PLAYING ON CUSTOM LEGS; AMPUTEES SHOW THEY CAN COMPETE IN GOLF.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

When the golf professional at Oakmont Country Club motored over to the guys on the ninth hole and asked what their handicap was, the group reacted with light chuckles.

For the 16th annual Fairways Golf Classic, the professional was routinely recording how all the players' golf handicaps: how their average scores relate to par. Unbeknown to him, he was talking to a foursome in which each of three players has only one whole leg.

Louie Vivas, a below-the-knee amputee, said he and his fellow players could have flagged their golf cart with a flag for the handicapped, but he didn't see the point.

``We just never really think about it. We don't consider ourselves disabled,'' said Vivas, 50, of Redondo Beach.

Vivas and his three teammates - two amputees and his employer from Active Life Orthotics and Prosthetics - participated in the 18-hole tournament because they love to golf and to show people that amputees can do such things.

The tournament was a fund-raiser sponsored by the Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Proceeds, expected to be around $80,000, will go toward $1.5 million in equipment being purchased to benefit emergency room and critical care patients, said Chris Murray, president of the hospital's foundation.

The hospital depends on fund-raisers to upgraded equipment, she said. ``Investing in the well-being of a hospital is investing in the community,'' she added.

Active Life owner Deane Doty agrees, and so he carted his clubs around the Oakmont golf course both to help raise money for the hospital and to see his work in action on the golfers who were wearing it.

The Glendale resident has been making prosthetic limbs for more than 10 years, but opened his Glendale business just two years ago. Vivas was a client - and now he's an employee. He, too, makes prosthetic limbs.

``I've got seven legs,'' Vivas said, pulling a club and a putter from his golf bag. ``You have to have a variety. Otherwise, it'd be like playing golf with one club.''

Vivas' matter-of-fact acceptance of the outcome of his motorcycle crash 26 years ago is a trait shared by other amputees he golfs with.

Ron Dayhoff, a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, lost his left leg below the knee more than two years ago.

It was work-related injury, he said. His leg didn't heal properly. Gangrene set in, and it had to be amputated, he said.

When he got a phone call 1-1/2 years ago to chat with Harvey Wright, a 75-year-old San Gabriel man who was going to have his left leg amputated below the knee, Dayhoff knew just what to say.

``I told him what to expect after the operation. I took my (prosthetic) leg off in front of him. I thought his wife was going to faint,'' Dayhoff said in the deadpan way that prompted his doctor to describe him as stoic.

Dayhoff, Wright and Vivas joked most of the way through the 18 holes, keeping their team at par throughout the day.

Vivas noticed that Wright's prosthetic leg looked a little loose around his knee whenever he took a swing. Like a salesman - and defining Active Life's slogan of ``Caring to make a difference'' - Vivas suggested Wright think about getting another leg.

Doty asked the three men not to wear cosmetic cover ups over their prosthetics on Monday. He wanted people to see how smoothly they can walk and twist with them.

``We promote independence and socialization. I don't want to see amputees sitting on the corner asking for a handout,'' he said, adding with today's technology, there's no reason an amputee can't skate, ride a bicycle, golf or even run.

``We've come a long way from the wooden leg,'' he said.

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2 photos

Photo: (1) Amputees Louie Vivas, left, and Ron Dayhoff play in a golf tourney Monday to raise funds for a hospital and test their prosthetic legs.

(2) Vivas sizes up a putt in the 16th annual Fairways Golf Classic to benefit the Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer