My Golf Source
Attention Golf Enthusiasts! Level up your golf game with hosts Darren Penquite and Noah Horstman, PGA as they keep you up to date on the latest trends, equipment, training aids and more. Learn tips and tricks from PGA Professionals to lower your score and grow your love for the game of golf.
My Golf Source
Golf Accessibility For Those With Mobility Limitations. David’s Chair Founder & CEO, Steve Furst.
David's Chair: Steve Furst is the Founder and CEO of David's Chair, a non-profit that is doing incredible work to help individuals with mobility-limiting conditions access the outdoors and enjoy activities like golf with dignity and independence. Bringing adaptive golf chairs to golf courses across the U.S. is such a fantastic initiative, and it's inspiring to hear about the potential for such enormous barriers being overcome.
Welcome to the MyGolfSource podcast. Welcome to MyGolfSource. I'm Darren and I'm Noah. We stopped saying what episode it is. I forgot. Now it's like eight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we're just rolling at this point with all the fun golf in the world.
Speaker 2:We've got enough down to say we don't have to count anymore, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. What's new in your world? Lots is going on here at the Golf Garage. We are merging West Coast Golf Academy into the Golf Garage Academy and we are creating a global academy at the moment. So coaching staff's on board Just hired another golf coach, slash professional, logan Gena, who's been in the industry for about 12 years from Eagle Point and really excited. I think he's going to be on the podcast here in the coming weeks and has a ton of experience and brings a lot to the table for us. So I know the whole Golf Garage family is ready and excited to have him.
Speaker 2:Excited to meet him. I know I had met him previously when he was organizing some youth events that my son was involved in and he just got done talking to me about how passionate he is about youth golf and we talk a lot about that on the show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean youth golf is where it starts. I mean my focus as a player development expert is going to be youth golf, ladies golf, and then usually the husbands or the gentlemen will come to follow after. So for us it's all about youth golf starting out. And one little side note on Logan was PGA Junior League is a big national phenomenon right now it's spring, it's ramping up, depending on the place you know, area of the country you live, and I remember going out to Eagle Point with our team versus their team and Logan brings out two 40-gallon garbage cans full of water balloons and we had about.
Speaker 2:I remember that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I think, I think you were there and you know, and it was so cool because, um, you know, he was in the middle of all of it, not afraid to get wet, just getting hammered by all of his kids, and I think at the end of it he won, cause I think he picked up the garbage can and dumped it on a couple of them that were getting him. But it was definitely a good time, that's cool, he's a big guy.
Speaker 2:He's not one who I'd want to mess with. No, he looks like he works out a little bit. Yeah, he hits it pretty far. What's happening on tour Rory?
Speaker 1:McIlroy won the players in a playoff. Yeah, you know it's funny, Rory being an outspoken person, you like, it's so hard not to love him. I don't know, I don't know what it is. People say things about Rory and I'm like well, how do you not love that guy? He's five foot seven and he hits it 350 yards and he's not afraid to speak his mind and I think that's really good for golf right now, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:It adds entertainment value, it makes it real, it makes it relatable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, without question. And if you really look at it, I mean he was kind of screwed a little bit on the PGA tour with everything that happened. They're like, hey, we want you to be the spokesperson when live was going on. And then all of a sudden now they're like oh, what's what's going on? And everything was hidden from all those tour players you know. And again, all we see is what we see on tv. So who knows what's actually happening behind closed doors? But it seemed to me like the players didn't really know either. So what's your gut feeling?
Speaker 2:as far as uh merger with live and pga I mean, I think it's inevitable.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't the world's a big place, right, but when you have superstars, at some point it becomes obviously about money and those superstars made a choice to go to a certain place that was better for their family. I don't blame them for that. I don't blame them either. No, I think what is going to happen is the PGA Tour is such an established environment. The events that are partnered with the PGA Tour will never change. So you have these events where US Opens, usga Masters is run by the Masters, pga Championship is PGA of America, pga Tour and then the British Open, essentially RNA. So the majors they can still kind of play in and seize it, but we need those players from Live to play on the PGA Tour and vice versa. Just open it up, make it a free market. Don't hold them down just because and again, contracts are expiring on Liv, so you know how much more are they going to pay these guys to keep it going?
