Why adaptable golfers have more competitive opportunities than ever before

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Anna Kittelson had two main passions growing up: golf and helping people with disabilities. Her first passion began at age 12, when Kittelson’s grandfather invited her to a driving range and discovered her natural talent for the game.

Her second passion began around the same time, when she volunteered for the Special Olympics. Later, as a high school student, Kittelson took a class called Peer Assistance and Leadership, which allowed her to help students with disabilities, and also volunteered at a camp for individuals with disabilities.

During her senior year of college, Kittelson served as a caregiver for an autistic boy — even spending time hitting balls with him at the range, mirroring her introduction to the game with her grandfather. With those two passions firmly in place, Kittelson looked for a way to combine them in her future career.

After playing golf at Midwestern State University and the University of Delaware and earning a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, Kittelson realized the medical field wasn’t for him. He decided to take a job as a pro shop attendant at Bidermann Golf Club in Wilmington, Del., an opportunity that would change his life.

While at Bidermann, Kittelson began looking for opportunities to fulfill his desire to help others, especially those with disabilities. While discussing his interests with Bidermann’s head golf professional, Anthony Malizia, he mentioned the USGA’s U.S. Adaptive Open Championship.

While researching the event, Kittelson knew he had to be involved in some way. Luckily, Malizia had recently met Mario Machi, associate executive director of the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP), who was interested in adding adaptive golf, which allows individuals with cognitive, health, physical and sensory challenges to participate in the game with modified equipment and rules, as a new program offering. Shortly after meeting Machi, Kittelson landed a PJ Boatwright Jr. Internship that allowed him to serve as an adaptive golf intern for GAP.

Halfway through her year-long internship, she was offered a full-time role as GAP’s adaptive golf manager. Since starting this January, Kittelson has focused on serving the region’s approximately 350 adaptive golfers.

“Golf is a sport that everyone can play together, disabled or not,” Kittelson said. “We want to introduce this game to this underrepresented community.”

To do that, GAP is preparing to host a tournament with a format similar to the U.S. Adaptive Open on Oct. 14-15. The tournament, which will be held at Lookaway Golf Club and Doylestown Country Club in Bucks County, Pa., will further expand opportunities for those in the adaptive golf community.

GAP also works to introduce golf to people with disabilities, another way to increase the participant base. This year, it has held more than 14 “Unlimited Clinics,” designed to prove that anyone can play. The clinics are 90 minutes long and taught by PGA professionals. For 45 minutes, new adaptive golfers learn by hitting a variety of clubs on the range, followed by another 45 minutes of chipping and putting. Each clinic is tailored to the participants’ goals and skill levels.

“It’s all about building the adaptive golf community and helping people make new friends. Hopefully they’ll get caught up in the passion for golf and play in adaptive tournaments,” Kittelson said. “Most of all, we want to remove the barriers to entry and encourage a more inclusive, accessible game.”

With those goals in mind, Kittelson hired Tyler Cashman as a summer intern in 2024. Cashman, who is blind and an adaptive golfer who has played in the last two U.S. Adaptive Opens, met Kittelson at the Eastern Regional, an amputee and adaptive golf tournament.

“The U.S. Adaptive Open has had a huge impact on adaptive golf because the overall number of adaptive golfers has increased significantly since it started,” Cashman said. “By providing adaptive golfers with the opportunity to play at a higher level, it has shed a lot more light on what we can do. I hope it continues to break down all the stereotypes about what people with disabilities can achieve on the golf course.”

Breaking the mold – forever

The USGA began its involvement with adaptive golf more than 30 years ago. In 1991, it established a grant program to provide financial assistance to nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping golfers with disabilities, and in 1997 it introduced the “Modified Rules of Golf for Players with Disabilities.”

The USGA has continued to grow its involvement in two primary ways. In 2019, the organizations, along with the R&A, began administering the World Golfers with Disabilities Ranking (WR4GD) through the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). Two years earlier, in 2017, they had decided to change adaptive golf forever.

