‘One-Handed Lady Golfer’ lending hand on the Strand to golfers with disabilities

Gianna Rojas has found joy in hitting a golf ball.

It’s a simple act for many, but it’s something Rojas hadn’t seriously considered until about 10 years ago.

Rojas, 54, has no fingers on an undersized left hand because of a birth defect, and her left arm is a little shorter than her right, so her left hand and arm are of no use in a golf swing.

Through several years of practice she has developed a golf swing that works for her and allows her to play rounds with her husband, Ray, and friends.

“It’s really not the game itself, it’s the self-confidence that comes from knowing I overcame a challenge that most people didn’t think I could,” Rojas said. “I would have never thought that I was going to be out playing golf with one hand.”

She doesn’t want to keep that joy to herself, and has found it is even more fulfilling to help others experience it.

Her sharing spirit led Rojas to create the Adaptive Golfers foundation, and it is getting a kick-start on the Grand Strand with a week of meetings and activities she has created and termed the Adaptive Golf Summit.

The Oak Ridge, N.J., resident who has a second home at Barefoot Resort has people in the adaptive golf arena from as far away as Germany attending this week to help further Rojas’ cause of making golf possible and more accessible for people with disabilities – or different abilities, a term Rojas prefers.

“I’m hoping I’ve been gifted enough to be able to inspire people and motivate people through just my pure vulnerability of it. That is a gift I’m able to share with everyone,” Rojas said. “When I see someone hit a golf ball who never thought they could … and you see what happens to them and the way they feel just from that one moment, that’s when I get my gift back and I keep that for myself.”

Rojas has made Barefoot Resort the headquarters of Adaptive Golfers, and she is receiving the support of both the four-course resort and the Dyer Golf Academy located on its sprawling driving range and practice facility.

“If you say Myrtle Beach everybody thinks golf, so it’s kind of the perfect marriage to have Adaptive Golfers start here,” Rojas said. “Barefoot has been giving me as much support as I need.”

Both Barefoot head pro and marketing director Rich Bartram and Dyer Academy co-owner and instructor Katie Dyer will be taking part in the summit.

“It would be amazing to get more people out who feel reluctant to play the game,” Dyer said.

The summit will include meetings and roundtable discussions, but is highlighted by two events late next week. PGA of America pro David Windsor, the founder of the Adaptive Golf Association (adaptivegolf.org) who has been teaching and developing adaptive golf programs since 1999, is hosting a training session beginning at 9 a.m. Friday at PGA Tour Superstore in Myrtle Beach for area golf professionals on how to teach the game to people with disabilities. Rojas expects at least 20 pros to participate.

Those instructors will then put their knowledge to use at the Barefoot Resort driving range from 9 a.m. to about 1 p.m. next Saturday, when people with disabilities of any kind are invited to take part in free lessons.

Other summit attendees include Anthony Netto, founder of the Stand Up and Play Foundation who is coming from California; U.S. Disabled Golf Association founder Jason Faircloth of Clinton, N.C.; Harbour View Golf instructor Darren deMaille, who specializes in instructing golfers with disabilities; and a manufacturer of the ParaGolfer cart from Germany.

The summit also included a fundraising tournament at Possum Trot Golf Club on Saturday for the USDGA. Faircloth, who has cerebral palsy, aims to create a national championship on the Strand for golfers with disabilities.

Windsor received the PGA of America’s 2015 National Patriot Award for his contributions and dedication to disabled veterans and members of the armed forces from World War II to the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts. His teaching hours are accredited by the PGA of America and Adaptive Golfers is presenting certifications to participating instructors.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity to be able to help bring other people who otherwise think they can’t play, No. 1 by being an example, and No. 2 by building relationships with all these different organizations [for golfers with disabilities] and pulling them together so we all have one voice,” Rojas said.

“There is probably somebody sitting out there now that may not even think they could play, and if they can get out even just to hit a golf ball whether it’s 3 feet or 300 yards, the rehabilitative qualities of it, the improvement on the quality of life, the inclusion that they feel because golf is a very social sport. So that’s something to help more people get out of bed and get out of their head.”

