Hinsdale golfer's program gets people with disabilities on the course
A lifelong golfer, Hinsdale's E.Q. Sylvester used to crank his drives 270 yards. He could hit a 6-iron 155. He once shot a 71 at Hinsdale Golf Club and for years played to a 6-handicap.
Upon retiring in 2011, Sylvester was “ready to enjoy the world” with Kathy, his wife of 55 years, by following their two passions: photography and golf.
Fate had a different plan. Less than a year later, Sylvester formed the Freedom Golf Association to help people with disabilities - which by then included him - enjoy all that the great sport of golf has to offer.
Shortly after retiring, Sylvester was visiting his son in New York and didn't feel right. His daughter-in-law suggested Sylvester see a doctor.
Hours later he was in a coma in a hospital, nearly dying from complications of sepsis caused by a kidney stone that had lodged in his ureter.
After 12 surgeries, having both legs amputated below the knees and losing most of both hands, Sylvester persevered through nine months of intense rehab. He then jumped back into life by first jumping into a pool, then going horseback riding at a dude ranch in Montana, and eventually dusting off his golf clubs.
While the first two activities went off without a hitch, golf was another story.
“I couldn't hit it out of my shadow,” Sylvester said.
Undeterred, the now 79-year-old grandfather of 10 started looking for instruction for people with disabilities.
“I found out from the PGA of America there are 18 million physically disabled that are in the same situation I was in,” Sylvester said. “They couldn't get adaptive golf instruction, and even worse, when they went to a golf course they were not welcomed, or turned away. So I said, 'Well, I think I have a new mission in life.'”
Joining an alliance
Wasting no time, Sylvester formed the Freedom Golf Association in 2012. The association's goal is to engage children, adults and veterans with special needs and give them free instruction with other classmates. Many use customized clubs and carts to play the game.
Along with the FGA, there are now 18 members of the United States Adaptive Golf Alliance. The other 17 organizations are spread from Boston to California.
Of the 10,000 people USAGA assists annually, 23 percent are wounded veterans, and Sylvester said he hopes that number reaches 50 percent.
“For the disabled veterans, it's a huge challenge” to adapt to a new way of life, he said.
The FGA is in the process of creating a driving range, chipping area and quarter-acre putting green at Meadowlark Golf Course in Hinsdale. There will also be a three-hole course that can be used when the range is closed. David Pelz, one of golf's top short-game gurus, will design the putting green.
Sylvester hopes the project is completed by next summer.
Some courses are receptive to individuals with disabilities, but Sylvester would like to see every course welcome the visually impaired, as well as amputees and people who use wheelchairs.
“The disabled don't slow it down,” Sylvester said. “Obviously if you're putting a disabled (person) in a single-rider cart playing from the blue (tees), it's going to take him a while to finish the hole.
“But they all know how to play the course; they know where to start and finish. They won't go to a golf course unless they know how to play. The stigma is the only thing that needs to be removed.”
'The coolest feeling'
Sylvester created the FGA for people like Blake Harmet, a 21-year-old Clarendon Hills resident with spina bifida.
For U.S. servicemen and women such as Phil Bell of Orland Park, Chris Young of Waukegan and Michael Warcol of Bartlett.
For John Marrone of Niagara, Ontario, a 56-year-old father of two who was in a car accident 28 years ago that briefly paralyzed him from the neck down and still causes problems.
For Bruce Miller of Orland Park, a 67-year-old former 6-handicapper who lost his right leg.
For Mary Bruck, a 23-year-old Naperville resident who has Down syndrome.
And for so many more.
“I'll never forget the first day that I went out with my dad,” Harmet said after taking part in the FGA's fourth annual charity outing June 9 at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont. “It was like, 'Wow. I'm 13 years old and I'm playing golf with my dad.' It was the coolest feeling.”
Harmet uses a wheelchair because of a hole in his spinal canal that doesn't allow information from his brain to get to his legs. He started golfing eight years ago when the family of a Hinsdale Golf Club member who died donated his specialized single-rider cart to the course. The carts use balloon tires with no tread so they can go on the greens.
To hit the ball, Harmet swivels in his chair and holds onto a bar with his left arm. With the club in his right hand, he takes it halfway back and strikes the ball. His drive on the par-5 ninth hole on Cog Hill's No. 2 course exceeded 100 yards.
Harmet, a journalism major who attends the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, is active in other sports including wheelchair basketball, swimming, downhill skiing and tennis. Adding golf to his repertoire is “huge,” he said.
“Where I go to school, there are kids with disabilities from all around the country,” Harmet said. “When I tell them that I play golf, they're like, 'Wow. That's really cool. How do you get involved with that?' Of course I tell them about E.Q. and about Freedom Golf. So it's a big part of my life and I plan to keep it that way for as long as I can.”