NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio \u2014\u00a0Most days at North Olmsted Golf Club, you\u2019ll find Joe Coyne out on the course.\u00a0He doesn\u2019t take any of his swings for granted.<\/p>\n
For Coyne and many others, The Turn is about more than golf. The Northeast Ohio nonprofit uses adaptive golf, fitness and recreation to help people with physical disabilities regain confidence, mobility and connection. The organization serves more than 400 participants each year.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Turn is a nonprofit organization in northeast Ohio using golf to transform the lives of people with physical disabilities<\/p>\n
The Turn provides adaptive fitness and recreation programs to more than 400 participants annually<\/p>\n
Joe Coyne and Sean Collins credit the organization with improving their lives both physically and socially after traumatic injuries\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people love golf,\u201d said Coyne. \u201cIt\u2019s something that maybe you didn\u2019t think you were going to be able to do again.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2019, Coyne lost his right leg and the toes on his left foot because of a severe allergic reaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the hospital, they handed me a pamphlet,\u201d Coyne said. \u201cI thought, \u2018If I can ever get better, I\u2019ve got a place to go. They all had smiles on their faces, and that was something I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
That place Coyne mentioned is The Turn, a nonprofit organization that helps people with physical disabilities get back into the game and, in many cases, back into the community.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit uses adaptive equipment, including specialized golf carts, to make the sport more accessible to players with limited mobility.<\/p>\n
\u201cGolf is a full-body sport,\u201d said The Turn golf director Joe Sabatino. \u201cBalance, rotation, all of those things kind of disappear after a massive injury. Strokes, amputations, that kind of thing. To get somebody comfortable rotating and moving, just gives them any kind of extra mobility throughout the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabatino, the organization\u2019s golf pro, said the benefits go beyond physical recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGolf is also very social,\u201d Sabatino stated. \u201cWe\u2019re able to get the interaction that we\u2019re looking for and get them comfortable being out in the public eye with a disability or whatever they have. They\u2019re next to somebody else who\u2019s in the same situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sean Collins represents The Turn at golf tournaments around the country and says he\u2019s grateful to be a part of an organization that gave him back the sport he loves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have had cerebral palsy since birth,\u201d Collins said. \u201cIn 2011, I had back surgery. For the last seven years, I played out of a SoloRider. Sometimes I play out of a ParaGolfer when needed. We are kind of like the founding fathers of this kind of program, and other programs around the country have modeled it after us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coyne hopes The Turn can do for others what it\u2019s done for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen here wonderful examples of people not giving up on life,\u201d said Coyne. \u201cI\u2019m getting a little better, one swing at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n