Close your eyes and listen.
Click. Click. Click. There’s no mistaking the sound.
Scott Allen of Kittery makes consistent, solid contact with the ball when swinging a golf club.
Open your eyes and you could have a moment of disbelief. There is Allen, a 27-year-old Special Olympian from Kittery, hitting a golf ball while swinging the club with only his right arm.
Born with cerebral palsy, Allen learned to play using a crutch to keep himself upright. He uses a braced crutch on his left arm to support himself as he carefully goes through his pre-shot routine of positioning the club head and shaft at just the right angle. Then he grips the club with only his right hand. While using his crutch and both legs as a tripod to balance himself, Allen executes a full swing with his right arm.
The shaft of the club whomps into Allen’s sturdy back after his full follow-through. The 7-iron shot arcs gracefully, with the slightest right-to-left draw, and lands 125 yards from the practice tee.
“It should be about 115 yards,” Allen says in his deliberate and precise cadence. “Well, I’m getting ahold of it today.”
Allen will look to get ahold of all of his shots from driver to putter, and especially the pesky wedge, when he competes at the Special Olympic World Games next week.
Special Olympics has provided athletic training and competition for people with intellectual disabilities since 1968. The World Games are expected to have delegations from 168 countries totaling 6,500 athletes in Los Angeles from Saturday through Aug. 2.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Allen and others in his “Level 4” division will play two nine-hole rounds. Level 5 players will play 18 holes. After the first two rounds the golfers will be placed into divisions based on similar abilities and then will play two competition rounds on Thursday and Friday.
Allen arrived in Los Angeles with the Maine Special Olympic contingent on Tuesday, and was able to get in three days of practice rounds at various courses prior to the scheduled Opening Ceremonies at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday.
Allen’s official qualifying score was 60 for nine holes, but he believes he’s capable of posting scores closer to 45 – the equivalent of bogey golf – at the Wilson & Harding Municipal Golf Courses in Los Angeles.
“The goal is gold but I’m going to be happy with a medal,” he said.
Last week, after Allen finished hitting a bucket of balls at the Sagamore Golf Center in North Hampton, New Hampshire, he allowed that in many ways his golf goals already have been achieved.
Born with cerebral palsy, he was unable to walk until he was 5. The first of two operations got him on his feet and he has competed in Maine Special Olympic competitions – both summer and winter events – since he was 7. But by the fifth grade he was back in a wheelchair.
At that point he, along with his parents Bob and Sue Allen, decided to go ahead with a second operation. A key motivator was Scott’s desire to be able to play real golf. He had already worn out a set of toy, plastic clubs whacking whiffle golf balls around the family yard.
“I made up my mind when I was 10. I wanted to be able to play golf with my father,” Allen said.
Bob and Scott Allen are now a father-son clinician tandem that helps run skills competitions for Special Olympians throughout Maine, said Mark Capano, director of programs for Maine Special Olympics.
“I know Scott is going to do very well when he goes out and competes in Los Angeles,” Capano said. “It truly is against the world.”
Allen is one of the two Special Olympians from Maine attending the World Games. Capano said the state organization was told it could send two representatives. One had to be a golfer, the other a swimmer. The state organization then contacted a few individuals it felt worthy of the honor; after an application process, the selections were made. Capano said Allen was someone given immediate consideration.
“He has amazing abilities,” Capano said. “The fact that he plays one-handed and he is able to hit the ball and play the game of golf at a consistent level.”
Kelsey Tripp, 18, a student at Hampden Academy, will represent Maine in swimming. She is scheduled to compete in the 50-meter backstroke, 50-meter freestyle and be part of a U.S. relay team.
Allen’s golfing skills have drawn attention for many years, especially after he competed in the Special Olympic National Games in Ames, Iowa, in 2006, shortly after graduating from Traip Academy.
It has also afforded him several opportunities to play golf around the country. He attended a U.S. team training session in Indianapolis in the autumn of 2014. This past April the Special Olympic golf teams from the United States and Canada were flown to Los Angeles to play at the Wilson & Harding course and receive a clinic run by PGA touring pros Webb Simpson, Ben Crane and Russell Henley.
Bob Allen proudly shared an anecdote about a time Crane demonstrated how to hit a particular shot, flubbed it a bit, and then “Scott was able to do a shot that a pro didn’t do.”
Earlier this summer, ESPN’s Sports Science show flew Allen to its Burbank, California, studios, put him in a sensor-equipped compression suit and filmed his swing for a segment scheduled to run during the network’s coverage of the Special Olympic World Games.
“I’m not sure whether I impressed World Games or the three professionals but one of the two recommended me to ESPN,” Allen said. “It was a new experience playing in compression gear so I’m not sure I hit them as far but it was a nice interview.”
The World Games will provide another new opportunity – playing in front of a gallery. Allen has played in plenty of competitions in Maine and New England.
“I’ve had my share of interviews,” Allen said. “I know what that’s like. I don’t know what having 50 people behind me is going to be like.”
Regardless of how well he plays at the World Games, Allen said golf will continue to be a challenge and passion. He and his father are considering trying to give a two-handed swing a try, in part because they recognize that on his follow-through his balance is good enough that his crutch comes off the ground.
“It gives me something to aim for, and to achieve and to get better at,” Allen said.
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