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"The way I putted, I must have been reading the greens in Spanish and putting them in English. " |
-Homero Blancas |
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 Jim Guest (left) and Pete Lowrey show off the adjustable putter (close-up shot below, PHOTO: Eddie Meeks). “I was visiting a local senior center with my wife and daughters about seven years ago and I met two women who used to play golf and talked about how much they missed the game,” said Lowrey, 79, of Upland. “I thought, there’s got to be a way.” So Lowrey went home and started tinkering. He had developed the adjustable roller frame three years earlier and, with business partner Jim Guest, started to market it. Lowrey then took the patented pivot of the roller frame and incorporated it into a putter. Many uses For the wheelchair-bound, a modified version features a second pivot and quick disconnect on the golf club shaft that enables the club to be adjusted at two locations. The pivot mechanism also has been adapted to irons and woods. Seeing a need Joe Grohman, PGA head professional at Navy Golf Course in Seal Beach, had been working with veterans and blind junior golfers when he met Lowrey four years ago. “They’ve really opened the door for us,” said Grohman, who enjoys seeing physically challenged players succeed. “One veteran hadn’t been able to play golf for 30 years, after she had had a stroke,” he said. “She was crying when she could play again.” Time for a test  Through Grohman, Lowrey and Guest met Bill Davis, a world-class middle distance runner who’s been legally blind since 1997. Davis, a 12 handicap, integrated the device into all of his Southern California clinics and tournaments for the blind. “The first time any golfer gets his ball in the hole is exciting,” Davis said. “But for someone who is blind, the sound of the ball hitting the cup that first time is something they remember.” Davis has been able to double the number of golf events he organizes. “The putter has opened the door for the disabled and the blind to learn different skills needed to play golf,” he said. More to come Lowrey and Guest also have filed patents for a full kit that includes a putter, a green and a special tee for the blind, in addition to a wrist brace that connects to the shaft and club to provide a stable grip and swing. “Our goal is to one day set up a nine-hole course in a warehouse or carpeting for an outdoor course where people — whatever level of disability — could play golf,” Guest said. “That would be true success.” For more information about Angle-Rite Products, call (909) 949-8003 or (909) 973-5369. |
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RSS SubscribeReaders Feedback:
What a fabulous idea. This article should be passed to the VA and all of the Rehab mags and Orgs out there.
| Comment at 2/2/2010 |
Absolutely awesome! This product will do more than bring opportunity to those with disabilities, it will bring joy to both the player and those who love them.
| Comment at 2/9/2010 |
