For Those Adapting to Golf’s Greatest Challenge, a New National Event Is Set to Launch
PINEHURST, N.C. — Kellie Valentine’s father surprised his daughter with a new set of golf clubs after she landed her first job out of college in 1993, noting that the “corporate sport” would benefit her as a television reporter in State College, Pa.
A few months later, on a rainy November day traveling the back roads of central Pennsylvania, hustling between assignments of a college and high school football weekend, Valentine’s life would forever change — and golf would temporarily be put on hold.
Valentine’s then-boyfriend, a photo journalist for a local newspaper, was unable to negotiate a curve and the vehicle the two were traveling in hydroplaned, left the two-lane country road and slammed into a tree. Valentine, trying to protect her face, held up her right arm and braced for the impact.
She soon realized her arm was severed above the elbow, and a six-hour ambulance trip to a Johnstown hospital, and then on to Pittsburgh proved futile in an attempt to save her arm.
“I still said ‘I’m going to play golf,”’ said Valentine, who is today one of the nation’s best female adaptive golfers. “And my dad said ‘maybe you should play tennis instead.”’
Not deterred, Valentine began her golfing journey in 1996 to take up a game many of us have a difficult time mastering with two arms, let alone one. She began that winter by hitting Wiffle Balls in her backyard, and then progressed in the spring to taking golf lessons.
“My teacher went on the course with me and he played one-handed right along with me, saying ‘I’m going to teach myself to play like this and then I’m going to teach you,”’ Valentine said. “I played nine holes with him a few times and I said, ‘This isn’t that bad, I can do this.’ I was pretty determined.”
Now 51, Valentine is preparing to qualify for one of 96 spots available in the U.S. Adaptive Open, a new USGA national championship that will showcase the world’s best golfers with disabilities. The inaugural competition will be conducted at iconic Pinehurst Resort on July 18-20.
Champions of this new event on Pinehurst No. 6 will see their names recorded in the annals of golf history alongside many of the game’s storied figures.
“It’s incredibly fitting to bring our strongest athletes to participate in an event at a resort where all the great legends have played and where golf is a Mecca,” Valentine said.
“There are a couple of adaptive tournaments in the U.S. throughout the year and they are all good tournaments, but to have the USGA be supportive of adaptive golf and get on board and have it here at Pinehurst is pretty cool,” added Chad Pfeifer, who lost his left leg above the knee in Iraq in 2007 when his patrol vehicle he was driving hit an improvised explosive device. “There is definitely a buzz around the disabled golf community.”
Valentine, who now lives in Erie, Pa., has accumulated 27 Eastern Amputee Golf Association Tournament titles, including 11 Eastern Regional Championships. She actively participates in the NAGA National Championships each year and has been selected several times as a member of the USA Team for the College Park Cup (Amputee Ryder Cup), serving as captain in 2005.
“Golf is a sport that anybody can play,” Valentine said. “I never felt like I was excluded because I was unique or different in any way. It’s competitive … and then there is so much camaraderie.
“For me, I would have played right-handed so it’s all the same hip and shoulder turn,” she added. “But to strike the ball it has to have the perfect timing; the club has to be square; and hip and shoulders have to get that power through the ball in order to be perfect.”
Pfeifer, one of the favorites to capture the unique USGA title in July, is amazed by some of his fellow disabled golfers, who have overcome long odds to enjoy the links.
“Golf is frustrating as it is if you have all your limbs, so I always think I’m pretty lucky since I’m only missing one leg and I can grab the club with both hands and can still manipulate it,” he said. “When you see the one-armed players it’s pretty amazing what they do and how they get it squared up.”
Pinehurst will host the championship again in 2023, one year before welcoming the world’s best golfers to Pinehurst No. 2 for the U.S. Open.
“Players in the adaptive space just want to be like everybody else, they just want to be golfers and we’re proud to give them that opportunity,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championship officer.
“There is no better place to do it than at Pinehurst,” he added. “It should be no surprise when we first start discussing the idea of a U.S. Open Adaptive Championship our friends at Pinehurst raised their hands and said ‘Count us in, we’ll support you all the way.’”
Qualifying for the U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst would be sort of a homecoming for Chris Biggins, who played college golf at nearby Methodist University outside of Fayetteville, N.C.
Chad Pfeifer, left, who lost his left leg above the knee, and Chris Biggins, who was born with cerebral palsy, will attempt to qualify for the U.S. Adaptive Open.
David Droschak
“I started competing in adaptive golf in 2016. I was kind of hooked on my first event. Ever since then the sport has grown so much,” said the 29-year-old Biggins, a PGA pro at The Country Club of Birmingham in Alabama who was born with cerebral palsy and has undergone 17 operations. “It has ramped up every single year. I went from one tournament six years ago to last year there were three events overseas I played in and two stateside, so I can try to play in as many tournaments as I can now.
“But this one is the most excited I’ve ever been. When they announced it all my friends from college sent me messages and said ‘it’s happening.’ People overseas are going to want to play in it; people who aren’t quite in the competitive arena yet are going to want to train over the next few months to be in it.”
The field will include at least five male players and two female players per impairment category. Impairment categories include:
· Arm Impairment
· Leg Impairment
· Multiple Limb Amputee
· Vision Impairment
· Intellectual Impairment
· Neurological Impairment
· Seated Players
· Short Stature
A player’s individual Handicap Index will be the primary factor for determining the field. Additionally, up to 20 spots will be filled by a USGA Selection Committee to assure representation from key demographics.
The championship will be contested over 54 holes of stroke play. Carts will be permitted for all players and caddies.
“That’s the great thing about these adaptive events, you get to know the people that are going through different things and golf kind of brings us all together,” Pfeifer said.