WILMINGTON, N.C. (Aug. 31, 2010) – PerryGolf is in the business of making golf dreams come true, but nothing in 25 years as a golf tour operator had prepared PerryGolf co-founder Colin Dalgleish for a dreamer quite as courageous as Mike Reeder. A double-amputee and Vietnam veteran, Reeder recently became the first golfer to play the Old Course at St. Andrews from a wheelchair.
“I’ve had some great experiences in the game of golf over the years, but having had the opportunity to witness the courage, determination and passion of this remarkable man was truly humbling,” said Dalgleish, a former Walker Cup captain who coordinated the trip from Franklin, Tenn., to Scotland for Reeder and his wife, Debby.
Reeder, 62, didn’t start playing golf until he was 40, almost 20 years after he returned from Vietnam without his legs. “I went into a golf shop one day to buy a birthday present for a friend, and the guy behind the counter asked if I’d ever tried hitting a golf ball while sitting down,” Reeder recalls. “So I hit a few balls into the net in the back of the shop, and I guess you could say I was hooked.”
A few years ago, following a round at the Forrest Crossing Golf Course in Franklin, where Reeder works part time as a ranger, he and two of his golfing buddies decided they would make the pilgrimage to Scotland. But before they could make good on their plan, both friends died of cancer.
Reeder had almost given up on his dream of playing at St. Andrews when he got a call in January from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which provides opportunities for people with physical disabilities to pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics.
“Gravity was the only thing keeping me on the ground when I got that call,” Reeder says.
When PerryGolf heard about Reeder’s dream, Dalgleish reached out to contacts at the Jubilee and Kingsbarns courses in St. Andrews to clear the way for Reeder and his wheelchair, as well as made arrangements for a concierge driver for Mike and Debby while they were in Scotland.
“I can’t compliment Colin and PerryGolf enough,” Reeder said. “Everything was tick-tock perfect.”
That’s also a fair description of Reeder’s round at the Old Course, which started with a 225-yard drive down the middle on the first and a scrambling bogey on 18 to close out a 79. “Under the circumstances, the best round I’ve ever played,” says Reeder, whose handicap index has climbed from a low of 8 to its current 12.
“Mike hit the ball beautifully. Conditions were pretty tough at times with some wind and rain, but he hung in there and ground out an excellent round,” said Dalgleish, who walked most of the round with Reeder and a crew from ESPN, which is making plans to air Reeder’s story.
“You know, I was so focused on making good shots that I don’t have much of a memory of the round,” Reeder says.
He does recall spreading the ashes of his friend, Mike Bilbrey, one of the two buddies who had hoped to make the trip to Scotland with Reeder, in a bunker on the 14th hole.
“He was a very fine fellow,” Reeder says of his friend. “I’m glad he got to St. Andrews after all.”
About PerryGolf
Established in 1984, Wilmington, N.C.-based PerryGolf offers the travel industry’s most prestigious and diverse selection of luxury golf tours and lifestyle experiences to the British Isles, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and China. PerryGolf offers customized golf tour itineraries as well as escorted programs featuring land tours, small-ship charters and luxury train travel. The company’s exclusive online trip calculator — Plan Your Own Tour™ — allows travelers to generate immediate quotations for trips they create entirely online. For more information on PerryGolf, please visit www.perrygolf.com or call a PerryGolf travel specialist at 800-344-5257 or e-mail Information@PerryGolf.com.
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