Disabled golfers getting instruction at Lincoln Hills

Disabled golfers in Sun City Lincoln Hills jump-started their 2008 golfing season with an opening clinic at the Lincoln Hills Golf Course on March 24. This was the first in a monthly series of clinics that extends through September, to be followed by a tournament in October.These clinics, which are also called the Lincoln Adaptive Golf Program, are now in their third season, featuring Lincoln Hills volunteers helping their neighbors get back into golf after having endured a variety of physical ailments. Golfers meet for 1 Â½ hours on the practice ranges at the Lincoln Hills Golf Club to practice their swings.Volunteers guide and assist clinic participants, many of whom include amputees, stroke victims and a golfer with Parkinson's disease. Many of this year's participants are repeat members from last year, and more disabled golfers are expected to join a clinic in April.Participants typically meet for 1 Â½ hours beginning at 10 a.m. at the Lincoln Hills Golf Club, working with program organizers and community volunteers on the driving range, putting green and chipping and pitching green. Volunteers assisting the disabled group include medical personnel from Sutter Hospital, physical trainers from the Sun City Wave and Kilaga Springs workout facilities plus community residents interested in helping their neighbors. Golfers practice at each of the three practice ranges and greens, rotating among the three at their own pace. Volunteers help golfers move among the ranges, provide helpful golfing hints, ensure enough fresh water is at hand and shag practice balls when necessary. Typically, the free open clinics offered over the past two years have attracted 15-to-20 participants per session, according to co-organizer Rich Uebele, a golfer who himself is a stroke victim.Added this year is a monthly group lesson for those interested in improving their golf game. PGA Master Instructor Steve Treadway will conduct the new instructional group clinics. These sessions will begin April 14 and will continue once each month on the second Monday of the month through the end of September. Classes begin at 10 am and run until about 11 a.m.This is the second year that Billy Casper Golf Corporation and general manager Mark Brouwer have teamed with the program organizers to offer the Lincoln Hills golf range facilities to the disabled golfers' program. Brouwer also arranges for members of his professional golf staff to assist at the clinics as often as possible.