Michael Burt This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. morningsun.net

   morningsun.net/stories/091504/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/15/2004   Last Visited: 9/16/2004

   Michael Burt, Chanute, hits his approach shot to the green while playing a round of golf at Safari Golf Course in Chanute last Sunday. Michael, who lost the use of his legs in an automobile accident, enjoys spending his free time on the golf course. Burt taught himself how to play golf from a golf cart. He says he tries to play a round of golf per week in addition to being a full-time student at Pittsburg State University.
   
   Par for the course
   
   PSU student Michael Burt has learned the game of golf despite being paralyzed
   ...
   CHANUTE - Golf was never a sport that Michael Burt took very seriously.
   
   That all changed after the Pittsburg State University senior, who is majoring in technology education, became paralyzed from the waist down after a 1996 automobile accident.
   
   "A friend of mine and I were driving home, he fell asleep, then I fell asleep and that was that," Burt said.
   
   Burt was always a fan of football and basketball, but he was never sold on the game of golf.
   
   "I swore I would never play," Burt said. "I always thought it was an old man's sport, or more like a game or hobby."
   
   Then one day, Burt was riding in a golf cart while his dad, Bob was playing a round in Chanute.
   
   "One day, he (Bob) put a ball down on the fairway and told me to hit it," Michael said. "I just laughed at him and shook my head."
   
   "I figured that there was no reason why he couldn't hit the ball," Bob said.
   
   After that first swing, Michael was hooked, but then there was an issue. How can someone who is paralyzed from the waist down play golf?
   
   "We needed to find a way to get him his own set of clubs and we needed to get a golf cart that didn't have a roof on it so that he could just hit from the cart," Bob said.
   
   That is exactly what they did. Bob and Michael got together and bought a set of clubs. Then the clubs had to be cut down because a regular set would be too long for Michael to hit out of the cart. Then they found a golf cart without a cover so that Michael would not have any impediment when he was hitting.
   
   The move from vowing never to play the game of golf to trying to teach himself how to play with a handicap became the next hurdle for Michael to overcome.
   
   He taught himself to swing from the right side of the cart. Bob will place the ball on the tee box according to instructions from Michael. If the ball is in play, Michael will line up the golf cart to give himself enough distance to hit the ball in play. The only thing that Michael does not do is putt. The golf cart is not allowed on the green.
   
   "I can't take instruction and I certainly can't give instruction," Michael said.
   ...
   "I have to be careful where I play," Michael said. "Some people don't want me on the tee box in my cart. But as I see it, my cart doesn't do any more damage than a lawn mower."
   
   Then there is the issue of finding playing time.
   
   Currently, Michael is a full-time student at PSU and attends classes five days a week, so he drives back and forth from Chanute to Pittsburg Monday through Friday. On top of that, Michael says that his wife Jenny, who is an RN at Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center, thinks that he plays too much as it is.
   
   "I tried to get her to play, but it didn't take," Michael said. "She just thinks that I spend too much time away from home."
   
   All in all, Michael is very proud of his ability to play golf while paralyzed.
   
   "I think that golf, for me, is an accomplishment," Michael said. "Golf has become very relaxing for me. Everything that I have tried to accomplish so far I have done."
   
   With golf accomplished, Michael has now set his sights on something more mobile.
   
   "I think I want to buy a Harley," Michael said.