First AdapTee Golf Training Held in Las Vegas

For people with severe quadriplegia, an adaptive sport that’s always been out of reach is adaptive golf. Requiring at least some arm movement, many had to give up on their dream of getting back out on the course after their injury. That is thankfully no longer the case thanks to AdapTee Golf, a new version of adaptive golf created by our founder and made specifically for people with limited to no arm movement.

And we’re excited to announce 2025 is our biggest year yet. Andrew Mitchell, our AdapTee Golf Program Director, is helping bring the sport to the spinal cord injury community this year by hosting our AdapTee Golf training sessions, and our first AdapTee Golf training was held in Las Vegas on April 13th.

We were joined by a great group of individuals and their families; all who were eager to learn AdapTee Golf at Painted Desert Golf Club, the host of the event. “Seven players with quadriplegia participated in the event. Bringing an able-bodied caregiver or caddie was strongly recommended since this is how all players will be able to play in the future, but it was not required for this training event,” says Mitchell.

“I was also able to instruct or take out five more players with mobility disabilities throughout the week,” he added. “One of those players was Sam Schmidt, the founder of DRIVEN Neurorecovery. It was a treat to see Sam pick up something new and watch his competitive fire come out as he played against Determined2Heal’s Josh Basile for the first time.”

During the training session, one of the inventors of the swingless driver (POWER2GOLF) used by caddies, Steve Fluke, was also present at the clinic. “He’s a great teacher and is driven by the same purpose as AdapTee Golf is, to make golf accessible to everyone who wants to play,” says Mitchell.

Throughout the training, the basics of the sport were taught, as well as practical advice such as being aware of your body temperature when out on the course for 9-holes. “We covered the four axes along which players move their caddies’ hands to set up a swingless driver shot, how to set the angle and power of the slingshot, and lastly, how to read greens and set the angle and power of the Pendulum Putter.”

A New Shot Discovered

One of the participants of the Las Vegas training was Chad Post, a former competitive golfer, who taught the group a brand new shot using the swingless driver. “Using all his knowledge as a golfer, he pieced together exactly how to instruct me to maneuver the club so that the face was perfectly in line with the ball but tilted downward in a way that forced the driver to strike the ball forward in a straight line, instead of upward in an arc.”

Even better, Mitchell was able to share everything he learned with our founder, which has already been used successfully. “I was able to take everything I learned from Chad and share it with Josh a week later. Josh was able to make use of his new stinger shot to help him and Kate Strickland win their rematch against Dave and Nick Degirolamo at our Sligo Creek event on April 27th.”

Player Feedback

Most people who try Adaptee Golf can’t wait to try it again, and the feedback we’ve received so far has been great. “I watched people’s reactions range from being hooked right away to a slow burn that eventually turned into a drive to come back out and try AdapTee Golf again. I came away feeling as though we gave folks something new and interesting to try out, and for the competitively minded among our participants, something to work on sharpening and competing at in the future,” says Mitchell.

A complaint however has been the slingshot. One of the components of the game requires the caddie to use a slingshot to shoot the ball down the fairway, but that is difficult for many caddies to do. The plan is to replace the slingshot with the swingless driver. “We look forward to the work being done by Rob Wudlick and University of Minnesota students to create a device that will replicate the shots made by the swingless driver, but to hit shots between one and seventy-five yards. Once these devices are mass-produced, we will be able to phase out the slingshot element of AdapTee Golf.”

Looking forward to the rest of the year, more AdapTee Golf trainings will be held in Minnesota, Nashville and Maryland. “Josh Basile, Rob Wudlick, Robbie Barbieri, and I can’t wait to see what 2025 and 2026 bring for AdapTee Golf. I am beyond excited to get the chance to share AdapTee Golf with everyone I’ll have the chance to teach in the coming years.”

— Watch video from the training

— Stay up-to-date on AdapTee Golf on their main site