`CHUCKER' BRINGS GOLF TO DISABLED.

Byline: DAVE SHELBURNE Golf

Agoura resident Grant Gerson has tried as long as he can remember to not let hardships slow him down. The founder of Calamigos Ranch in the mountains above Malibu also knows he's been lucky.

When the 1978 Malibu fire destroyed most of the structures and trees on the woodland property he has used for youth camps, picnics, conferences, banquets and weddings since 1947, his son Glen was ready and willing to rebuild, replant and reseed.

When Gerson got the word from doctors at age 68 - the day after he had skied the cornice at Mammoth three times - that he was facing the prospect of double-bypass heart surgery, he reasoned he had the ongoing advancements of medical science on his side.

He was right, and that's part of the reason Gerson was able to look forward - at his 84th birthday party Tuesday - to returning next month to his beloved slopes at Mammoth, where he has been skiing the past six years with two artificial knees.

Gerson knows not everyone has been as fortunate as he has - from being able to do a job he has loved since he graduated from UCLA to weathering fire disaster, to riding the miracles of medicine into runs down Mammoth nearly a generation past traditional retirement age.

So when his son developed a throwing club earlier this year to help a family friend return to a semblance of golf in the wake of a disabling injury, Gerson became interested in marketing the device.

Although not a golfer himself, Gerson appreciated the appeal of outdoor recreation after years of skiing, horseback riding and scuba diving, and he saw his son's ``Chucker'' golf club as a way of helping disabled, but avid, golfers get another shot at their game.

``I would go around to area clubs, talking to local pros,'' Gerson said of his early promotional efforts. ``And Rick Russell, the pro at Tierra Rejada, said, 'Let's have a ``Chucker'' tournament.' ''

Participant reaction to that July event - played as a nine-hole, two-player scramble competition on holes reduced to par-3s - was so positive that Gerson has a second one planned Jan. 15 at Lake Lindero Country Club.

Next spring, he wants to return to Tierra Rejada in Moorpark for another two-man scramble, pairing able-bodied and disabled participants in a ``Chucker'' tournament for disabled veterans.

``I'm hoping to get disabled veterans to play,'' he said. ``I will sponsor them at no charge to them, and the event would be a fund-raiser for their organizations.''

It's not traditional golf, but ball flight is similar with a ``Chucker'' golf club, which is used with a motion similar to casting a fly-fishing rod. The ball, held in prelaunch by a concave, semicircular head positioned at the tip of a flexible, three-foot shaft, is released with a wrist snap on an overhand or underhand swing.

Used underhand - with some recommended practice on a driving range - the ``Chucker'' can deliver high-lobbed approach shots. Overhand, it can send balls as far as 200 yards, without the slicing and hooking problems that torment so many golfers of all ability ranges.

Better yet, for disabled golf enthusiasts, the club can be used from a sitting position in a golf cart. Add an able-bodied partner for putting, and two-person ``Chucker'' teams can enjoy much of the ambience that provides so much of the attraction of golf.

It's also a way to keep on keeping on, as Gerson has done better than most entering his second 84 years.

``I tell people I'm going to wear out,'' he said, ``but I'm not going to rust out.''

Information: [phone].

--Names in the game: Phil Duran, the former Marshall High of Los Angeles golf coach who produced four City Section individual champions before retiring in June, hasn't strayed far from the game.

Duran has organized a girls club team in the San Gabriel Valley, with many of the players from Glendora High, which does not have a girls' golf team.

``We're the Lady Eagles of Glendora, and we call ourselves the Low Flying Eagles,'' Duran said. ``We started in October, and the girls play matches among themselves. My goal is to be able to compete with other junior clubs.''

Duran, one of the most optimistic and upbeat golf coaches in the City Section, didn't stay at Marshall long enough to collect his coaching double-double, but he almost made it.

Five months after his retirement, Paula Kerdpinyo - City girls champ as a freshman in Duran's final season - successfully defended her title for new Marshall coach Dale Chan, shooting a section championship-record par 72 in the rain at Balboa.

Duran, who coached Young Nam to City boys titles in 1990 and '91, guided another City boys champion in 2001 winner Alex Paek, who went on to play for College of the Canyons.

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