Speaker 2:Saudi Arabia they've got a lot of money. They've got deep, deep pockets.
Speaker 1:You never know. You Saudi Arabia, they've got a lot of money. They've got deep, deep pockets. You never know, you never know. But I think there could be something good happening in the works behind the scenes and I really hope for our sake and entertainment value. I'd love to see Bryson DeChambeau out there a lot more. I'd love to see DJ back out. I mean, some of these guys that cross over. You're like, yeah, I'd be great.
Speaker 2:And I, these guys that cross over. You're like Mickelson back out there. Yeah, it'd be great, and I think it's just good for golf. So it'll be interesting to see what they come up with. Is there any scuttlebutt?
Speaker 1:in the PGA any feathers ruffled with the whole TGL man. I haven't heard a lot, you know from my standpoint um, just being in the golf um arena. But I think it's good for the game too. It's just another avenue to bring in entertainment. I guess what I'm curious about with TGL is how long will it last? Right? So I watch it because Tiger Woods is on it, right, plain and simple, and Rory's on it.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:Rory's on it, but it's always Tiger Woods for me. I grew up with Tiger. I mean I remember watching him win the 97 Masters runaway victory. I'm sitting crisscross applesauce two feet from the tube, like at my friend's house, literally just screaming like break the record, break the record. You know what I mean and that was so entertaining for me and I'm a huge Tiger fan, no matter what he does. And so for Rory and you, you know some of those other guys. I mean there's just nothing like that phenomenon, so you're glued to it regardless.
Speaker 2:If Tiger's there, you're glued to it does Tiger have another major win under his belt?
Speaker 1:oh man he, he doesn't look good physically.
Speaker 2:No right, I mean quite frankly well, he hits the ball as good as he ever did. But it's his stamina for 18 holes. Right or actually for four days.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah. So how much pain is it? It's more than four days, right? So tour players are going to the golf course, potentially on a Sunday or a Monday. They're getting there to putt, chip, get a feel for the greens, get a practice round, and everybody's different. So are you playing 18 holes? Are you playing every day? Are you playing 18, 9, 9, 9? Like, what is it that you're trying to accomplish?
Speaker 1:I know my short amount of time out on the PGA Tour lesson team. You know sometimes you overdo it, you know, and when you overdo it in practice, thinking that you need that extra round, I mean, they all know how to hit the ball, they all know how to putt it's it's more the mindset at that point of, hey, do I really need to see the course again? And the thing about the PGA tour is the rotation is the same pretty much every year. So a lot of those guys know what courses they play well at. They know what courses they are confident in. Maybe they've had a victory, so they have that extra confidence and that's what gets them out of the slump. Essentially, right is oh, I play well here.
Speaker 1:So you know, golf is hard in general from the standpoint of winning and you win a major, you're probably in the hall of fame. So right, I mean with Tiger. I mean, what does he have to prove? I mean with Tiger? I mean what does he have to prove? I mean the whole-. He's won every major. He's won every major. He has a Tiger slam On top of that, like in his mind does he want to beat Jack? Yeah, probably. You know that's just competition, but he has a family that's up and coming. So what is it that he's going to do? Will he always play in majors If he's healthy?
Speaker 2:yeah, 100. Does he need to play anything else? I mean, I don't know exactly. Not save it, save it. We talk a lot about golf accessibility. We've talked so much about the youth and everything, um, but today's guest steve first is the ceo and founder of an, a non-profit called david's chair. The first I I saw of david's chair was a guy out who was paralyzed from the chest down and he was out playing 18 holes of golf on stone ridge golf course in a golf chair. That was, you know, um, was adaptive the that that allowed him to play play golf. And he was just tearing it up out there and I was completely amazed. And then we started talking with Steve and they do a charity golf tournament every year out at Stone Ridge, which is amazing and just so much fun. Steve, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hey, thank you, glad to be here.
Speaker 2:Tell us about I've heard this, but tell everybody else the story behind David's chair.
