Amputees find outlet on course
He still walks the course while playing a casual round, a carry bag slung over his shoulder, because to motor around in a cart deprives him of some of golf’s simple pleasures.
“I just love the sound of the clubs as they jangle when you’re walking,” Ed Krayewski said. “There’s something about on a quiet morning or a late game and you can hear the irons in the bag and they’re almost chirping to you. There’s a nice sound to it.
“And the other thing, when you’re walking, you hit a shot and you walk to your ball and you’re almost pacing it off. You can almost tell when you should be approaching your ball. You get in a cart and you start driving around, you got no concept where you’ve left your ball, especially if you’ve driven to your partner’s ball first. It’s more the way the game should be played.”
Krayewski, 68, of Niagara Falls, Ont., was an active athlete in his younger days. Played shortstop on the ball diamond, crossed the border to meet up with U. S. teams for some semi-pro football.
“Golf’s something you did two, three, four times a year, just maybe for a hoot,” he said. “No concept about what we were really doing out there. After I lost my leg I found that most people who were in any kind of sports and are competitive and want to get back into a sport they can excel at, golf is pretty easy to get back into.”
Krayewski’s competitive fire still rages. On July 10, he and at least a half-dozen other Canadian amputees will be at Harvest Hill Country Club in Orchard Park to play in the inaugural Buffalo Amputee Golf Classic. Orchard Park’s Peter Fenn, like Krayewski a below-the-knee amputee, came up with the idea and put it into motion with the help of the Eastern Amputee Golf Association.
“I just saw a need for a different type of tournament in town,” said Fenn, 66, a Dick’s Sporting Goods employee and longtime area golf instructor. “I just want to have something that would be unique.”
The poster promoting the best-two-of- four ball tournament is a testament to human determination. A woman playing with just her left arm follows through on a shot from a sand trap. A man playing with one leg and without a prosthesis balances to strike a shot off a steep incline. A double-leg amputee follows through on a shot struck from a special cart. The poster is on Fenn’s Web site, www.peterfenngolf.com . “The demographics right now, a lot of the amputations we’re seeing are from geriatrics,” Krayewski said. “Diabetes, or circulation problems, and usually that results in the loss of a lower leg. Or fellows coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan because of the bombing incidents are usually lower limb amputations.”
As one might expect, the transition to playing without use of a limb, or multiple limbs, requires an iron will. The frustration inherent to golf magnifies at the outset.
“When I first started, nine holes was max all I could do for the first two or three years,” said Krayewski, an amputee since 1977. “It was a very gradual thing. I think I played maybe three or four times the first year after my amputation.”
“The problem I’ve got, and I’m working on it, it’s my left leg and I turn onto it and I can’t turn all the way through,” Fenn said. “I found out the other day that if I can worry more about turning my core and try not to worry about the leg as much it works pretty good.”
Fenn can’t wait for the tournament, which is open to public participation. He hasn’t played a round since the amputation about 18 months ago, although he plans to get in a practice round in advance.
“I’m just excited about playing and playing under these conditions.” he said. “There’s not a lot of pressure, but it’s a course that demands some decent golf.”
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