Golf clinic aims to help physically challenged achieve their goals

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Friday was a perfect weather day to hit the links, and a special event at Meadow Links gave people with physical challenges a chance to enjoy a free golf clinic.

Sam Snead, one of the best golfers ever, famously said, “Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.”

It’s that quote that sums up how David Backscheider lives these days.

“Your mind is a powerful tool. You’re able to overcome if you put your mind to it,” says Backscheider.

Last spring, Backscheider suffered an electrical burn resulting in the loss of his arm.

The avid golfer says initially, he worried his time on the course had come to an end, but he didn’t let those thoughts linger.

“I was talking to my brother-in-law,” Backscheider recalls, “He said, ‘You have to relearn your swing over again,’ which I am.”

He now uses a prosthetic to help hold the club and it allowed him to get his game back.

For Ryan Spill, the clinical director at R.J Rosenberg Orthopedic Lab, this is what their work is all about.

“The prosthetic devices we provide are essentially tools, and those are tools that people use to accomplish their goals, whatever those are,” explains Spill.

That is why the lab again put on a free clinic open to anyone with a disability.

“The purpose is to either introduce somebody with a musculoskeletal challenge or differently-abled person how to play the game of golf,” says Spill. “Or for an existing golfer, how to adapt to the use of a prosthesis, for example, to improve their game.”

For Backscheider, getting back to golf has been a blessing.

He hopes it will inspire others going through similar challenges to set their own goals and crush them.

Organizers say they hope to do more of these clinics in the future with other sports, including bowling this winter.

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