Speaker 3:Well, it started with a David Hartrick, a friend of mine. We grew up here in the Rogue Valley and it started with just him wanting to access the outdoors after developing ALS. He knew his ALS diagnosis was terminal and he already realized his ALS was pretty aggressive. So when, um, when he reached out to people to try and help him get this track chair because insurance won't cover that they paid for his $80,000 ALS chair but not a $20,000 track chair that would get him out in nature and wildlife. So basically, to kind of make a long story short, we ended up putting together a fundraiser getting a track chair for him. We raised enough money for a youth chair and we'd always talked about the fact that when he did his research, a lot of people had track chairs and they never got to really use them because they didn't have the resources, ability to take them places other than their backyard and things.
Speaker 3:So we thought, well, I should say he knew that he wasn't going to be long for this world with the diagnosis and wanted to pass on the chair and have people use it. So we came up with a nonprofit idea like, hey, people can check out the chair and use it for free. And that was the concept and the the. The thing we talked about was what other things can we do to help people with mobility challenges get out there and enjoy life? Then the paragolfers are something that, um, we came across a few years ago and we thought what a great idea to give people with mobility challenges from paralysis, um, alas, amputations, strokes, all types of other things that that hurt your mobility give them up to be competitive or recreational in a sport that either they once played and can't play, or that they've never played. We have people that took up golf after their injury because they want to do something competitive or get out and just enjoy life and do something recreational.
Speaker 2:So these golf chairs, tell me about how they function technically and what they do.
Speaker 3:They're pretty awesome piece of equipment they're. They're running 30 to $35,000 a piece. They're not like a golf cart like that. You can get from 3500 to maybe if you get a souped up one for seven grand.
Speaker 3:Um, they have gyros in them. They're a three-wheeled cart and the gyros help you when you're working on a hill or something and addressing your ball, making sure that you, you know they don't flip or something as you swing. But the great thing about them is they allow a player to stand up, they support them and the way the chair is designed, they can actually take a free swing. There's nothing in the way. You know, unlike the track chairs, they're big, cumbersome. They're like mini tanks. These things are delicate, high-tech pieces of machinery and they can go on the greens and they don't damage the greens. You've seen them.
Speaker 3:You've seen people put on the greens they've got like golf cart type soft tires on them yeah, and then they're just you know, and then they're just designed really well to to give as much freedom as you can out there and allow people to, you know, play golf and be competitive and have fun. How many golf chairs do you have? We have three currently. We have two of the original Paragolfer styles and Anthony Netto is the gentleman that created these and he no longer makes the Paragolfers and they went into the VertiCat style and I think we're going to get a VertiCat down here on display, hopefully soon, at the Golf Garage, just so people can see it and then maybe click on a link and get some information about adaptive golf, because everybody should be able to golf.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And we're going to do whatever we can to make it to where anybody can access outdoors recreation and access golf and the use of these chairs is absolutely free, right. Everything. Yeah, we always. And that's the thing David talked about. He understood that when you're in a situation where you have medical bills and you can't work and things like that, that it's financially challenging just to live day to day. So we don't want to charge people that are in these situations, so it is free.
Speaker 1:Well, it's unique. I've gotten to hit out of a David's chair, I think three times now Hit one good once. And it is interesting you know to stand in that and want to use your legs Right and you're you almost need to, not, you know, and I, and I think it's so fun when we go to these charity events and you get to try to do that and it's like a competition or it's a fundraiser or whatnot, for awareness, even right, regardless of if it's raising money, it's just that awareness. To say like this is giving someone the opportunity to do something that without it they couldn't do. And you know, I think that from my standpoint as a PGA professional and growing the game, it's just like an amazing invention and it's come a long way as well, like the newer version, like you were saying. It's really, really um. It's just amazing to me that you know you can go on the golf course with this heavy piece of machinery and it's built so well that it doesn't hurt the greens and it's allowing someone to do that.
Speaker 1:I know out of oak knoll golf course there's a gentleman that's using a david's chair. I mean he was out there three days a week. You know, and and again, these are not in stone ridge, these are not flat golf courses. No, you know. And and again, these are not in stone Ridge, these are not flat golf courses.
Speaker 1:No, you know so to be able to just probably the hilliest golf course in our I think so it's.
