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Every swing of the club reminds Brandon Williams that the game of golf will grind you into dust if you let it.
His solution? Don’t let it.
“I tell my wife, ‘I’ll rest when I’m dead,’ ” Williams said July 8 before heading to Spain for the Cairns Cup, disability golf’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Williams, 43, is disabled, because it is easy to overlook. To watch the Circleville resident play golf is to think he still has two usable arms and two standard flesh-and-blood legs like most of us.
Except he doesn’t. A single-car accident at age 22 cost him his right leg below the knee and the use of his left arm. In case you did not know, both are pretty important in golf.
But not essential. Despite his disability, Williams plays to a 15 handicap and drives the ball 230 yards on average. His iron and hybrid game are just OK, but he is a putting fiend. No wonder members of the Tuesday men’s league at Crown Hill Golf Club in Williamsport barely notice the prosthetic blade beneath Williams' right knee and his left arm tucked into his side as he one-ups them on the golf course. They’re too busy watching him make pars and birdies.
“We don’t pay any attention to [his disability],” said 76-year-old league member Doug Baker. “If you give Brandon an edge, he’ll take advantage and rub it in. He is a smack talker who likes to have a good time playing golf.”
In other words, don’t feel sorry for Williams, who seldom feels sorry for himself.
“I did golf before the accident and would say I’m way better now with one arm and one leg than I was with two arms and two legs,” he said. “I’m embracing setting an example of what is possible.”
It’s not all rainbows and lollipops, of course.
“Stamina sometimes is an issue, with a bunch of walking and standing putting pressure on the socket,” Williams said.
Then there is the non-stop pain. Years of cranking right-armed drives while putting full force on his left leg have taken a toll.
“I take some ibuprofen and put Ben Gay and Icy Hot on the joints and go get it,” he said.
Williams hopes to “go get it,” i.e., the Cairns Cup trophy, and bring it home to the United States. For three days (July 15-17), he and 15 other disabled golfers from the U.S. will compete against 16 players from Europe at the San Roque Golf Club near the tip of the Iberian Peninsula. It will be the second Cairns Cup for Williams, who made the winning putt for the U.S. at the 2024 competition at Cherry Creek Golf Club near Detroit. This time, he is serving as vice-captain.
“I have such passion for it,” he said, explaining he originally qualified for the Cairns Cup by winning his division at the Ohio Adaptive Open in 2023.
“What better way than to wear the red, white and blue?” he asked.
It sure beats being almost completely black and blue, which described Williams' body after the 2005 accident that could – and probably should – have killed him.
Williams was asleep in the passenger seat, with his right leg sticking out the window, when his friend crossed the median on I-70 near the Ohio-Indiana border while driving back from the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis.
“I was ejected and the wreck took my leg off and paralyzed my left arm,” he said, adding he can only clench three fingers, which, with a wrist brace, allows him to bow hunt and keep 1½ hands on the steering wheel. “It snapped the neck of the driver and killed him, and they didn’t find me for 40 minutes, until a semi driver saw me. I can’t believe I didn’t bleed out. They never did find the other end of my leg.”
Six months later, he was walking again on a carbon fiber prosthetic fitted with a shoe.
It took longer than that to recover emotionally.
“I was a big athlete and very competitive,” he said. “I was very active and in shape.”
Then he wasn’t, at least not at first.
“The first couple years, I’d say I was lost. That’s the best way to put it,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do with my life, what direction to go. That’s when golf stepped up to make me feel normal. That was my main therapy, and hanging around friends and family.”
Williams began entertaining the idea of returning to golf after visiting a tournament for disabled golfers in Michigan and seeing what was possible. He taught himself how to adapt his swing and has reached a level that impresses his league buddies.
“I’ve been running this golf league for 25 years at Crown Hill. I’ve known Brandon quite a few of those years and am quite an admirer,” Baker said. “Besides what he’s overcome, he is an outstanding young man who didn’t get defeated and who says, ‘I can do this.’ ”
Williams, who makes a living mowing for luxury lodges in Hocking Hills, helps others “do this,” too.
“I have a friend in Westerville [Jeff Hunsaker] who lost his right leg below the knee,” Baker said. “I told him I’ve got a friend, Brandon, who has dealt with the same issues. Why not meet him and see what’s possible? Brandon was fabulous about it. Afterwards, Jeff was so encouraged and lifted up. It wasn’t that he came away from that thinking, ‘I can do what he’s doing,’ but Brandon shared his journey struggles and gave suggestions on different apparatus he could use to help with discomfort. Brandon made all the difference in the world.”
Williams’ humility and compassion are worthy trademarks. Inspiring, to say the least.
“Others have it worse than I do,” he said. “I have an 11-year-old son (Brady) who beat me in golf for the first time the other day, and I’ve been married to my wife (Manon) going on nine years. I have a beautiful life.”
And a beautiful golf swing to go with it.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at [email protected] and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Disabled golfer Brandon Williams competes with one arm and one leg
Continue reading...