That year, during the USGA Annual Meeting, he pledged to create a new national championship for the adaptive golf community. Although Covid-19 delayed its introduction, the USGA’s promise was to continue the US Adaptive Open Launched in July 2022 on Course No. 6 at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club.

Since the debut and subsequent installments at Pinehurst in 2023 and Sand Creek Station in Kansas in 2024, adaptive golf has grown significantly in popularity and profile. According to Stephanie Parel, championship director of the U.S. Adaptive Open for the USGA, there are currently about 700 American certified adaptive golfers. In 2018, that number was 2.

During this period, the number of US-based WR4GD Counting Events has increased from approximately 12 to over 30. Many of these events are sponsored or run by the USGA’s nationwide network of Allied Golf Associations (AGA).

“When the USGA started the U.S. Adaptive Open, there was one AGA adaptive championship,” Parel said. “There will be eight by the end of this year — and more on the way in 2025.”

Reflecting on the past two years, Kittelson believes the impact of the U.S. Adaptive Open on a local level is undeniable because the event allows people like him to become passionate about the concept and its potential.

“There are a lot of people with disabilities who never thought about playing golf before, but now they’re involved,” he said. “And they’re playing with people who aren’t disabled, which is great for the whole golf community because people from all walks of life come and enjoy the game with each other.”

Not only is the game becoming “more welcoming, accessible and inclusive,” Parel says, but golf facilities are also doing so by making sure everyone feels comfortable playing.

“The stories of adaptive golfers were incredibly inspiring and motivating,” Parel said. “They reminded us—and the general golf community—of everything we love about the game: camaraderie, honesty, perseverance and playing for the sheer joy of it.”

Parel believes that in addition to the US Adaptive Open golfers’ obvious interest in camaraderie and friendship, they are among the most competitive golfers he has ever met.

“Don’t let their outgoing personalities fool you; they are fiercely competitive,” he said.

In fact, Parel found that as more fit golfers entered tournaments, their competitiveness increased, leading to lower scores year after year.

“When we’re off the track we’re a great community,” Cashman said. “But when we’re on the track there’s a very competitive atmosphere.”

To wit: At the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open, England’s Kipp Popert won the men’s title by a one-stroke margin, shooting 214 over 54 holes of 2-under par.

Matt Vanderpool, CEO of the Georgia State Golf Association (GSGA), has seen this strong desire to win firsthand. Since 2019, the GSGA has hosted the Georgia Adaptive Open, which some adaptive golfers consider one of the top five adaptive tournaments in the world.

After hosting the event for four years at the nine-hole Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta, the GSGA this June hosted the event at the Retreat Course, an 18-hole layout at Georgia’s Sea Island Resort. The course size was expanded from 36 to 60, and 88 golfers had registered through February, further demonstrating the growing popularity of adaptive golf.

“I believe the profile of adaptive golf will continue to grow exponentially over the next five years,” Vanderpool said. “The U.S. Adaptive Open has brought a lot of attention to adaptive golf, and as we add more AGA adaptive competitions and programs across the country, there will be more opportunities for adaptive golfers to learn and enjoy the game locally.”

Parel has also noticed that more AGAs are getting involved in grassroots programming, which is leading to new golfers. In particular, she believes AGAs will encourage more youth and women to play adaptive golf in the future.

“Adaptive golf is growing rapidly,” he said. “The interest and support from the traditional golf community, foundations and sponsors is tremendous.”

As more AGA tournaments prepare to roll out, Kittelson is focusing on doing what he can to help each one foster both competition and community, the type of community for which adaptive golf is known.

“We must all work together to ensure that we are doing everything we can to ensure the best possible outcomes for every well-rounded golfer,” Kittelson concluded. “There are so many talented athletes participating. Every AGA must do everything it can to provide them with the best possible experiences while continuing to create an inclusive, fun and competitive environment.”