Speaker 1:It's a very hilly golf course. It'll, you know, battle some of the hilliest, and so for it to work on that is incredible in itself. And then, you know, the thing of it is. I guess that I have a question about is, like, how many David's chairs do we need in our area? Like, I mean, because three. It seems like if we could get the word out about, you know, adaptive golf, that there's probably a huge need for this. Have you? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:Well, and that's it. You know, I think getting the word out about adaptive golf, bringing an adaptive golf clinic to Southern Oregon would be great. We helped out with an adaptive golf clinic up in the Crestwell area last year and it was an okay turnout. I think we can do better, but I think that's part of it, you know, is showing people, not only getting adaptive golfers in here but other people to come to these clinics.
Speaker 1:And then you get the word out and we should have one at every golf course well, what's interesting about what you're saying is I've been pga hope certified since it started and I'm not sure if you're familiar with that. So we're actually having a pga hope training here at golf and I was going to kind of surprise you with that because I would love to have a David's chair in here for that and converge the two. I think it really needs to happen. I think it could be a benefit and then to also have the PGA of America really actually get behind something like this is huge. Actually get behind something like this is huge.
Speaker 1:Because when I was certified I was telling Darren this, I think maybe last week we talked a little bit briefly about you coming on and and I remember suiting up essentially and we had to put a brace on our leg and I had to fold my knee back on like if I didn't have a lead but I didn't have a leg right.
Speaker 1:So I'm like a crutch essentially where my knee goes and it's the most awkward feeling in the world as a golf pro and a golfer at a high level to have my hip pushed up into a position that I would never have it in and learn how to play and then have extra short golf clubs and extra flat golf clubs and all these other things that you don't think about. That are a need and they all cost money and the awareness needs to happen so people can get out there and feel like they have a reason to continue, I mean honestly, a sense of purpose is really important for people, and I think the thing that we're finding with golf and as a golf professional that I'll speak on, cause I'm a big proponent of this is it helps with PTSD.
Speaker 1:It's proven to, and there's different forms of that right. You have something crazy happened to you, like ALS right or any any disease for that matter. Or you get hit and you you lose feeling and you can't, and you need this chair to be able to play the game you love, and now it's here and available to you, and then you have a facility like ours where we're going to test it to make sure we can do everything Like. My goal is that David's chair can be at golf garage anytime. I mean, that's a huge huge thing.
Speaker 2:Think about it from from our perspective, where we don't have mobility limitations, getting strapped into a chair like this. We feel it's very cumbersome for us. But for somebody who has tremendous limitations, who doesn't have feeling in their lower body, for a chair to be able to stand them up into a position that otherwise they couldn't do has got to be the best feeling in the world.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's amazing. And and I think the thing we need to remember is how about a guy that's paralyzed, um, getting out with his buddies on the golf course? And it's it's not just the person using the chair that benefits from this, it's their friends. And then, um, I hear the stories, you know, but, oh, I talked to this guy the other day. You're that guy from Davis chair and I saw a guy on a golf course and I'm like you know they're trying to describe what it was and it was so awesome and, and even strangers just get joy out of it and then, um, they just, you see, the benefit of it. It's not just the person using the chair, it's like with our track chairs, when people go to special events, whole families come out and then they spend a day on the beach that they couldn't with their family member.
Speaker 2:We're going to mention it again a little bit later, but real quick. What is the David's Chair website?
Speaker 3:It's wwwdavidschairorg.
Speaker 2:Okay so on the david's chair website you see that you have a ton of of videos of people out on the beach, in the forest um who have mobility limitations and the smile on their face is absolutely uncontrollable and infectious and and the smiles you see on the family's face is getting to see their loved one partaking activities that they haven't been able to partake in in a long time or or since an injury or a traumatic event is. It's absolutely priceless and, as you said, these chairs are expensive. I mean, the golf chairs are 30 something thousand. You said what are the uh track chairs that can go on the beach?
Speaker 3:yeah, just they range um, just like when you go out and buy a car. What do you want? So um you get a standing chair. They're up to 24 000 right, so and, and what you and you add, all the and, and what do you want to add?
Speaker 2:sorry, kia makes a lot of good cars.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no one's laughing at me like dude, no, but you know the bottom line is is, um, they're right now um action track chairs. What we use our track chairs. They hook us up a little bit, which is really nice, and we're spending about 15 to 16 thousand dollars on a pretty much chair that we kind of designed as a, as a good model with a good size seat for most people, with some little accessories. We have an attendant control so people that can't use the controls can be driven by somebody else. And then we now have a mount where that attendant control can, because most of the chairs come right-handed, so the attendant control now mounts on the left side handle so it becomes a left-handed chair.
