The Eastern Amputee Golf Association (EAGA) offers young amputees the opportunity to learn to play golf through the free National Amputee Golf Association (NAGA) "First Swing/Learn to Golf" clinic program. These clinics give junior amputees a chance to develop their golf swing and pick up tips from other amputee golfers.

 Bob Buck of EAGA & Alexis Robinson

Tournaments and other events

The EAGA conducts eight 36-hole golf tournaments and seven one-day golf events and scrambles each year. All junior amputee golfers who are members are provided with a complimentary entry fee for each EAGA tournament. The only additional expenses are for travel, lodging and a few meals that may not be included in the tournament package. All junior amputees interested in participating in the association's activities must be EAGA members. The membership dues are $15.00 each year.

Each year, junior amputee golfers compete for the Matthew Walsh Junior Trophy at the Eastern Regional Amputee Golf Championship. Matthew was a two-time EAGA Junior Champion who fought the good fight but lost his battle with cancer in 1999 at the age of 17. The defending Matthew Walsh Junior Champion is Danny Stein, a 16-year-old bilateral below-knee amputee from Bethpage, New York.

                                                                                                 16-year-old Danny Stein - Bethpage, New York

The 2007 Eastern Regional Amputee Championship will be held in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, at the Downingtown Golf Club on July 27, 28 and 29. If you are interested in participating, please contact the EAGA office by phone at 1-888/868-0992. For additional information and an entry form, contact the EAGA office by e-mail at info@eaga.org. Don't forget to bring mom and dad and/or a friend. They are all welcome to participate as well.                     

   7-year-old Alexis Robinson - Pomona, New Jersey

The NAGA will have a Junior Division at its 59th National Amputee Golf Championships at Orchard Valley Country Club in Aurora, Illinois, on August 28, 29, 30 and 31. For more information, contact the NAGA at 1-800/633-6242 or by e-mail at b1naga@aol.com. The NAGA Web Site is located at www.nagagolf.org.

Other EAGA benefits

The EAGA may also be able to supply junior golfers with a set of golf clubs to use until they wish to purchase their own. Once junior golfers purchase their own clubs, the EAGA asks them to give their old set to another young amputee or to their local prosthetist or rehab hospital so the clubs may be used by other amputees. Also, members may borrow instructional golf videos for amputees and other disabled golfers for free through the EAGA office.

17-year-old Ayele McCarthy - Washington, D.C.

The EAGA also provides yearly college scholarship grants to qualified applicants who are junior amputee members or children of our amputee members. The association has been able to provide these scholarships because of the fundraising success of its yearly tournaments and other events and the generosity of its members and friends. Seventeen undergraduate students currently receive scholarship awards. If you are planning to attend college, contact the EAGA office to find out about membership and scholarship criteria.