. It was very heartwarming to see Ed’s passion help others,” said Louise Halperin.