Speaker 1:All the things you don't think about until you have somebody in, and then you're like, oh, we need this now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my buddy, casey Murray, is a quadriplegic and when we started doing things it was the Casey test and he's pretty amazing for a quadriplegic the things he can do. But we're like, hey, we have to have four-point harnesses available and a seatbelt. We we have to have four-point harnesses available and a seat belt. We have to have everything available for the most extreme person with the most limitations that can use the chair to the most able-bodied person that uses our chair. But you know it's trial and error because we didn't know what we were doing when we started David's Chair. We just had an idea and we said we want to provide access to outdoors and recreation and we're going to do whatever we can. And that's how the golf chairs they were the perfect thing for it.
Speaker 2:They are so you have. So when you raise enough funds to purchase another chair now, keep in mind that these chairs require a lot of maintenance and upkeep and new batteries every so often, and this stuff is expensive. But you place these it's not just the initial purchase of the chair. You put these chairs and you locate them in, like beaches along the Oregon coast. There's ones that are kept at golf courses, you know, around the Rogue Valley. You've expanded far outside of Oregon, correct? Yes, we have when. Where are you?
Speaker 3:where do you have chairs. So, um, we Northern California, redwoods, we have a chair and it's Cuchul State Park. It's kind of spelled funny and pronounced differently than it's spelled, but anyways. And then we have Westport, washington, which is coastal we're in Reno. And then we have two chairs in Texas, based out of 10 Mile Ranch in Texas, and the whole concept of that is that people can travel somewhere and use a David's chair, reserve it, reserve it, you reserve it online through our website and then you travel there and you know that you have access to the outdoors.
Speaker 3:What we really want to do and that's why I'm glad we're here at the golf garage doing this is because we really want to expand the golf program and it's hard to do it by ourselves. It just really is, and we've used Oregon as our model for David's chair. But we want to be everywhere, because I want people to be able to say I want to go on vacation and I want to play golf in Myrtle Beach, south Carolina, and I want to, but how am I going to do that? Because there's no golf chairs around. But if we partner with a course someday over there, have a chair, people can do that, you can go on vacation and actually do the things that every one of us able-bodied person can take for granted at times, and do so obviously we've talked a little bit about price, you know, and obviously we need to raise money for this cause.
Speaker 1:It's an incredible cause and I love what you just said. It needs to be everywhere and I agree with you 100%. Who and where are these made? You kind of made the comment earlier a little bit, but touch on that a little more because I'm curious and, again, knowing other golf professionals all over the country working in Cleveland and Arizona, I thought I knew a little bit about David's Share.
Speaker 1:This is an awesome podcast to be on, quite frankly, because I'm super interested in how I can share this with the PGA of America and the 30,000 PGA professionals all over the world and say, hey, if each one of you guys get a sponsor or a company, we can make this a reality, it wouldn't even be hard or a company, we could make this a reality, it wouldn't even be hard, and I think it would be an amazing opportunity to see this go national to global quickly if it was done right. So I'd just be curious, maybe if there is someone that is working on them that we could collaborate with and say, hey, we've got an order for 500. Can we beat the price down? Or is there some other way to do this?
Speaker 3:Yes, I will say yes. Anthony Netto, who came to our first golf tournament, is the inventor of the Paragolfer, and they were made in Germany. Well, he since broke off from that company, came to the United States, uses all American made parts and has been making them in the United States for the last couple of years. With the new VertiCat which again we'll see, and that's the model I'd like to switch to because you can get parts We'll be able to continue to get parts. We can still get parts for the Paragolfers, but they are getting a little older. It'd be nice to be able to phase them out and start with the American-made product that we can get parts here in the United States. And, yes, bigger order, we can price it down.
Speaker 3:Anthony, I'm going to try and get him up here for our golf tournament. He doesn't know that yet, but I was just talking with him the other day because I grabbed the chair from Oak Knoll. We were having battery issues, so I took it, called him. He answers we ran through some issues, charged the batteries up. I'm going to go back after this podcast, put the chair back together. Hopefully it's running and we'll get it right back out to Oak Knoll.
