Amputee Veterans Relearn the Lessons of Golf

[livvy]

Amputee Veterans Relearn the Lessons of Golf

By Kevin Robbins - Austin (Texas) American-Statesman
Posted : Sunday Mar 1, 2009 16:29:37 EST

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas — A roadside bomb near Baghdad led Ryan Clark back to golf.

The 28-year-old Army infantryman from Ohio suffered a badly damaged left leg in 2007 when an improvised explosive device blew up near his vehicle in Iraq. The injury brought Clark to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where much of his leg was removed, and on a bright and breezy Monday three months later, he dressed for his first formal lesson in how to swing a short iron.

Wearing a gray Army T-shirt and with a sport shoe on his prosthetic leg, Clark slapped a few nicked balls down the practice range at the Fort Sam Houston Golf Club. One shot soared in a high, piercing arc over the 100-yard sign. Another sliced inelegantly into a net.

Clark, who had played only a handful of times in his life, tried to explain the difference between playing golf on two feet and playing it on one.

“I’m not sure yet,” he said. “That’s really all the goal is: to relearn how to play.”

more...

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_amputee_vets_golf_030109/

[jwirr]

1. Just a little encouragement for these guys - I dated a man who lost

both legs (knee down) in WWII and oh could he dance. He was also an excellent golfer. It can be done.