COMMUNITY

I don't know about admirable, but I played in a golf tourament this year on a 9 hole course. When we made the turn the starter let a group of 4 kids off no older than 12.

I was absolutely blown away that they let them off. The first kid topped his drive, and the second hit his ball 20 yards. They played that first hole like the 12 year olds that they are.

To their credit and my amazement they never delayed us again, and my pairing was four players with single digit handicaps.

When we finished, I found the kids and told them they could buy anything in the clubhouse they wanted on me. I told them that I was very impressed with their speed of play and that I wanted to thank them properly.

Nice gesture, Lewis.

I hope the Pro Shop was seperate from the clubhouse. Four new sets of clubs could have gotten pretty expensive.

I have seen a man hitting range ball and he only had one leg.

But the one that blow my mind was a boy 11 years old, I know this kid from the school I work at, His legs do not make to knee and both arms do not make it to the elbow. He tees up his own ball and hit driver from 80 to 120 yards plays iron and fairway shots off the ground, The thing his dad told me he love most about golfing is he drives the golf cart. There is not much this boy can not do.

It was the clubhouse...I suppose that could have bitten me pretty good. Good thing 12 year olds are addicted to candy. I also didn't have to deal with a parent asking why a stranger was offering their kids candy...yikes!

There is a guy that plays at my home course alot that only has one arm. From what I have seen of him, he plays pretty good for only having one arm. I dont think that I could ever play with him though. My boss let him play with him and his son earlier this year and they both said that he talked the entire round about off the wall stuff and half of it was really inappropriate stuff. From what I have been told by some of the other guys at the course, he is kind of out there and that is prolly how he lost his arm in the first place. Doing something stupid.

There is also another guy that plays at Tot Hill Farms in Asheboro, NC 'where I grew up 'that lost both of his arms when he was really young and plays to a 12hdcp. If I was able to I would post the link to a news story done on him but if you want you can go to Fox8wghp.com and his video is at the bottom of the page.

Went to search for the video and couldnt find it.

Especially if it wasn't near Halloween.

I have played with a young man who is vision challenged and boy this kid could play beat the tar out of me I shot an 80 he shot 71. Tons of respect and admiration.

My Uncle Ken lives at The Villages in Florida. There is another resident there who had enjoyed the game for many years, but became legally blind.

My Uncle Ken and a few other guys figured out that by using a brightly colored ball and 2 x 4 they could get him aligned well enough to hit the ball. This was the beginning of figuring out how to get him back on the course. They now take 'Ted' out golfing once or twice a week on one of many executive courses at The Villages. They give him the yardage, get him the right club, get the 2 x 4 and everything else set up and let Ted swing away.

They've now been doing this for Ted for about 7 years now.

That is a Great story LedHed81, Thanks for sharing. Amazing how we keep trying to playing golf no matter what our condition is. Just shows how Great this game is.

I too witness a Story of a elder man ( in his 80"s ), I was a member @ Baywood in Pasadena Texas. He was playing with his 4 buddies and they were in front of my group of 4 too. I knew the fella somewhat, he played every day and he had been a member for 20+ yrs there. He and his gang were High Handicappers but there Love for this game never stopped them from keep trying and having fun. I'd heard his lowest score was 91 @ that course.

As they were reaching the 18th Green, he fell over. We were on the 18th Tee box just tee-ing off, as we drove down the cart path we could see someone down and the 3 others surrounded around him. I'm somewhat Medically train so I hurried up the green to see if I could help. The 3 other gentleman grab hands and were saying their Goodbye's to him. He had a massive heart attach, the 3 gents had big ole smiles on their faces and I was puzzzled. They said ole Jim had just made a 30ft putt for a par and had his lowest score ever on the course, 89! Which happen to be his age just the day before. I understood then why these guys were smiling, we had a plaque made up for him and placed on the 18th hole with his score. It was a Great thing to witness his buddies saying their goodbye's.

wd

Those are all good stories! I was going to say I thought it was remarkable that a group playing behind me drove up and gve me a wedge I left on the hole prior. Doesn't compare to all of these.

I've got another one concerning my friend Tom.

Tom was born without a left hand, but it never slowed him down.

Tom figured out his own way to swing a golf club one handed and we play together whenever we can. You'll never meet a guy with a better attitude. He's about a 25 handicap and it's pretty amazing to see some of the techniques he's figured out on his own.

We play competitive softball together too.

There are plenty of disadvantages to missing a hand. Tom had his second rotator cuff surgery a couple years ago. He gets strange looks and some people avoid him, or act very uncomfortable around him. Tom on the other hand is one of the most accepting and friendly guys you'll ever meet--even if you are one of *those* folks that avoid or uncomfortable.

But here is the real point.

Tom has two kids--a son and a daughter. They are now teens and great kids. They are going to be fantastic adults too. How could they be anything but with a dad like Tom.

When I was a Caddy at a private club there was a member there with only 1 arm and he played to an 8 handicap...he only played once a week!!