Speaker 3:So, shady can use it out there again and anybody else that wants to go out there and use it.
Speaker 1:Nicest, nicest guy.
Speaker 3:Anthony Nell's the guy we can, um, definitely speak with him, work with him and, like I said, I'd like to get him up here for our golf tournament it's been a few years, um and just see what we can do to promote it and, uh, see what he can do to help us get more chairs also so disabilities are obviously worldwide, they're.
Speaker 2:every town, every city in America has people who have mobility limitations. Every town in America has golf courses and, let's face it, you know, we try to make golf accessible to the youth, to people who can't afford it, because golf has this stigma and this reputation of being a rich person's elite sport, and it really doesn't have to be that way. But on the flip side of that coin, there are a lot of very wealthy, very elite people who are absolutely in love with the game of golf and every golf course, every golf club, every country club has them. There's no reason we can't have one of these on every golf course, you know across the country.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and at least start getting them in every county, city and then growing it from there, because I think it's contagious.
Speaker 1:So one thing I have a question on. I was looking at the website as well and obviously you have a David's Chair trailer or whatnot, so they're housed in certain areas, like you said, and then is there somebody that has to drive them to wherever the person is, or is that you know? Does that person that that needs the david's chair go to wherever it's at? How does that kind of work, and where is it on the website that they reserve? It's a two-parter right, like like how do we get this out there to people?
Speaker 3:so as so. As for the track chairs, um, we have the toe and go option, which is with the trailer, so you can, right now we have tow and go out of here, southern Oregon, out of our White City office, and then we have tow and go out of Gold Beach, and there's also what we call a fixed site location. So there's two chairs in Gold Beach, one that stays there and then one that you can because a lot of people want to go up the river.
Speaker 3:And so they'll grab the trailer and they'll go up on the river and fish out of David's chair or they'll take it somewhere else on the coast. So that's the whole tow and go option for people that can tow the chair somewhere on their own adventure. And then we also have tow and go out of Coos Bay, and you know we're always looking for options to expand. Tow and go is a little trickier, you know, because there's insurance requirements and things, and but you know the bottom line is we just want to make them accessible. And then we have eight fixed site locations on the oregon coast the one in westport washington, the one in the redwoods in northern california, the two in texas and then the one in Reno. So the whole goal is like we talked about earlier is for people to be able to go places and plan trips, to go do things and be able to access the outdoors. And then that's the same model we want to follow with the golf program.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this is great. It's almost like what comes to mind is like what can't you do in a David's chair? Because when you said fishing, I'm like, wait, what Fishing can't you do in a david's chair? Because when you said fishing, I'm like what fishing, that's awesome. Hiking, well, and that's so cool. All terrain, well, yeah, that's, that's so cool.
Speaker 1:So you know, again, as a golf pro, like I just look at this as, like you know, anybody that's that's in a david's chair. They're like you know, I want to get better golf, right, so they're gonna want to get golf coaching too. You know that we should have david's clinics, like we should be going out there and doing adaptive golf even more than we are. And you know, in Southern Oregon we don't do that. You know not yet. And that's what we're doing right here at golf garage. Our coaches are all super passionate about this as well, you know, and I think it's just like having the access of of someone like you coming in and saying, hey, we want to bring this into golf garage. I'm, I'm 100 on board to say let's get as many people in here as we can and let's make this happen and let's figure out how to get david's chairs everywhere, because I think that that really is. That's the home run.
Speaker 2:And partnerships with PGA professionals. To you know, david's chair is providing the tool and the resource and the gateway for people with mobility limitations to get into the sport and having that partnership with PGA professionals around the country to help train them and help them adapt to this one device is amazing because a lot of these people, you remember they have rods and things.
Speaker 3:If you're paralyzed, you know to stabilize you and you know you can your limitations on swinging and things like that. You know you don't get the hips into it all the time, and things like that. Some people still can get their hips into it all the time, and things like that. Some people still can get their hips into it. And there is a little bit, learn how to coach that. It's just a little bit better.
