News & Updates, Buddie's Veterans Adaptive Golf

Volunteers and Sponsors at the First BVAG Training Session

Golf clinic offers disabled veterans a chance to play

Sun, Jun. 01, 2008
By JIM SULLINGER
The Kansas City Star

Brian Rollin of Olathe is learning to play golf. It isn’t quite as easy for Rollin, 34, as it is for most students of the game. The
former Marine, who became paralyzed when a blood clot formed in his spine, uses a wheelchair to get around.

His biggest challenge? Holding on to the club,” he said without hesitation. “I can’t use my hands.” Rollin was one of 16
military veterans who participated last month in the first adaptive golf clinic given by Buddie Butterfield, who helps people
with disabilities play golf. The next session will be held at 1 p.m. June 11.

The May event was the first of a series of clinics that will be offered on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month
through September. The Kansas City VA Medical Center sponsored the clinic at the Overland Park Golf Club.

Butterfield, an assistant golf pro at the club, said that he saw an amputee playing golf with specialized equipment and that it
inspired him to begin teaching people with disabilities. With special training and the help of the Abdallah Shrine, he began
Buddie’s Buddies in 2004. “Through instruction, exercise and adaptive equipment, limitations can be overcome and skills
developed,” he said. One piece of specialized equipment is a golf cart with a hydraulic seat that lifts Rollin and others into a
more upright position, where they can swing a club and drive the ball.

Strapped to the raised chair, Jeff Carneal, a former Air Force staff sergeant paralyzed in a fall from a ladder, hit the ball
more than 100 yards at a time. He had played a lot of golf before the injury and was excited to do so again.

At a meeting of a VA spinal cord injury group, Butterfield discussed his program. That got Carneal, a Henry County, Mo.,
resident, thinking he could play again. “Once he described the golf cart and you could get on the greens, I thought: ‘Well,
finally, I have the ability to get back and play,’ ” he said. “Maybe not normal, but at least it gets me back on the course.”
After Carneal finished hitting tee shots on the club’s driving range, it was Rollin’s turn. He was strapped to the golf cart chair,
lifted into position and given a golf club. To help him grip the club, a helper at the clinic placed duct tape around Rollin’s
hands while he gripped the handle. "Way to go, Brian,” Carneal shouted as Rollin hit the ball.

For Sam Rush, 81, of Kansas City, Kan., hitting the ball was a major accomplishment. Rush is blind, an injury suffered in the
Korean War. How did he hit a ball he couldn’t see? “I just tried to do what they told me,” he said.

Jim Fulton of Roeland Park was one of several program volunteers who worked with the veterans. “It builds their confidence
so much,” he said.

To reach Jim Sullinger, call 816-234-7701 or send e-mail to jsullinger@kcstar.com

On Tuesday, May 13, 2008... Buddie's Veterans Adaptive Golf had its "OFFICIAL KICK-OFF" at the KCVA . Guest
speaker Capt. George Burk, USAF(Ret) www.georgeburk.com keynote speaker, trainer, author, Vietnam veteran gave
a wonderful and inspiring speech. We will have updated information available soon, including an interview with Buddie, our
founder, on FOX-4.

Participants, Volunteers and Sponsors, BVAG Class of 2008

CHECK OUT OUR

FROM THE FIRST
BVAG CLINIC.

BUDDIE'S VETERANS ON
FOX4 KANSAS CITY

DEPENDING ON YOUR CONNECTION, THE VIDEO MAY TAKE A LITTLE TIME TO DOWNLOAD.

The FOX-4 crew came out for the first clinic
of Buddie's Veterans Adaptive Golf. Push the
play button to see the story as told by Frank
Boal, Sports Director at FOX 4 in Kansas City.

Then... Check out the write up we received
by Jim Sullinger from the Kansas City Star.
Then... Click on the 435 SOUTH Magazine
logo (above), to read a NOV '08 article.