First Swing Learn to Golf Clinics were held recently at Desert Pines Golf Club in Las Vegas and Morningstar Golf Club in Waukesha, Wis. The clinics, hosted by the Orthotic & Prosthetic Activities Foundation allowed amputees, spinal cord injury, stroke or brain injury survivors and more to learn or re-learn the game of golf.
Gary Hooks, First Swing instructor, demonstrates proper form for attendees at the First Swing Learn to Golf Clinic in Las Vegas.
Source: Orthotic & Prosthetic Activities Foundation
WC Fields, a bilateral amputee and competitive golfer, Bob Tipton, PT, and Gary Hooks led the 3-hour clinic in Las Vegas, which was attended by more than a dozen amputees and rehab personnel.
“It was a very friendly and open atmosphere. I will recommend [the clinic],” George Gallinari, RN, from the Veterans Administration hospital in Las Vegas, stated in a press release.
The Milwaukee clinic was led by Don Zommer and Dan Cox, National Amputee Golf Association instructors. This clinic included classroom instruction in methodology, terminology, adaptive devices and ADA compliance for patients with physical challenges in addition to the golf session.
“[The clinic] really opened my eyes to the wide world of adaptive golf that even therapists and O&P professionals might not know about,” Josh Schubring, MSOP, recent coordinator for three OPAF First Clinics with Eastern Michigan University’s O & P student organization, stated in a press release.
