Active lifestyles are fore everyone: Fairfax county Park Authority's adapted golf program brings access to the links.

You don't have to be big, strong, fast or a member of a team to be successful in golf," proclaims the Professional Golfers Association. Add to that list "able bodied," and you'll get agreement from Virginia's Fairfax County Park Authority. The Authority's Adapted Golf program--now in its sixth year--includes lessons, workshops, an annual two-day tournament, retrofitted carts at four of the agency's five courses, and a strong commitment to the belief that golf is "fore" everyone.

The tee-off for this whole program came with one telephone call from avid golfer Dale Akridge, who is a member of a golfing family. His father is a card holder with the Senior Professional Golfers Association (SPGA), his sister earned her card from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), and Dale started playing when he was five. The 44-year old former Virginia resident would surely have a pro card of his own by now if a motorcycle accident hadn't cost him a leg. But the accident that took his leg 17-years ago did not take away his love for the game of golf.

"It was three years and 16 operations before I was healthy enough just to try to play again," said Akridge. "The first time I needed four rounds to do nine holes. And working up to the green--whew!" he added, shaking his head at the memory of those early struggles.

Today, Akridge walks so easily, it's a surprise to see the prosthesis below the cuff of his golfing shorts. And the approach to the green no longer troubles him, judging from an average score in the 80s. But he still requires a cart to get around the links between drives. That prompted the phone call to the Park Authority asking about free or reduced rates for the cart that meant equal access to the agency's five public courses.

"The result was that we started thinking about the needs of golfers with disabilities," said Cindy Walsh, supervisor for the Park Authority's Access Services. "Need--that's the catalyst behind every program we've developed."

The first drive toward accessible golf came in 1990 with the Combo Classic, the Washington metropolitan area's first tournament pairing able-bodied golfers and golfers with disabilities. The two-day event has proven to be a huge success. "We draw participants from up and down the East Coast and as far away as Colorado and Michigan," said Walsh. "We've got people who've played all six years. On our surveys, 100% of the golfers say they will return and 100% of the golfers rate the tournament outstanding.

The Combo even brings families together. "We have Combo teams of fathers and daughters, fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons, husbands and wives. But my favorite Combo togetherness story is the two brothers from Florida and New Jersey who hadn't seen each other in awhile. One's able bodied, one's an amputee, both are golfers. They met here to be a team in the Combo!"

Even with the success of this fully integrated tournament, the need for accessible golf wasn't being met on a regular basis. So the Authority's next drive was aimed at retrofitted carts.

John Nicholas was a golfer before his legs were paralyzed in a fall. He was determined to be a golfer again. But his route to the links posed its own traps and hazards. "I have to hit from a sitting position, and I was hitting my own legs!" recalled the 3-year-old resident of Falls Church, Virginia. "I tried a one-handed swing. It solved the leg problem but I didn't have much control or power."

The staff at the Park Authority;s Jefferson Golf Course called other golf courses around the country, gathering information on equipment modifications. The president of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C.--also a paraplegic golfer--donated an old golf cart that had been used for transportation around the hospital. Nicholas mounted a swiveling bar stool seat and Jefferson's maintenance staff rewired the cart, creating a retrofitted vehicle. Nicholas' cart soon became the model for the agency's cart fleet.

Three years ago, Noel Jablonski, LPGA teaching pro and instructor at the Park Authority's Pinecrest golf course, took her first swing as the able bodied half of a Combo team. Other golfers who saw her giving pointers to her partner asked for a litHe help. That friendly exchange spawned an ongoing series of clinics and lessons.

Jablonski now teaches disabled students with a variety of handicaps, including multiple sclerosis, stroke, paralysis, amputation, cerebral palsy, closed head injury, hip replacement, and hearing loss. "Some of them have never played golf, some are veterans who want to get back into the game," she explained. "The goal is to find out what their bodies can do and then figure out ways to apply their abilities to golf. Sometimes, it's simply a matter of helping them feel confident in what their bodies can do."

In one example, Jablonski recalled a man who had suffered a stroke, and although he'd regained near 100% mobility, he was hesitant about returning to the golf course at his swank country club. "He just needed reassurance that he could play again without embarrassment," Jablonski said, adding that after a few lessons, he was making the rounds at the club. "He told me he didn't play like he used to, but that I had given him the confidence that he could play."

