Blind veterans meet new challenge in Oak Brook: golf

After Alex Berez returned from a 2001 tour of duty in Afghanistan, he was never the same.

But unlike other military veterans who leave the war with battle wounds and scars, the 29-year-old Berez came home to Tampa, Fla. with a rare form of Leukemia - one that detached his retinas and left him legally blind.

Berez vows not to let his lack of vision get the best of him. He took another step in that direction Wednesday in Oak Brook with nine other veterans just like him, playing a sport that is exasperating even for those blessed with sight: golf.

The outing at the Marriot's Willow Crest Golf Course was part of a program at Hines Veterans Hospital that helps 34 sight-impaired veterans at a time learn to live better with their condition.

"It's making me be more independent," Berez said. "I'll try to be in school again, or get a job."

The program offers classes for mobility and requires the veterans to socialize by periodically leaving the hospital on trips such as Wednesday's golf outing.

"Believe it or not, some of them can hit the ball, they connect with it," said Randy Bolstad, head of golf operations at golf course. "When they make a good contact with the ball they feel it."

Each veteran was escorted with a volunteer, or "caddies" as the veterans referred to them, brought in by the event's coordinator, Jack McInerney, an employee at the golf course and Marine veteran himself.

"For me this is so important that they're able to do this," he said, adding that many of the volunteers had also served in the military. "It's special being able to watch this happen. They just want to get out and be outside."

Michael Tucci, orientation and mobility instructor at the hospital's Central Blind Rehabilitation Center, said the outings prove to the veterans that they can do things they used to do before, despite doubts that they can't.

"It's just being able to swing a club," he said. "It doesn't really matter how well they hit it. They just go out and have a good time."

And all 10 veterans agreed they really enjoyed themselves.

"It was a pretty good experience," Berez said. "(My caddie) helped me with the club, putting me on the right spot to hit it, mobility, everything."

"It's a good getaway," said Army veteran Charles Trayer of Big Rapids, Mich., who has been blind since 2008 after an ATV accident. "I like to get out. I love being outside."

His caddie Mark Forzley said Trayer knew how to play before his accident.

"I hope he keeps golfing because he has a nice swing," he said. "When the ball was hit he was able to tell if it was a good shot or not a good shot."

One thing Trayer and his companions can see is how beneficial Hines' program is. He hopes word about it's existence can be spread to other blind veterans.

"I know it's going to make me really independent and I have to be independent because I live by myself," Trayer said. "I just don't get out anywhere when I'm at home. I'm hoping all this time and experience down here will help me get out more."