Amputee golf tournament a hit
Graeme Roigard played at Horsham Downs Golf Club when he had two legs.
He still plays there now, but just on one leg.
The Hamilton man lost his left leg seven years ago due to a health problem involving a lack of blood circulation.
Despite doctors’ best efforts, the three main arteries running down his leg were completely blocked, he said.
And eight years before he was told he had to lose his leg, he underwent an artery transplant from his right leg to his left.
But by 2010, that artery had clogged too.
Roigard said giving golf a swing helped him to adjust to life on one leg.
The New Zealand Amputee Golf Tournament was held in Hamilton in late-October, and Roigard helped to host it.
The event was run by Amputee Golf NZ, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes socialisation and wellbeing for people with disabilities through golf.
This year’s tournament was originally scheduled to be at the Aviation Country Club in Auckland; however, due to Auckland Airport, which owns the land, declining to renew the lease to make way for a new road, it was moved down to Hamilton.
Horsham Downs Golf Club is a nine-hole course but competitors can go around twice.
There were around 16 amputees competing throughout the event.
‘‘I think golf is a great sport for amputees,’’ Roigard said. ‘‘Especially because the bulk of amputees only have one limb missing, either a leg or an arm.
‘‘It’s such an invigorating sport; you’re out in the open air.
‘‘People think you’re a bit mad chasing after this little white ball, but it’s like any other sport, once you get into it, you just want to do that little bit better.’’
It’s that same tenacity that keeps bringing Roigard back.
‘‘I was off for about 18 months after I got [my prosthetic], and I did wonder what was going to happen if I took a great swing at the ball. I had my leg on at that time, it wasn’t very comfortable, but I stood there and didn’t try to swing too hard. It’s not as if you have to chase after the ball, it’s sitting there waiting for you to hit it,’’ he said.
Next year’s Amputee Golf Tournament will be in Christchurch, and Roigard encourages anyone with physical disabilities to make the trip and give it a go.