CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Virginia State Golf Association (VSGA) is helping bring adaptive golf to Charlottesville next week, as the organization will be hosting its Adaptive Golf Clinic and Play Day at Keswick Hall next Wednesday, Oct. 21.

The event will give golfers with physical, cognitive and sensory disabilities, as well as their friends and family, an opportunity to sharpen their skills and hit the course.

The day will begin with a complimentary skills clinic from 2-3 p.m., providing tailored, one-on-one instruction with specialized adaptive equipment. Golfers can then hit the fairways from 3:30-5 p.m., with a $20 per person registration fee. The event will then end with a social reception from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

This marks the first time Keswick will host the event, which VSGA began on a limited scale last fall before launching them fully this year, and Keswick Club Manager and Director of Golf Rob McNamara told Cville Right Now this will be the first time the club has ever held an adaptive golf event at all.

“We’re swimming with the sharks,” he said. “We jumped on the big boy early, so we’ll just see how we do.”

Despite this, VSGA Manager of Member and Club Services Stephanie Ferguson told Cville Right Now that Keswick was a good fit for the program due to its accessibility.

“It is truly such a beautiful piece of property,” she said. “But also, they really put in mind how important it is for any and everybody to be able to enjoy the space.”

McNamara said the golfers participating next week includes some who are recovering from strokes or have PTSD, use specialized mobility carts, or have missing or prosthetic limbs.

For as much courage as the golfers will exhibit when they go out and try to improve their golf skills McNamera said, “we’re going to have as much courage to try to help them learn to play better golf and try to find enjoyment in this sport.

And finding enjoyment in golf can have a big impact.

“Adaptive sports has such an impact on emotional, physical and social health,” Ferguson said. “As an athlete and as a golfer, we all know that the social connections that we create through the game and playing sports in our youth and transitioning to adulthood. Those social connections are very important, and the disability community already has a decreased access point to inclusive and adaptive recreation.

“And so, if we can do our part in helping (break) down those barriers so people can help support their social health and their physical health, that’s what we wanna do.”

While this will be Keswick’s first adaptive golf event, McNamara said the hope is that it won’t be the club’s last.

“The impact we’d like to make (is) to not be a one-and-done type of situation, but to be a lasting stamp,” he said. “I mean success, one of the great core elements of a success is consistency, so I’ll let that speak for itself.”

McNamera said Keswick’s entire staff is excited for next week’s event. Similarly, Ferguson also expressed a strong pride in the work she and the VSGA have done with adaptive golf this year.

“We’re being able to help transform people’s lives,” she said. “We’re able to open up doors that people maybe never though that they could ever, ever move through.