His solution? Don’t let it.
“I tell my wife, ‘I’ll rest when I’m dead,’ ” Williams said July 8 before heading to Spain for the Cairns Cup, disability golf’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Williams, 43, is disabled, because it is easy to overlook. To watch the Circleville resident play golf is to think he still has two usable arms and two standard flesh-and-blood legs like most of us.
Except he doesn’t. A single-car accident at age 22 cost him his right leg below the knee and the use of his left arm. In case you did not know, both are pretty important in golf.
But not essential. Despite his disability, Williams plays to a 15 handicap and drives the ball 230 yards on average. His iron and hybrid game are just OK, but he is a putting fiend. No wonder members of the Tuesday men’s league at Crown Hill Golf Club in Williamsport barely notice the prosthetic blade beneath Williams' right knee and his left arm tucked into his side as he one-ups them on the golf course. They’re too busy watching him make pars and birdies.
“We don’t pay any attention to [his disability],” said 76-year-old league member Doug Baker. “If you give Brandon an edge, he’ll take advantage and rub it in. He is a smack talker who likes to have a good time playing golf.”
In other words, don’t feel sorry for Williams, who seldom feels sorry for himself.
“I did golf before the accident and would say I’m way better now with one arm and one leg than I was with two arms and two legs,” he said. “I’m embracing setting an example of what is possible.”
Not everything is peaches and cream for disabled golfer
It’s not all rainbows and lollipops, of course.
“Stamina sometimes is an issue, with a bunch of walking and standing putting pressure on the socket,” Williams said.
Then there is the non-stop pain. Years of cranking right-armed drives while putting full force on his left leg have taken a toll.
“I take some ibuprofen and put Ben Gay and Icy Hot on the joints and go get it,” he said.
Williams hopes to “go get it,” i.e., the Cairns Cup trophy, and bring it home to the United States. For three days (July 15-17), he and 15 other disabled golfers from the U.S. will compete against 16 players from Europe at the San Roque Golf Club near the tip of the Iberian Peninsula. It will be the second Cairns Cup for Williams, who made the winning putt for the U.S. at the 2024 competition at Cherry Creek Golf Club near Detroit. This time, he is serving as vice-captain.
“I have such passion for it,” he said, explaining he originally qualified for the Cairns Cup by winning his division at the Ohio Adaptive Open in 2023.
“What better way than to wear the red, white and blue?” he asked.
It sure beats being almost completely black and blue, which described Williams' body after the 2005 accident that could – and probably should – have killed him.
Williams was asleep in the passenger seat, with his right leg sticking out the window, when his friend crossed the median on I-70 near the Ohio-Indiana border while driving back from the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis.
“I was ejected and the wreck took my leg off and paralyzed my left arm,” he said, adding he can only clench three fingers, which, with a wrist brace, allows him to bow hunt and keep 1½ hands on the steering wheel. “It snapped the neck of the driver and killed him, and they didn’t find me for 40 minutes, until a semi driver saw me. I can’t believe I didn’t bleed out. They never did find the other end of my leg.”
Six months later, he was walking again on a carbon fiber prosthetic fitted with a shoe.
It took longer than that to recover emotionally.
“I was a big athlete and very competitive,” he said. “I was very active and in shape.”
Then he wasn’t, at least not at first.
“The first couple years, I’d say I was lost. That’s the best way to put it,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do with my life, what direction to go. That’s when golf stepped up to make me feel normal. That was my main therapy, and hanging around friends and family.”
Williams began entertaining the idea of returning to golf after visiting a tournament for disabled golfers in Michigan and seeing what was possible. He taught himself how to adapt his swing and has reached a level that impresses his league buddies.
“I’ve been running this golf league for 25 years at Crown Hill. I’ve known Brandon quite a few of those years and am quite an admirer,” Baker said. “Besides what he’s overcome, he is an outstanding young man who didn’t get defeated and who says, ‘I can do this.’ ”
Brandon Williams encourages other disabled golfers
Williams, who makes a living mowing for luxury lodges in Hocking Hills, helps others “do this,” too.
“I have a friend in Westerville [Jeff Hunsaker] who lost his right leg below the knee,” Baker said. “I told him I’ve got a friend, Brandon, who has dealt with the same issues. Why not meet him and see what’s possible? Brandon was fabulous about it. Afterwards, Jeff was so encouraged and lifted up. It wasn’t that he came away from that thinking, ‘I can do what he’s doing,’ but Brandon shared his journey struggles and gave suggestions on different apparatus he could use to help with discomfort. Brandon made all the difference in the world.”
Williams’ humility and compassion are worthy trademarks. Inspiring, to say the least.
“Others have it worse than I do,” he said. “I have an 11-year-old son (Brady) who beat me in golf for the first time the other day, and I’ve been married to my wife (Manon) going on nine years. I have a beautiful life.”
And a beautiful golf swing to go with it.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at [email protected] and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Disabled golfer Brandon Williams competes with one arm and one leg
Continue reading...