Speaker 2:One of the guys that I saw at Stone Ridge. I was sitting up in their clubhouse having a beverage, looking at the beautiful view, looking out the windows, and there's a guy in the David's chair out there and he's hitting an iron from 200 yards out and put it six feet from the pin let's go like, I like pro and partner this david's chair.
Speaker 2:This, this david's chair, is not slowing this guy down, because if he's, if he's hitting a five iron or four, whatever iron, it was he who that he was hitting, he was. He was at least 200 yards out and just just just tearing up the course. Yeah, in a david's chair and and I'm going if it weren't for this chair, this guy would not be able to do this, and it was.
Speaker 3:It was extremely heartwarming and, and you know, an experience I'll never forget, and it it makes you uh, not want to make excuses when we uh, when we shank one indeed, and and we talk about that a lot as you gotta own, you gotta own your own ability, you know, take ownership of it and not make excuses.
Speaker 2:We talk a lot of on the show, not not just about the, the discipline it takes in the game of golf, but how that applies to life too. We um a couple weeks ago we had uh seattle seahawks wide receiver jermaine curse on the show um who played in the super bowl and and you know just his, his drive and his passion and his level of competition. And he kept on talking about grit. You know you don't make excuses, you don't feel sorry for yourself. You get up and you do it.
Speaker 3:No, and I think the biggest thing about having clinics promoting it, showing people that you can do it. There's a lot of people that are in those situations where there's mobility issues and they're intimidated by the equipment.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:You know. So we have to provide those opportunities for them to, to, to learn and and to make it more available, to make it more visible to people. So after the fourth or fifth time they see it or told about, they finally say you know what, I'm going to try it. And we do that with the track chairs and we'll have people hesitant, they'll get in the chair and then you can't get them out of the chair and you're like come on we've got somebody else waiting.
Speaker 3:And that's kind of how it is, because they get a little intimidated and then they're in there and they're or carry me it's freedom and independence Absolutely. We love it.
Speaker 2:Steve, thank you for coming on the show. So we're going to get a David's chair down at the golf garage for people to just check out. Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean, my wheels are spinning my entrepreneurial mind's already way past that, so it'll be exciting. I have a nonprofit for junior golfers and whatnot, and I would just be curious even who in the junior realm needs David's chair, cause that's, it's out there too. We always think of adults and you know, because it's kind of what we've seen and I think that for me, um, this goes way beyond Southern Oregon and it's a global need and I think, just as a golf professional in general, you know, we always talk about growing the game and it's to everyone, it's it's there is a need and there's always a way. So I'm I'm really excited to have it down here. I'm already thinking about ways to raise money for it at golf garage. I think that's kind of the unique thing about the garage, as well as like having nonprofits and charities. I really want to push that. Like I said, I have one as well and it's like junior golf, but like this goes way beyond that. We also we have the VA close by right.
Speaker 1:There's just so many organizations out there that need help and golf is the thing that can give people happiness and a reason to continue, and I think that for me, as a golfer. I don't get to play a lot anymore, but when I'm on the course, that is my happy place, right, I mean it's it's the most beautiful places in the world that now we're allowing everyone to be able to see this and have access to you, and that's a huge, huge blessing for everyone. So, no, I'm, I'm looking forward to it again. Yeah, thank you for being on the show with us. This opened up my eyes to what David's share really is, and I was so excited to hear more and learn more. So, yeah, I'm, I'm a hundred percent supportive and I'm going to try to see what I can do at a national level with some of the associations that we're attached to.
Speaker 2:Steve, tell us a website one more time.
Speaker 3:It's just wwwdavidschairorg, and I really appreciate you guys having me on the show and taking the time to learn about us a little bit more.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us. It's been fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you, steve.
Speaker 2:And stay tuned to the golf garage and the MyGolfSource social media page. We're going to have a lot more information Again, davidschairorg. Check it out, learn more. If you can help in any way, please do, and we're going to have a lot more information coming up.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, one more thing we just posted on golfgarageoregoncom the my Golf Source podcast link. Excellent, we are there, baby. So what's that website? One more time, yep, golfgarageoregoncom, and you can click about us and you will see the my Golf Source podcast link.
Speaker 2:Go there and check us out, find it anywhere you get your podcasts on Amazon, spotify, apple Podcasts, iheartradio and more. We're there. See you next time.
