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ROCKVILLE — Ford Martin once started 43 consecutive games as the goalkeeper for his high school lacrosse team. That experience has helped him flourish in golf.
“I feel like that lacrosse goalie mindset is very similar to what you need as a golfer,” said the 33-year-old Martin, who owns a +1 handicap. “You’re going to get scored on, but you need to reset for the next one, and I’ve tried to take that to competitive golf.”
That attitude has served Martin well. For the third straight year, the Potomac native finished in the Top 10 at the U.S. Adaptive Open, tying for 10th at the championship event hosted by Woodmont Country Club.
Martin carded a 2-over 74 Wednesday afternoon for his first above-par round after shooting identical 1-under 71s on Monday and Tuesday at the United States Golf Association’s international tournament for golfers overcoming disabilities. His three-round total of even-par 216 put him 18 strokes behind England’s Kipp Popert, who captured his fourth straight title after blistering the 6,421-yard South Course by composing a 9-under 63 for a 198-shot total.
Kim Moore of Fort Wayne, Indiana, collected her second straight championship after shooting a 4-over 76 for a tournament total of 12-over 228 that was six strokes better than Bailey Bish of Tucson, Arizona, and Sunyoung Kim of South Korea, who tied for second at 18-over 234.
After tying for fifth in 2024 in Newton, Kansas, and 10th last summer at Woodmont, Martin, a commercial real estate developer who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, was pleased, especially considering he was an alternate until late last week.
“That’s a great feather in my cap, and it’s something that keeps me going, keeps me practicing and grinding in the hot summer days,” he said. “I keep a note in my phone [that says], ‘Get 1% better every day.’ I try to do something every day to get me better and stay hungry, to be at the top of the adaptive game.”
Competing in the coordination impairment category, Martin was born with bilateral neurogenic club feet. He has undergone four operations to have his ankles surgically fused, and he wears orthotic braces on both legs to help prop up his toes.
Martin said he has no muscle activity below his knees and joked that he did not win a race on the school playground or track. But as the youngest of seven children, Martin said he never let his physical challenge identify him.
“I feel like being the youngest definitely pushed me to keep up with my older siblings,” he said. “And they never let me hang back, and I was always very active.”
Kevin Keegan, who has known Martin since they were third graders at the Norwood School in Bethesda and spent all three days as his caddy, said his friend refused to let his disability define him.
“It’s amazing how many people know Ford and have known Ford for a really long time, but don’t know Ford has double club feet because Ford has never let it slow him down,” Keegan said. “His orthopedic doctor — who was the dad of a classmate of ours — still to this day, he’ll tell me, ‘Can you get Ford to stop pushing himself so hard?’”
Martin’s athletic prowess in lacrosse has transferred nicely to golf. At his peak, he owned a +2 handicap. Still, he is better than many others who have taken up the sport.
“I’ve always had great hand-eye coordination,” he said. “Sometimes there’s some tricky lies, but I just try to find some place, a stance where I feel stable and am just mostly swinging with my hands and arms. … Sometimes I’ll sway a little bit too much or sway front to back. But if I find a good swing feel, it’s pretty consistent.”
Among a group of 15 family members and friends who followed Martin on Wednesday were his wife Lucille and 8-month-old son Hayes. Lucille, who met her husband in Nashville in 2017 when she was a student at Belmont University and he was an assistant coach for the Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse team, said Martin is devoted to improving his game.
“There’s no excuses when it comes to Ford,” she said. “He’s working at it every single day. Golf is his life. … It’s just a matter of time before he gets this little guy with a bunch of clubs in his hands. So I’ll be outnumbered on that front.”
Martin said his next task is helping his wife launch her own therapeutic practice next week. But he said his long-term goal is to improve his No. 19 ranking in the World Rankings for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) and qualify for the Cairns Cup or Phoenix Cup, Ryder Cup-style competitions pitting Team USA against Team Europe.
