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“I come from a golf background and to watch them play the way they played over five days was just amazing,” says PGA WEST® Tournament Coordinator Copeland Shelden.
Shelden is referring to the 45 golfers who turned out this past June to play in this year’s North American One-Armed Golfer Association (NAOAGA) Championship golf tournament, a multi-division event. The tournament kicked off at PGA WEST on June 2 with practice rounds, followed by qualifying rounds on June 3 and 4, semifinals on June 5, and final matches on June 6. During the tournament, participating golfers played the PGA WEST® Pete Dye Mountain and Dunes Courses, as well as the Greg Norman Course.
“Our players loved the opportunity to play a phenomenal resort like PGA WEST,” says current NAOAGA President Dan Aldrich. “The resort staff and Copeland made our guys feel unbelievably welcome and provided an incredible experience across the board.”
The NAOAGA, a non-profit organization based out of Louisville, Kentucky, was established in 2000. Its mission is to promote the game of golf to those that have an upper extremity disability due to a physically challenged condition, for the purpose of competition, recreation, and physical and emotional rehabilitation. The NAOAGA is 100% volunteer-driven and encourages its members to individually fundraise for the organization. An ancillary benefit is that members share stories that inspire people, engage family and friends, and help more people living with upper-extremity disabilities find and join in the NAOAGA’s activities.
Many of the players are not new to the game. Shelden notes that one participant was a scratch golfer prior to an accident three years ago and has been striving to get back to that level. He ended up winning one of this year’s tournament divisions.
“The motto of the Association is ‘never quit,’ and that was the vibe the entire time,” says Shelden. “This tournament really inspired me, just made me want to be on that team and be a supporter of the adaptive golf community.”
To learn more about the North American One-Armed Golfer Association, visit www.naoaga.org. You will find a donation link at the bottom right of the home page.
Congratulations to this year’s tournament winners!
Xander Dobreff – Getchell Division
Ron Walden – Fullgraf Division
Tristan Ruff – Sanders Division
Mark Manion – Parr Division
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