LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – “Cart coming!”
John Bell worked to help part the crowd on Saturday so that his buddy, Chad Pfeifer, could get to his next shot. Pfeifer gets a lift at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions because he’s competing on a prosthetic leg. Bell actually has a similar prosthetic. He said the knee runs $150,000. The foot about $5,000. The socket somewhere between $10,000-$15,000. There’s a computer inside the leg and its “stumble recovery” features now keeps him from falling down several times a week.
Bell knows the date he last fell down: June 16, 2016.
Pfeifer’s leg got blown off by an IED explosion in 2007 while he was serving as an infantry paratrooper in Iraq. His caddie, Adam Benza, lost his leg at age 9 after being diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma. Bell got hit by a truck while on a motorcycle at age 30. The horrific accident left him with a crushed skull, broken back, sliced hand and arm and an above-the-knee amputation on his right leg.
Pfeifer entered the third round of the celebrity division in a share of first place. The Army vet has since fallen 10 points behind MLB Hall of Famer John Smoltz, but there isn’t a player in the field with greater perspective than Pfeifer.
A frustrating round won’t kill him.
“Nobody is trying to blow me up or shoot at me,” said Pfeifer, “so life’s pretty good.”
There are enthusiastic autograph-seekers by the scoring area the TOC. They’re after the Hall of Famers in the field, clutching baseballs and 8×10 glossy prints. They’re wearing Verlander jerseys and cracking up at Larry the Cable Guy’s one-liners.
But it’s Pfeifer’s story that’s truly extraordinary. It’s easy to get choked-up with gratitude just watching him.
Behind the first green at Tranquilo Golf Club is the Skybox Salute, a social media initiative that allows fans to thank active and retired military who are stationed around the world and on property during the TOC. They rose to their feet on Saturday when Pfeifer, a father of three boys, passed through.
The game has taken Pfeifer to Dubai and Australian in recent months. Competing at the TOC among celebrities remains a pinch-me dream.
Pfeifer and Benza started a foundation, Moving Foreward, with several other highly-skilled disabled golfers. Benza came up with the foundation’s mission after going through the Penn State’s PGA Golf Management program and noticing that they never specifically addressed teaching those with disabilities.
“There are 180,000 amputees a year,” said Benza, who is also co-executive director of the National Amputee Golf Association.
Jordan Spieth made the first contribution. His parents went to Saucon Valley High, which happens to be Benza’s alma mater.
Pfeifer played baseball in college and had zero interest in golf until a man who was missing both his legs came by his hospital room to lift his spirits. The man’s wife happened to go to college with Pfeifer, and they made plans to get together after he got his prosthetic. Pfeifer reluctantly agreed to a game of golf.
After hitting a few shots on the sweet spot, however, he fell in love. Pfeifer calls golf a life saver, saying the game helped him fight off depression.
He was bullish about it. Even when he had trouble transferring his weight to the left side and onto the prosthetic. It hurt too. The pain largely comes down to how well his prosthetic fits.
“Because I basically post up on my prosthetic and kind of transfer my weight and just kind of rotate the leg, there’s a lot of times where, if the leg doesn’t rotate but my body does, my socket goes all the way up to my hip and my groin area,” said Pfeifer. “So it will just kind of dig into my groin area, and I’ll get cuts and sore spots. So at times it can be very painful, but just kind of going to my military days, just kind of suck it up.”
Early on he had to quit when sweat pooled up in the bottom of his liner and he couldn’t take a step without falling over. Now it’s an easy fix.
Bell and Pfeifer’s prosthetics come up high on their legs, while Benza’s is below the knee. Bell said that below-the-knee amputees use 35 percent more energy than an able-bodied person. Above-the-knee amputees use about 65 percent more.
When he travels, Bell takes a back-up leg with him.
“You don’t drive without a spare tire,” he explained. If something happened to Pfeifer’s leg this week, Bell said they could swap his in and it would be fairly close. The leg’s settings can be adjusted on a smart phone. There can even be a golf mode.
Pfeifer said grown men have some up to him at tournaments to say he’s inspired them to get back in the game. Benza said it’s important that able-bodied kids see what’s possible for those with disabilities.
“It’s like the disabled person getting picked last in dodge ball because you don’t think they can do anything,” said Benza.
Pfeifer shatters that idea with just one swing.
