Week 3: Thrusday, October 4th- Adaptive Golfing

This week our class met at Forest Hills Golf Course where our class was led by the head of the Sister Kenny golf program. She began by giving us an overview on how the golf program came to be and what it looks like today. The program seems wonderful and has seems to be a real hit. She showed some of the adaptive equipment they use including longer club, clubs that are angled and and adapted golf cart that can be driven on the green and has a rotating seat. After that we got to do some experiential learning on the golf course. I had never golfed before so this was really exciting for me. She set up four stations, all representing a different disability. My first station represented a right arm amputee which was extremely difficult considering I am right handed and have never golfed before. I was able to eventually get a hit but it wasn't easy because I couldn't get the club lined up just right and the club was somewhat heavy for just using one arm. The next station was left arm amputee. This was much easier but I still struggled with controlling the weight of the club. The other stations were supposed to simulate what it is like for someone in a wheel chair to golf. It was not easy to line up the chair so that the club would reach the ball just right and it was hard to get a powerful swing with my legs in the way. Though, all of these things were difficult and somewhat frustrating I always think it is good to get a little taste of what the people I will work with will go through. After this activity I realized I enjoy golfing and would like to try to play a game sometime. Also, after hearing how much the clients at Sister Kenny enjoy it and seeing how easily it can be adapted think I would like to incorporate some sort of golf program in my future as a CTRS.