I played to scratch when I was coaching a high school golf team several years ago. Since then, I’ve had the following surgeries;
total c2 to t1 fusion with a permanently broken c1 vertebrae.
360• fusion (both through the front then through the back) of my L1 to S1 vertebrae.
also have arthritis in my knees and zero cartilage in my right knee.
I know I will never get to scratch again but I believe if I start slowly I can get some semblance of a game by trying to improve in other areas. I am not going to hit those booming 300 yard drives again but maybe my mid-short iron game can be improved from where they were.
i take as my inspiration a great friend , Matty Reid (see Curt Sampson’s book Hogan) who would travel to Texas tournaments with Hogan and beat both Hogan and Nelson for a couple of Texas championships. Matty was great but back then he needed to work on a railroad nod to feed himself and his family. He was in an accident that crushed every bone in his wrist.
When we would play together he would bump it along the ground and then sink 40 footers for par. Everyone can have fun at this game with the right inspiration and expectations.
sorry, I felt like preaching today.