Rojas will have an official national launch of Adaptive Golfers at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in January, and she is planning for the show this week. She has also been invited to be in a hospitality venue near Augusta National Golf Club during The Masters. “Both are great opportunities,” she said.

Finding the game

Rojas, the mother of two adult daughters who will be celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary Tuesday, was born in Maine but her father was in the Navy so she generally moved every two or three years.

That meant she was constantly a new kid in school. “I could also be a spokesperson for bullying,” she said. “It was tough to grow up in an era where people didn’t really take well to people with different abilities. … Being beat up and pushed down. Kids are very mean even when there isn’t a challenge.

“I look back now on my life and I’m very happy for those days that were so hard on me because it has built my character to be able to go out and talk to people, so anytime, anywhere I can build rapport with people.”

She was the March of Dimes poster child and ambassador for the state of Florida from 1972-76 with the slogan “A child who needs a hand gets one when you give to the March of Dimes,” and she submitted to chromosomal and genetic testing to help the organization seek ways to prevent birth defects. She had a photo shoot with Arnold Palmer at the age of 8.

The March of Dimes funds research and programs aimed at ending premature birth, birth defects and infant mortality. With the help of research that she participated in, the organization convinced pharmaceutical companies to stop carrying an over-the-counter drug that combated morning sickness for women because it was deemed to contribute to birth defects.

Rojas has worked in sales and marketing as well as in the printing industry, and had a home catering business. But she made her way back to the March of Dimes and for the past few years has been its community director for Hudson County, N.J.

Her husband is an avid golfer who has been a low single-digit handicap, and his interest got her involved about 10 years ago. They are now members at Barefoot and Newton Country Club in New Jersey. “I didn’t want to be that wife sitting home or going out shopping or going to the spa, I wanted to go out [on the course] at least every once in a while,” she said.

Her first few years in golf consisted of accompanying Ray to the driving range and trying to formulate a one-armed swing. She learned to hit from a right-handed setup, received some instruction and sought the advice at an annual golf show from attendees that have included instructor former Tiger Woods instructor Hank Haney, Golf Channel instructor Michael Breed and golf legend Chi Chi Rodriguez.

“It took many, many trial and error sessions for me to figure out how to do so, because there really wasn’t anybody out there teaching adaptive golf at that point,” she said. “Maybe about five or six years ago it clicked and I was able to hit a golf ball at least in a respectable way that I could go out and play a round of golf with my husband and his friends.”

Rojas hits the ball about 150 yards off the tee. She believes she could hit it farther if she set up from the left side with her right arm as her lead arm but wouldn’t have the same accuracy.

“It was difficult to find someone to teach me, and that’s kind of the purpose of Adaptive Golfers is to bring these resources that are out there – because there are many of them out there – to people like myself that no one is talking to,” she said.

Rojas decided to brand herself the “One-Handed Lady Golfer” after overhearing people refer to her that way after watching her hit balls on driving ranges.

In an effort to raise awareness for the March of Dimes, she had her husband shoot video of her hitting golf balls with her moniker as the header, and it went viral. “I thought if people can dump a bucket of ice on their head and it could go viral, why couldn’t a One-Handed Lady Golfer go viral?” Rojas said.

She hopes to make Adaptive Golfers more popular than her videos, and eventually make it an international movement, which would include adding golf to the Paralympic Games. There is a global committee working on that, she said.

“I want to make it something huge and special, not just here,” Rojas said. “There are people with different abilities all over the world.”

Bartram and Dyer believe they’ll find more ways to help the cause through this week’s meetings and events, and Barefoot may host an Adaptive Golfers fundraiser in the future.

Rojas plans to next bring the mission back north with her. A pro from her home course is taking part in the activities this week and a PGA Tour Superstore in Paramus, N.J., is interested in hosting a similar teaching event. “This is kind of like the grassroots flagship event,” Rojas said.

This story was originally published December 10, 2016 at 8:33 PM with the headline "‘One-Handed Lady Golfer’ lending hand on the Strand to golfers with disabilities."