Getting Back On Course

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The Road to Recovery, One Shot at a Time

Olney Golf Park hosts a special program for disabled veterans that allows them to work on their golf games in a supportive setting.

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Walburn had played some golf in the past, but "I wasn't very good at it." Two years ago, he heard about Estes's clinic and became a regular participant in the inaugural session in the spring 2007. This year, he was back again and hardly ever missed a day.

"I was looking for more things to do to get me outdoors and get me going again," Walburn said. "The program was brought to my attention, and the first time I went out there, I just had a great time with it. I got world-class professional coaching, and eventually they were able to figure out what worked for me.

"At first it was pretty hard, very challenging. I even tried playing left-handed for a while, but that didn't work. With an above-the-knee amputation, it was hard for me to get in a set position so that I could have a repeatable swing. I just could not get the stance I wanted. Last year, they gave me what I like to call an old man's swing, more wrist and arms than the whole body. This year they opened up my stance a little more to a 45-degree angle, and it now gives me the ability to put weight right on [his prosthesis] and swing harder."

Walburn and other clinic participants also cite the benefits to their collective psyches in learning, then practicing and finally getting out to play the game on a real course.

"Golf got me out of the house, which is a good thing," he said. "It really did help me build some self-confidence. It helps you learn that maybe you can live a normal life, do the same things everyone else can do, and believe me, that's extremely important in any recovery.

"Playing in some of these Wounded Warrior tournaments, it's also allowed me to meet people I normally would not have met. . . . These things help some of the decision makers put a face behind their policy of hiring a wounded veteran. It's a great opportunity for them, and it's a great opportunity for us. And golf got us together."

A Growing Demographic

More than 1.5 million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, with more than 4,500 deaths and 39,000 combat-related injuries. Because of advances in emergency battlefield medicine over the years, many seriously wounded soldiers who might not have survived previous wars have been saved, but the current conflicts also have resulted in what many believe are the largest number of amputees since the Civil War.

Dan Nevins, a double-leg amputee who plays golf to a 16 handicap, also benefited greatly from the Olney golf program. A National Guard sergeant deployed in Iraq, he was injured Nov. 10, 2004, when an improvised explosive device was detonated under the armored Humvee he was riding in on a pre-dawn patrol in Balad.

He lost his left leg below the knee that day and also suffered a badly dislocated right ankle and other severe injuries to his right leg, which surgeons managed to save at the time. Nevins spent 18 months at Walter Reed rehabilitating from the initial amputation, but lost his right leg this past Jan. 23 when a bone infection became life-threatening.

Nevins, now 35, played high school lacrosse in suburban Baltimore and had dabbled in golf. During the later stages of his first Walter Reed rehab, he heard about the program at Olney Golf Park and began going out.

"My therapist thought I ought to try to swing a golf club in my rehab program," he said. "I started doing it, then I went out and tried to hit some golf balls. It was my peace time. Just getting away from Walter Reed, getting off the grounds was therapeutic. It was so nice to get away from that environment. Then I actually started to play some of the courses, and that's when I really fell in love with the game. It was so peaceful, so beautiful out there."

During one Wounded Warrior tournament played at TPC Avenel in 2005, Nevins played in a foursome that included PGA Tour executive David Pillsbury. Pillsbury learned that Nevins, who had been working as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company before his deployment, was living in Jacksonville, Fla., about 30 minutes from tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Pillsbury said he was immediately impressed by Nevins's smarts and effervescent personality, and was overwhelmed by his positive attitude despite being in constant pain in his "good" right leg as they played the tournament. The two men agreed to stay in touch. When the tour needed a full-time staff member to coordinate its involvement in charitable programs for wounded veterans, Nevins was offered what he now describes as a "dream job" and quickly took it.

This past January, he was forced to take a leave of absence from the tour to rehabilitate from his second amputation at Walter Reed. But three weeks after the surgery, he was fitted with a second prosthesis. Two months after the operation, he made it back to Olney Golf Park and began learning to hit balls all over again, this time on two artificial legs. Nevins eventually participated in Estes's second spring clinic until he returned to Florida last month to resume his career with the tour.

"It was definitely a challenge," he said. "But it forced me to get off the crutches, to stop using the cane. You say to yourself, 'This is really getting old, and I need to get healthy, go home and get back to the real world and back to my life.' "

Nevins can pound the ball 275 yards off the tee, and has a nice touch around the greens, as well. He said he will always be grateful to Estes for getting him back into the full swing of the game that is now both his passion and his profession.

"Jim has a unique way, especially with the new guys who first come out there," Nevins said. "He makes golf seem more appealing and fun to guys who normally wouldn't think it's appealing or fun. He's not that big of a guy, but he'll get up there and hit a ball 300 yards, and these tough, burly soldiers will just stand there and say, 'Wow!' He'll get on his knees and hit it 290, and they're like, 'If he can do that on his knees, I can do it on one leg.'

"He's always positive. I've never heard him say, 'bad swing' or 'no, don't do that.' When you hit a good shot, he's always the first one to say, 'Wow, look at you.' What he's done for so many people out there, I can't say enough about the guy."

Going the Extra Mile

Estes also is doing more than giving lessons or conducting clinics. Two years ago, he helped found the nonprofit Salute Military Golf Association, which raises money to provide free customized clubs to the soldiers and helps pay for greens fees and instruction.

The PGA of America, the Palm Beach-based organization for teaching professionals around the country, also has embraced the Olney program and featured Estes in a public service announcement aired during last year's PGA Championship at Southern Hills. Organizations such as Wounded Warriors Project, Disabled Sports USA and Tee It Up For The Troops, among others, also have become involved. Golf programs for injured personnel at military facilities in San Antonio and San Diego are being conducted by other teaching pros, with more to come. Estes said he would also love to see clubs across America offer honorary memberships and playing privileges to wounded veterans.

Estes also said he constantly marvels at his students and adds, "I'm really in awe of them and what they've sacrificed."

They, in turn, obviously appreciate how he's helped enrich their lives.

"The importance of what Jim has done really can't be overstated," Walburn said. "He's got a servant's attitude to help these guys and girls. He's a caring person, and he can work with anyone and help them improve if they're willing to give it a try. My game just continues to get better. If I'm in the low 90s, high 80s, that's great. I'm just your normal hacker. But I love being out there, and I can't thank him enough."