How Golf Taught me to Walk Again

Ever been so challenged by something both mentally and physically that you can’t stop until you’ve accomplished it? Maybe you can’t accomplish it every time, but you hit some level of improvement. Well, that’s my never-ending battle with the game of golf. For me, golf is just a metaphor for life. It challenges you in many ways and just when you think you’ve got it all figured out you hit an awful shot that humbles you causing you to rethink everything.

In the Spring of 2015, I was on my way to a full recovery from my right leg below knee amputation or (RBKA). By this point, I was going to physical therapy once a week and had just started going to the gym again, shout out the Summit YMCA. I spent hours at that YMCA getting basic strength back and I was always asking the staff for help. Whether it was grabbing weights or just physically helping me get up off the floor I was always looking for a leg up. I couldn’t resist with that one.

My golf journey started at 10 years old. My Dad introduced me to the game, and we would golf every Sunday morning for years. Then my “golfer for life moment” came. It was Tiger Woods shot at the 2005 Masters after that I was hooked. I don’t condone any of Tiger’s actions in his personal life, but this shot was a turning point in my love for the game. I still remember my, 14 years old, self-running around the house yelling He made it! Then getting yelled at by a mom for knocking over a vase in my excitement. That vase had it coming let’s be honest.

Now back to our present story. My first time playing golf after my accident was at the local Par 3 municipal golf course in my hometown of Summit, NJ. A Par 3 is an easy golf course where every hole has an average score of 3 strokes or 3 hits of the ball. The longest hole was 170 yards and you only needed 3 or 4 clubs to play it. This was a perfect place for me to rehab and get the needed steps in. I played this course hundreds of times as a kid, but this course now felt completely different. Not just because one of my feet was now metal either. I felt like I was walking, slowly, back into a world of normalcy. This was the first time in over a year, I felt like a normal 20 something doing what I should normally be doing. Mind you this was the first time I had swung a club in almost 2 years rusty doesn’t even begin to describe how I played.

So, here we go first shot on the first hole, can you feel the pressure building? I certainly felt it and per usual in golf, I hit an awful shot and was immediately disheartened. Then I thought to myself and actually laughed, of course, you’re going to hit a bad shot.

This challenge was the reason I had always loved golf and do to this day. It’s a game that’s about you and very rarely does other factors drastically change the flight of a golf ball. The whole first-time playing I felt that I was on the greatest course in the world, not some small local par 3.

When I finished the woman that checked people into the course come up to me and ask me about my amputation saying she had a friend that just lost a leg. This was the first time anyone outside a medical building asked me what happened. At first, it was awkward but I got comfortable the more I spoke. Turns out everyone has questions and this certainly wasn’t the last time it would happen.

I continued to play this course 2-4 times a week with old high school friends. It seemed I wasn’t the only one back in town after graduating from college. Playing with all these different people meant more to me than even playing golf. My friends had all sorts of questions now being a 1 ½ legged man, but in a way it was therapy. I was able to get used to talking about what happened so much that it was normal. All these friends just wanted to listen and more importantly have someone to play golf with.

I eventually worked up enough stamina in the spring and summer, of 2015, to play a full golf course in the fall. Instead of walking, I would drive to each hole in a golf cart, but it’s still a strain on the body. Any golfer will tell you it’s the mental aspect that’s more draining than the physical part. When I finished the 18th and final hole on that normal course it was another milestone in my recovery. I was happy but exhausted.

Since 2015 I have become more active in golf not just with my friend but I joined the Eastern Amputee Golf Association which is part of the bigger National Amputee Golf Association. It’s a group of amputees that have a love for the game of golf despite their different ways of playing.

In the grand scheme of my recovery, this season of golf didn’t mean much. I still had a long road ahead and work every day to walk better. However, this just proved to me that life would go back to normal. That I would be able to do all the things I used to do before my accident. That confidence was priceless.
Golf is such a tough game it’s about challenging your focus both mentally and physically. It teaches you patience in the most elementary meaning of the word. For me, golf has become a connection to what life used to be. It was the first tangible activity I was able to grab onto and begin dragging myself back to my normal active life. Golf was so important to me in not only learning to walk again but feeling like a normal person.

With all this said I’m not telling you to go pick up golf as an amputee or an able-bodied person. I do want to encourage everyone to have something in your life that makes you feel normal even when the world around you is changing. It can be writing, painting, playing videos games, or riding a bike. To my core, I believe we all need some outlet to ground us as humans and make us feel that everything is going to be okay. I don’t have everything figured out but with the experiences in my life so far I’m grateful for the perspective it’s given me. Plus, there is nothing better than stepping onto a freshly mowed golf course with all the motivation in the world just to completely screw-up your first shot. Golf is a metaphor for life.