A course for success

Special-needs athletes get in the swing at golf camp

Look out, Tiger Woods - Ken Lindsey is on your trail.

The Wheaton resident has competed in Special Olympics events for decades, participating in such events as bocce, bowling, tennis and softball.

But golf is his favorite game, says his mother, Bernice. And while his favorite golfer may be Phil Mickelson, he often talks about Woods.

"He says he's going to beat him," Bernice said.

Lindsey is one of six local special-needs athletes who completed an eight-week camp this week at Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton. The camp, held every Monday since June 9, was one of 74 conducted this summer in Illinois by the Sunshine Through Golf Foundation, the charitable arm of the Chicago District Golf Association.

Alex Nolly, the CDGA's manager of foundation administration, said the Arrowhead camp provided the opportunity for individuals to get on the golf course and play.

"A lot of these guys don't have that opportunity," he said.

And this year this opportunity was free, thanks largely to a grant from the U.S. Golf Association. A camp last summer at Arrowhead required a fee of $200, Nolly said.

The grant money was used to start what the foundation calls the Sunshine Series, a program offshoot for advanced golfers who have participated in another foundation program. Including the camp at Arrowhead, there were 15 Sunshine Series programs this summer.

"They use this training for the Special Olympics competition in Bartlett," Nolly said. The Aug. 4 competition is a nine-hole qualifier for the 2008 Special Olympics Outdoor Sports Festival in Decatur, which takes place Sept. 13 and 14.

Because the camp at Arrowhead was so hands-on, Nolly said the participants will have an extra advantage.

To run the camps, the Sunshine Through Golf Foundation partnered with more than 40 organizations this summer, according to Nolly. The Arrowhead camp came together thanks to a partnership with the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association.

"I like seeing that they've learned something, and to see that they can do it is a big reward," said Laura Yednock, a WDSRA staffer who helped out at the camp.

She said the golfers took so well to instruction that pointers often had to be given only once.

Each week the golfers got the chance to play at least a couple of holes and sometimes golfed as many as nine. Lessons from a clubhouse pro and time spent on the practice putting green were other features of the program, she said.

This summer seven other Sunshine Through Golf camps ran at DuPage County golf courses: White Pines Golf Club in Bensenville, Village Greens in Woodridge, Medinah Country Club, Glen Oak Country Club in Glen Ellyn, Twin Lakes Golf Club in Westmont, White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville and Cantigny Golf Course in Wheaton, according to Grissom.

Arrowhead participant Andrew MacLennan of Naperville remembers an important motto repeated by camp volunteers and staffers: "Always do your best," he said with a smile. MacLennan said he was confident that he played his best that evening.

Most of this year's participants at Arrowhead were at least in their mid-20s, according to Alli Grissom, a public relations intern at the foundation.

At the camp's culmination this week, participants were awarded yearlong membership cards to the foundation's Three-Hole Sunshine Course in Lemont.

Jennifer Pryor of Naperville, the only female participant this year, said she plans to return next year - and hints that she'll keep practicing. "I play golf with my dad a lot," she said.