Roy McCoy and Jerry Drummond of the Southwest Amputee Golf Association were in Brownwood Thursday finalizing plans for this year’s event.
“We were talking about when Gearold (Ledsome) was trying to get us out here and how were we going to get people to drive 150 miles out in the country,” Drummond said. “Now if we wanted to move it they’d throw us both out. This is the place, and we enjoy it. We really have a good time. It’s fantastic and the people, the whole town takes good care of us. We really enjoy coming up here.”
McCoy added, “Oddly enough without knowing much about us the community got behind us. We’ve had some real good sponsors that have come back every year. We’re always looking for sponsors, the more the merrier, and the City of Early got onboard with this and they’re a primary sponsor. And the course is good for us, the layout is amputee friendly, and you don’t have to climb a bunch of mountains or gullies to hit a ball.”
Hole sponsorships are available for $200 and Denise Hudson at the Early Visitors and Events Center can be contacted at (325) 649-9300 for those interested.
“We like to get as much of the community involved as we can,” Drummond said. “We want everybody here to be better for us coming each year. That’s one of our main goals. Everybody that wants to sponsor gets a free entry and can come play. We have a guest flight for what we call ‘normies’ and I think they have as much fun as we do.”
McCoy started the golf association for amputees in 1980.
“It was just a few old buddies, amputees that got together and started playing golf,” McCoy said. “People would hear about it and ask if they could come play. It kind of grew from there, and it grew big enough that we decided to make it an association. So I went ahead and got the 501c3 and established an association of amputee golfers. It started out with amputees but it’s morphed into a disabled tournament. Any physical disability can play in the tournament. We have flights for them and trophies for them as well as the amputees, too.”
The Texas Regional Championship at The Hideout is one of three yearly tournaments hosted by the SWAGA.
“We have one in Brownwood, we’re moving back to WinStar in Oklahoma and there’s the Central Texas tournament in Waco the first weekend of June,” McCoy said.
The tournament at The Hideout is open to the public and admission is free.
“We don’t charge anybody, we just let them come out and and have fun watching a bunch of old one-legged guys try to hit the ball,” McCoy said with a laugh.
The entry fee for the tournament is $50 and includes two rounds of golf with cart, practice range and a banquet meal after. Trophies and awards will also be presented.
“There’s usually between 40 and 50 golfers,” McCoy said. “It’s small enough to be casual and friendly and have fun. We have flights for men and women amputees, and junior amputees. Junior amputees under the age of 18 play for free. One of the things we’re facing is trying to get the younger amputees out. Most of the guys I started with are all gone. We need to get more of the younger folks involved, that’s one of our big pushes now.”
For more information about the Southwest Amputee Golf Association, visit amputeegolf1.com.