Jablonski uses the same teaching techniques with able-bodied and disabled golfers. "It does help to understand the general limitations of a specific handicapping condition and to know things like the effect of heat or humidity on those conditions," she said. "But everybody has their own way of learning, their own learning style and a certain type of encouragement that they respond to. As an instructor, I have to figure that out, and I have to be observant as to what their bodies can do, no matter who the students are."

Recently named to the LPGA's committee for developing programs for golfers with disabilities, Jablonski sees multiple reasons for making golf accessible to all. "It gets you outside. It stimulates your mind and your body. It can be competitive. And you don't have to run, a key factor in golf's suitability for people with mobility impairments--you stand still and the ball stands still!"

Accessible golf makes good business sense as well, an important factor in program development during tunes of limited budgets. Fairfax County, for instance, has a golf participation rate 50% above the national average. Nearly 18% of the county's population--some 137,000 residents--play the game, compared to just 12% of the country as a whole. "Golf is Fairfax County's favorite sport. Apply that popularity rating to individuals with disabilities who reside in the county, and you have almost 10,000 golfers with disabilities of a different sort. That's an untapped market," Walsh noted.

But the Park Authority's supervisor for Access Services is quick to emphasize that potential for profit is not the prime motivation for working to expand golf's accessibility. "People with disabilities have a right to the same recreational opportunities as everyone else, and that includes golf," said Walsh. "I keep coming back to benefits. I remember a woman recovering from a stroke who took Noel's lessons at Pinecrest. She brought her physical therapist to a session, and afterwards the therapist marveled, I've never gotten her arm to move like that before. That's the best reason for making golf accessible. Equal access can make a difference in people's lives."

RELATED ARTICLE: Juniors Take a Swing in Park Authority's Latest Link to Accessible Golf

Exuberant whoops, squeals of delight and enthusiastic applause resound at the Fairfax County Park Authority's Pinecrest Golf Course on Thursday mornings as students from the School for Contemporary Education take their weekly lesson.

Not the typical sounds of the fairways, but then, these are not typical golf students. The eight young people taking lessons from LPGA teaching pro Noel Jablonski have mental retardation. With every putt on the practice green and tee-shot in the driving cages, they prove that golf is indeed a game for everyone.

"These kids may not turn out to be golfers, but they'll have to perform in the real world, and golf can help prepare them for that," said Jablonski, who has been instrumental in the development of the Park Authority's adapted golf program. "Being in a social setting, in a different environment, learning new skills, and staying on task--it's all practice that will benefit them throughout life."

On this perfect May morning, Jabior ski begins with a short session of stretching exercises before leading the teenagers to the driving cages. The approach is demonstrate and imitate. She shows them the grip and the big swing; they try to repeat it.

If concentration and effort count on the score cards, the kids from the School for Contemporary Education would be playing par. In short spurts, at least, they are models of intensity; staring fiercely at the ball, adjusting their stance and making short little practice arcs at the tee before taking that big swing.

Jablonski and staff members from the school are always on the move between the cages, always coaching. But it's mostly strong encouragement interspersed with a little gentle correction. Here, a slice or a hook is as good as a straight and true drive.

"Give me five and hit another one!" says Randy Mercural, one of the classroom teachers who accompanies the teenagers, as he slaps a high five to recognize Savario Mazza's good iron shot. "Take your time, take your time, we've got lots of time," he advises Thatcher: Gardini, moving over to the next cage after he sees a rushed swing and a miss.

Thatcher smiles, settles himself, tries again and this time slams a solid drive into the net, all with what looks like near-perfect form. "Thatcher has a great natural swing," Mercural agrees. "This has been a wake-up call to me on the athletic skills of these kids. A couple of them are really taking to the game. And for all eight students, golf presents an opportunity to improve both their gross motor and their fine motor skills," he adds. "What they're learning has far broader application than the golf course. Everything they're gaining--the physical skills, the confidence, the improvement in self-expression, the social skills--can be transferred to daily life."

For more information on the Fairfax County Park Authority's accessible golf program, contact Cindy Walsh, Access Services supervisor, at 703/324 8563.