Challenges no big deal for 13-year-old golfer Jordan Monds
September 8th, 2009
Article originally found at www.Tampabay.com
“What I really think about is how I can perfect my golf swing.”
Jordan Monds, 13, golfer
Challenges no big deal
For 13 years he’s built up his upper body to compensate for his flawed feet.
LAND O’LAKES
Jordan Monds hates shoe shopping.
He can never find the right size, usually because they’re not wide enough. See, this 13-year-old L and O’Lakes golfer has flat feet, a result of being born with club feet.
“It’s near impossible to find him shoes,” said his father, Lloyd Monds.
Jordan had three surgeries by the age of 2 to fix his legs, making them functional so he could walk. He’s come a long way to be able to walk the course — and do other things — without pain or a limp.
“I really don’t have to worry about anything on my legs,” Jordan said. “Yeah, they’re flat and whatever, but there’s no pains or anything like that. People might expect me to have a tough time playing (golf ), but it just doesn’t affect me in any way. I can deal with it.”
Jordan went to Shriners Hospital and doctors moved around tendons to get his legs working . Lloyd said when Jordan was born, it looked like he had “four arms and hands” and he relied a lot on crawling around. It ended up giving him great upper body strength because he didn’t walk until he was a bit older.
“He was like Spider-Man,” Lloyd joked. “Because he could crawl and climb anywhere before he could walk.”
Growing up with legs that were finally looking like legs, Jordan said he tried not to worry about whether sports was in his future . He ended up playing soccer and taking g ymnastics, but eventually warmed up to golf about a year ago when he asked his dad to sign him up at the local club. So Jordan plays the AAU youth golf club at the Groves Golf and Country Club, and though he’s not the best golfer, he is just about the most dedicated.
“He’s very mature for his age,” said Jan Johnson, the Groves’ course pro and Jordan’s AAU coach. “He’s like some college kid who really knows what they want to do. His disability that he had made him the person that he is now. “What he went through (had him) develop a very strong upper body,” Johnson added. “He can use a lot of his shoulders and his hands, which helps a lot. He can hit the ball well without using a lot of his lower body. I’ve never seen any real problems holding him back from playing well.”
Jordan’s strengths on the course are anything with his irons, especially chipping and pitching . Actually, he plays most of his game with his irons, not even carrying a driver in his bag.
The irons — a hand-me-down set his mother gave him — were re-gripped by Johnson, who encourages him to hit a five iron on tee shots because Jordan still hasn’t mastered a driver.
“That can be a reason why a lot of kids quit,” Johnson said, referring to bad driver shots. “But he doesn’t mind practicing and doing it everyday.”
Practice, which Jordan does three to four times a week by riding his bike to the Groves where his clubs are kept in the clubhouse, includes working a lot on driving and putting, and of course, bringing his score down.
“I don’t want to say a score I’ve had because most of them have sucked so bad,” