INSPIRATIONAL! is the first word that comes to mind in the english language that describes the positive emotion that consumed me while covering the Southern Amputee Golf Association's (SAGA) 53rd Southern Amputee Golf Championship held at the Don VellerSeminole Golf Course and Club on June 19th -21st in beautiful Tallahassee, Florida. It was a scorching hot afternoon with temperatures in the low hundreds and eighteen golfers from the association and two guests displaying their amazing talent playing the hardest sport I have ever encountered or tried to learn to play.  

Millions of individuals the world over spend enormous sums of money in search of conquering this elusive game called golf, and these golfers made it look easy.

Some of these gentlemen (and I mean gentlemen of the highest degree) from all over the southern part of the United States,  have only one arm. Others have had both legs amputated but were equipped with prosthetics.

You can feel the power of the shot in this photo just watching the blur of the driver in motion. Powerful drive.

Here is another prime example of one of those drives that went straight down the middle of the fairway on the first hole which is a par #5

Four golfers pose and allow me to take a photo of them. Not one golfer ever complained about their disability. In fact their comments were invariably humorous. While on the tee of the eight hole I remarked about how amazed I was about how well they were performing and how great their first shots were with hitting the green on that par #3, Mike one of the golfers chuckled and said "We got 4 legs between the four of us." Thanks very much, gentlemen, for allowing me to experience such a special moment with all of you.   

The prosthesis-es of many of the golfers were beautifully decorated with amazing works of art. Here are some of the fine examples of such works as displayed by the very proud men who wear them.

Donny is the golfer in this photo. I had the pleasure of travelling throughout the golf course and watching the tournament with his wife Angie. Donny recently had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with Brad Bryant a golfer on the Senior PGA Tour. Brad has been a major asset for Donny's aspirations of becoming a player on the Senior PGA Tour in four years when he becomes eligible. Donny has been very fortunate in receiving an equipment contract with Adams Golf and lessons from David Leadbetter Golf Acadamy in Orlando and playing at ChampionGate Golf Club regarded as one of the top courses in the nation and located 15 minutes from Walt Disney World Orlando Florida.  

Here are a group of golfers on the fairway of the seventh hole and one of them is checking the distance to the pin.

Here is Kenny the SAGA president with that amazing swing he has on the tee of the first hole.

Here is another of those golfers with that amazing talent on the tee of the first hole.

This just goes to show the caliber of individuals that make up this very special organisation called SAGA, so full of fun and sincere appreciation for life and the courage of living it to the fullest. (Stay tuned in the coming months for a full feature article about the National Amputee Golf Association in the Featured Golfer Section of Golfbytez.com.)

Special thanks to Dave Leeka and the members of the Southern Amputee Golf Association for allowing us to cover the tournament and writing this story.

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written by Hugh Bosely on June 21, 2009

Very cool and a great example of human resiliency and spirit. These folks really put things into perspective.

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