Shore Community Services clients learn life skills on the golf course

Six clients of Shore Community Services’ residential program experienced just how exhilarating the game of golf is when they took a specialized class at the Canal Shores Golf Course this summer.

The brainchild of Canal Shores board member Jay Ryan and longtime golf instructor Peter Donahue, the class met once a week for a few months in Evanston. It fit well with Shore’s goal: to improve the quality of life for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities through educational, residential and vocational programs.

Ryan said he wanted to provide the opportunity after listening to speakers at the Shore spring benefit.
“The thing that triggered me,” Ryan said, “was some of the clients had won silver medals in the Special Olympics for basketball, and I said this is exactly the spirit of what Canal Shores wants to do for the community - we want to be good corporate citizens and make sure that golf is inclusive to everyone. We wanted to make sure it’s open for the whole community.”

The Shore clients have intellectual and other developmental disabilities, but that didn’t stop them from working on their golf game. The sport can be adapted to almost anybody’s needs, according to Donahue, who taught the class. More than 500 students go through his camps every summer.

“With these six people, it worked marvelously well,” said Donahue, the founder of The Golf Practice in Highland Park. “All of them can stand and swing. We’ve worked with dozens of people with disabilities over the years, and figured out ways to have them swing a golf club. Sometimes it’s one-armed, sometimes it’s a club that actually has a hinge in the shaft so they can reach the ground from a seated position.”
Donahue began this class by teaching basic striking using taped-up reflector poles. The Shore clients worked on their swings and Donahue was able to gauge their baseline athleticism, which helps him provide individualized instruction.

From there, they progressed to baseball bats and tennis rackets, learning to square the face of the racket. Finally, they moved on to hitting a golf ball off a tee with a fairway wood. The golfers also rotated through mini-games at stations, made by Donahue and his crew to help them practice basic skills. At one of the stations, they had to chip balls into colorful plastic buckets. Such training isn’t always easy, and can sometimes lead to frustration.

One client, Donahue noted, was getting mad at himself for making mistakes. “I think the whole idea of being patient with himself is something he’s learning,” Donahue said. “I think he learned it because when he would swing at the batting tee, he would miss it above and swing over the ball every time. I showed him a basic technique of over correcting your error. I asked him to miss it below the ball. Once he did that his brain had two reference points, missing above and below. When that occurs, then the mind has the ability to find the middle ground.”

Those little progressions add up, bit by bit, Donahue said. After several sessions clients can see how far they’ve come. The results are satisfying. “I think because it is a skill development game, they learn patience and compassion for themselves,” Donahue said. The instructor said he most loves helping others find their own sense of accomplishment while enjoying the sport.

“Accomplishment is a personal thing,” he said. “Your improvement is your reward, that’s what you earned for yourself. It doesn’t have to be measured in a standard that anybody else would value or relate to. It’s yours.”
For Ryan, providing lessons to Shore clients is just an extension of Canal Shores’ mission to promote golf to the entire community.

“I wanted my kids to be able to see that everyone should be able to play golf,” Ryan said. “Whether it’s the color of your skin, religion or physical capabilities, golf is a game that can be enjoyed by everyone.”

Shore Community Services’ Adult Program is located at 8350 Laramie Ave., Skokie. For more information about Shore, visit shoreservices.org.

To learn about Donahue’s business, visit thegolfpractice.com. Canal Shores can be found at canalshores.org.

By: Matthew Yan