Back On Course - golfers defy physical limitations

Pat Finfrock is a retired Navy captain. Until 1996, Finfrock, 65, was also an avid golfer who carried a single-digit handicap. His life in golf stopped when complications from a heart attack forced the amputation of his right leg.

Fifty years ago, Ginny Lycan, now 78, played golf at the University of Minnesota with Ladies Professional Golf Association Hall of Famer Patty Berg. Although never quite approaching Berg's level of talent, Lycan enjoyed the game and continued to play until 1994. Her lowest handicap was 22, but her greatest joy was playing nine holes with her three grandsons. Five years ago, a severe stroke completely paralyzed her left side. She is now mobile only in a wheelchair and motorized scooter.

Finfrock is no longer a single-digit handicapper, but he does participate in his golf club's men's day every week and has begun competing in national events for amputees. And Lycan is now "putting for cokes" with her grandsons at the local municipal golf course at least twice a week.

The pair's return to golf is a result of the Up to Par program offered by the Martin County (Fla.) Department of Parks and Recreation. The objective of the Up to Par program is to bring golfers who have been forced to leave the game because of medical challenges back to the mainstream of golf participation.

The inspiration for the program came from LPGA teaching professional Jackie Williams and one of her students, Bob Dettor.

"I met Bob in 1995 when he called and asked to set up an appointment for a lesson," Williams said. "Bob was a retired `high-powered' attorney from Syracuse, New York. Four years prior to our first lesson, Bob had suffered a stroke, which left him completely paralyzed for almost six months. Bob had never been a great golfer, but the game was something he loved, and he found that although he was able to teach himself to play again after his stroke, he was constantly frustrated because he seemed unable to do the things he wanted to do on the golf course.

"I worked with Bob on his golf skills for almost a month before we talked about what it was like for him to go through the stroke and rehabilitation," Williams continued. "His story and his determination so touched me that I thought about it for days after that lesson. I began to realize that in Martin County there must be hundreds of `Bobs' -- people to whom golf is an integral part of their lives and who have suffered strokes and find getting back into the game frustrating. Because I had been involved in golf in Martin County for almost 20 years, I also realized that there really was no program in place to help this special part of the golf population."

Williams quickly recalled a telephone conversation she had had with the United States Golf Association two years earlier.

"I had called the USGA about a rules question," she said. "By mistake I was connected to the person in charge of USGA grants. Out of curiosity I asked about the USGA funding program, and to be honest, promptly forgot about it for two years.

"As I thought about how to set up a program for people like Bob, the conversation with the USGA resurfaced. Since I administered the parks and recreation department's golf instruction program, I went to the program director with my thoughts for a program to help stroke victims and the suggestion that the USGA might be a funding source."

Richard Blankenship, director of programming at the Martin County Department of Parks and Recreation, jumped at the idea.

"The idea for the Up to Par program could not have been more perfect for us," Blankenship said. "It gave us an opportunity to reach a part of our community which is often forgotten about. We wanted to put this program in place very badly."

With Williams developing the program's curriculum and Blankenship tackling the grant writing, the program began to take form. Williams' idea was to focus the program on the "whole" individual instead of merely on his or her golf skill. Her experience with Dettor impressed upon her the fact that it was not merely golf skill keeping these players from playing; they were dealing with physical, emotional, and mental challenges.

For a program to be successful, all of these challenges would have to be addressed. In 1996, the Martin County Department of Parks and Recreation received a one-year, 88,000 grant to develop an Up to Par pilot program

The Up to Par program examines the psychological and physical needs of each individual as well as his or her golf skills. Although Williams works on golf skills and serves as the staff team leader, a physical therapist and psychologist are included in the teaching team. The physical therapist works closely with Williams to redesign each participant's golf movement pattern to fit both his or her limitations and strengths. The psychologist works with the group to change attitudes, deal with fear, and help rebuild self-esteem.

"The team approach is the real strength of Up to Par," Williams said. "We insist that all our staff personnel be golfers. Both the physical therapist and psychologist are lifelong golfers with low handicaps. Their approach with the participants is as a fellow golfer. This approach sets up an almost automatic trust on the part of the participants. They do not feel that they are being "treated." Instead, the situation is very close to what they are used to in any golf atmosphere: golfers talking to golfers about golf.

"Through the physical therapist, we can individualize movement patterns so that each player has the greatest possible chance at meeting success," she continued. "My personal belief is that the real key is the psychologist. The group sessions give our players a chance to express what they are feeling. They are free to talk about fears they have not experienced before, and they can admit that their lives have changed.

"The sessions with the psychologist also allowed our players to be realistic about what their `new' golf game would be. Because both participants and staff are golfers, these sessions often sound more like a conversation around a table in the `19th hole' than an opportunity to set goals and change attitudes. In fact, the sessions improved my golf game."

Each Up to Par program consists of 12 two-hour sessions, once a week, at a local golf facility. The program is free to all participants. Enrollment is limited to 15 participants per session, and each weekly session includes skill development on the driving range and a discussion period with the psychologist. At least two sessions are "playing lessons" on the golf course, and the program concludes with a tournament pairing participants with the program staff and parks and recreation department personnel.

The original pilot program included 10 participants who suffered from several different disabilities including strokes, Parkinson's disease, and heart conditions. All 10 participants continued to participate in golf after the program concluded. Some, such as Finfrock, returned to playing recreational golf on a regular basis. Others, Lycan among them, did not actually get back on the golf course but did continue to visit the driving range on a regular basis.

In October 1998, the Martin County Department of Parks and Recreation applied for -- and received -- a renewal of its USGA grant. The second grant was for $30,000 over three years. A portion of those funds will be used to set up a foundation in Martin County that will administer an ongoing fund-raising program to continue the Up to Par program.

Bob Dettor never got to see the Up to Par program in operation. In May 1998, he died from complications from heart bypass surgery. But his legacy lives on every time Pat Finfrock drives off the first tee, Ginny Lycan putts with her grandchildren, or a new Up to Par member realizes that golf can remain an integral part of his or her life.

"These sessions often sound more like a conversation around a table at the 19th hole than an opportunity to set goals and change attitudes," says Jackie Williams, referring to the Martin County (Fla.) Department of Parks and Recreation's Up to Par program. Established in 1996, Up to Par aims to bring golfers who have been forced to leave the game because of medical challenges back to the mainstream of golf participation by examining their psychological and physical needs, as well as their golf skills. Williams, Martin County Department of Parks and Recreation golf programming consultant and the author of the forthcoming Playing from the Rough: The Women of the LPGA Hall of Fame, and Dr. Sandra Parker, Up to Par development consultant and a professor of park resources and leisure studies at Marshall (W.Va.) University, insist that all staff personnel share the love of the game. The success of the program, says Williams, is "golfers talking to golfers about golf"(p.60).

For more information on developing, funding, and implementing an Up to Par program, contact Jackie Williams at (561) 286-1450 (tcgolfer@ecqual.net) or Dr. Sandra Parker at (740) 886-5226 (sanrekrap@aol.com).

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