“I love competing,” he said. “And I just think having something like this keeps me working out to perform. There’s always something that I’m working towards. And now after this week, it’ll be my putting. We’re going to go in-depth on the putting.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
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“I feel like that lacrosse goalie mindset is very similar to what you need as a golfer,” said the 33-year-old Martin, who owns a +1 handicap. “You’re going to get scored on, but you need to reset for the next one, and I’ve tried to take that to competitive golf.”
That attitude has served Martin well. For the third straight year, the Potomac native finished in the Top 10 at the U.S. Adaptive Open, tying for 10th at the championship event hosted by Woodmont Country Club.
Martin carded a 2-over 74 Wednesday afternoon for his first above-par round after shooting identical 1-under 71s on Monday and Tuesday at the United States Golf Association’s international tournament for golfers overcoming disabilities. His three-round total of even-par 216 put him 18 strokes behind England’s Kipp Popert, who captured his fourth straight title after blistering the 6,421-yard South Course by composing a 9-under 63 for a 198-shot total.
Kim Moore of Fort Wayne, Indiana, collected her second straight championship after shooting a 4-over 76 for a tournament total of 12-over 228 that was six strokes better than Bailey Bish of Tucson, Arizona, and Sunyoung Kim of South Korea, who tied for second at 18-over 234.
After tying for fifth in 2024 in Newton, Kansas, and 10th last summer at Woodmont, Martin, a commercial real estate developer who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, was pleased, especially considering he was an alternate until late last week.
“That’s a great feather in my cap, and it’s something that keeps me going, keeps me practicing and grinding in the hot summer days,” he said. “I keep a note in my phone [that says], ‘Get 1% better every day.’ I try to do something every day to get me better and stay hungry, to be at the top of the adaptive game.”
Competing in the coordination impairment category, Martin was born with bilateral neurogenic club feet. He has undergone four operations to have his ankles surgically fused, and he wears orthotic braces on both legs to help prop up his toes.
Martin said he has no muscle activity below his knees and joked that he did not win a race on the school playground or track. But as the youngest of seven children, Martin said he never let his physical challenge identify him.
“I feel like being the youngest definitely pushed me to keep up with my older siblings,” he said. “And they never let me hang back, and I was always very active.”
Kevin Keegan, who has known Martin since they were third graders at the Norwood School in Bethesda and spent all three days as his caddy, said his friend refused to let his disability define him.
“It’s amazing how many people know Ford and have known Ford for a really long time, but don’t know Ford has double club feet because Ford has never let it slow him down,” Keegan said. “His orthopedic doctor — who was the dad of a classmate of ours — still to this day, he’ll tell me, ‘Can you get Ford to stop pushing himself so hard?’”
Martin’s athletic prowess in lacrosse has transferred nicely to golf. At his peak, he owned a +2 handicap. Still, he is better than many others who have taken up the sport.
“I’ve always had great hand-eye coordination,” he said. “Sometimes there’s some tricky lies, but I just try to find some place, a stance where I feel stable and am just mostly swinging with my hands and arms. … Sometimes I’ll sway a little bit too much or sway front to back. But if I find a good swing feel, it’s pretty consistent.”
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Among a group of 15 family members and friends who followed Martin on Wednesday were his wife Lucille and 8-month-old son Hayes. Lucille, who met her husband in Nashville in 2017 when she was a student at Belmont University and he was an assistant coach for the Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse team, said Martin is devoted to improving his game.
“There’s no excuses when it comes to Ford,” she said. “He’s working at it every single day. Golf is his life. … It’s just a matter of time before he gets this little guy with a bunch of clubs in his hands. So I’ll be outnumbered on that front.”
Martin said his next task is helping his wife launch her own therapeutic practice next week. But he said his long-term goal is to improve his No. 19 ranking in the World Rankings for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) and qualify for the Cairns Cup or Phoenix Cup, Ryder Cup-style competitions pitting Team USA against Team Europe.
“I love competing,” he said. “And I just think having something like this keeps me working out to perform. There’s always something that I’m working towards. And now after this week, it’ll be my putting. We’re going to go in-depth on the putting.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
Continue reading...
