Chris Garner, Ultimate Long Drive Champion
November 10, 2022
-by Todd Keirstead
The Ultimate Long Drive Championships was held Oct. 27-30 at Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch Florida.
Competing in this event was ParaGolf Canada member, Chris Garner.
In 2018 after complications stemming from multiple benign bone tumors, Chris had his left leg amputated in July of that year. Before the bone tumors, Chris had played a dozen or so rounds with borrowed clubs, but after extensive rehabilitation after the amputation, Chris was reintroduced to the game again in 2020 and has never looked back.
The first year of playing golf was rough after my amputation,” Garner said. “At first, it was all about more exercise and just being outside with friends swinging a golf club. In 2021 after a year of playing, my game got respectable. At the beginning of 2022, I had surgery that allowed me to function more with my prosthetic which in turn really helped my golf game. I can now load my weight on my prosthetic a lot better, which has not only been instrumental in taking my game to the next level but has also increased my swing speed.”
After seeing a Facebook ad for a local long-drive event in 2021, Chris decided to put his skills to the test. Throughout the 2022 Canadian golf season, Chris competed in numerous Long Drive competitions and through that accumulated enough points that allowed him to represent Canada on the Team Canada Amateur Long Drive Team.
“Chris is not only an incredible ambassador for ParaGolf Canada, but is a great ambassador for adaptive sports in general,” says Todd Keirstead, founder, and CEO of ParaGolf Camada. “Chris is a multisport athlete. Not only does he compete successfully in golf but also competes provincially in para hockey. Chris is not afraid to be out in public showcasing his abilities and educating individuals on what is possible.”
Chris is a career musician and has played over 2000 shows all over Ontario, and still plays once or twice a month.
With the amount of force Chris places on his prosthesis, his leg hurts during competitions. On the days when he can persevere through the pain, Chris can launch drives over 300 yards. Quite an accomplishment for an able-body golfer let alone a golfer with only one leg.
Along with hoisting the Ultimate Long Drive Championship Adaptive Division trophy over his head in Florida, Chris has also won a Championship Belt. Chris was instrumental in the design of this belt, his belt. Belt color choices were Black, Blue, White, and Camo, but in true Canadian fashion, Chris’ color of choice was red for Canada.
Chris, as always, we at ParaGolf Canada are proud of you and cannot wait to see the belt around your waist!
