Back 2 Swing Golf, part of the Sports & Leisure Program offered through the Recreation Therapy Department at Alegent Immanuel Rehabilitation Center, is not a new program, but it has a new component.

The golf program has obtained new single-rider golf carts, which have features that make it possible for people who couldn1t normally golf to get out on the course and play the game.

Nate Blum, who lives in Schaller, Iowa, heard about the golf carts at Elkhorn Ridge Golf Course this year and made the trip with his parents a month ago to try one out.

Blum was in a car accident in June 2004 that left him a paraplegic. He and his wife, Jamie, have two children, Logan, 5, and Drew, 2. He was driving a semi in Colorado in 2004 when he got into an accident that shattered his L1 vertebra, leaving him with a spinal cord injury.

He was never an avid golfer, but he does like to be active, so he decided to try the new cart.

Jena Munson, the therapeutic recreation specialist who coordinates the Back 2 Swing program for Alegent, was there to assist Blum and others at the driving range. Also assisting was Barry Ridout, who has been a paraplegic since a car accident in 1988. He showed Blum and others how to use the cart. Ridout first met Munson in the Alegent softball program for those with disabilities. Munson coaches for the program.

The single-rider cart is smaller than a typical golf cart, with a fully adjustable, comfortably padded seat and simple push button controls. The seat can swivel to the side, be raised and lowered, and tilt forward, allowing the golfer to 3stand². For many, like Blum, it means swinging the club with one arm, but he managed to get some good distance on the driving range.

The wheels of the car are wider than regular golf carts, which make it possible for them to take the carts onto the fairways, the greens and even into the sand traps - anywhere the ball goes. Where a wheelchair would cut tire tracks into the greens, the golf cart can go without damaging them.

Munson said Elkhorn Ridge is ideal for the program because the Par 3 course is less intimidating than a regular course. Ridout said he has tried to golf in a wheelchair, pushing it by hand.

"I did 18 holes pushing a wheelchair,² he said. 3I was dead tired." Electric chairs are too heavy to take out on the course. The single-ride carts are a great improvement.

"All the credit goes to Jena," Ridout said.

Carter Lake Shoreline Golf Course was one of the first to get a cart, which was funded by the PGA. This year, the USGA provided matching funds for four carts - two at Elkhorn Ridge, one at Papio Greens and one at Fox Run. Other courses that have the carts are Tara Hills, Eagle Hills and Benson.

At Elkhorn Ridge, owner Dan Stoller allows Alegent to use the driving range to work with rehab patients. Stoller said he was glad to get involved in the Back 2 Swing program, His dad, Del Stoller, had a disability. " He always wanted to get something going," Dan Stoller said. Munson worked with Stoller to get the carts. For those who are disabled, they are free to use. Stoller suggests calling one day ahead to reserve one. In the Back 2 Swing Program, an assistant golf professional conducts clinics monthly at various locations from April to October. The clinics provide the participants the opportunity to be re-introduced to the game of golf after a significant injury. Many Back 2 Swing participants have sustained a spinal cord injury, stroke, amputation or brain injury.

Jena Munson is passionate about providing ways for people to recover from injuries and to stay active when living with disabilities.

"It could happen to me, or to anyone tomorrow," she said. "That1s why we plan so many things." Munson noted that the Directors at the Immanuel Rehabilitation Center are very supportive of providing recreational and sport activities for those in the community who have a physical disability. There are programs for power soccer, volleyball, junior w/c sports and recreation camp and other sports, fishing, and even riding in hot air balloons.

"They put opportunities out there,² she said. 3There1s a way to do everything, even water ski. You have to be open to trying a different method."

This story is courtesy of Douglas County Post-Gazette