Golf
Helps Put Smiles on Faces
Brent Burney, the head pro at Loma Linda Country Club, and two Hooters Tour players, Luis Rivera and Neal Grusczynski, worked with nearly a dozen youngsters from the Community Support Services golf program during last month's Hooters Tour High Winds Casino/Loma Linda Classic.
The kids had fun.
And Burney and those young pros won't soon forget the experience.
"To have the opportunity to work with these kids ... it doesn't take much to make them smile," Burney said, reflecting on the clinic. "I love to see people smile. The more I get them to smile and enjoy golf, the happier I am.
That's what makes my life go."
Eleven youngsters, all developmentally disabled, were instructed by Burney and the Hooters pros on how to putt. The three pros divided the youngsters into three groups and spent as much time as possible working individually with each of them.
"I had one kid that I worked with 15 minutes before the others got here,"
Burney said. "He actually got to where he could make a four-foot putt one out of five times. To watch him smile and enjoy making the ball go into that hole, it was just so much fun.
"They can do it. They have the ability. ... They're not handicapped kids in my eyes; they're just kids. And the one thing with them is that you always get that smile."
Burney and his assistant, Anthony Fink, are continuing to work with the Community Support Services youth golf program every Wednesday though August.
CSS was awarded an $8,900 grant by the United States Golf Association's "For the Good of the Game" program to introduce children or people with developmental disabilities to golf.
Actually, golf is a component of the Community Support Services G.O.A.L.S.
program (Growing Opportunities And Life Skills), which is designed to allow children and adults with developmental disabilities to experience social and sports activities available in the community, according to Melissa Eiken, resource development coordinator for CSS.
Andrew Brockman, a U.S.G.A. representative, will present the $8,900 check to Marsha Wallace, Community Support Services president, at Loma Linda today before the Carl McConnell Memorial Golf Classic. Proceeds from the tournament and a golf ball drop benefit the Community Support Services G.O.A.L.S program.
Eiken says the golf program has been a success.
"The kids are excited to come back and participate again," she said. "A lot of kids are enthusiastic about golf in general. Among our long-term goals is for some of our participants to go on to Special Olympics golf events."
While an assistant pro at Oklahoma City Country Club, Burney had worked with two children with developmental disabilities and discovered it was something that he enjoyed doing.
What's the key to working with these special youngsters?
"You watch people who work with these kids every day and you see how patient they are with them," he said. "You just have to tell them how good they are doing -- 'Hey, you're doing a great job' and 'Are you having fun.' You may tell them 10 times to take a step (gripping a club the proper way or swinging it) and they'll eventually do it. But that 10 times you tell them, it's so worth it."
Each child has a different level of understanding. Some can pick up a putter and within five minutes start making putts. Others have trouble getting their hands on a club correctly. Among the lessons they are getting are how to putt, how to swing, how to pick up a golf bag and carry it and, of course, how golf is played.
The key is finding that level at which they can achieve.
This news story is from the Friday, August
10, 2007 edition of The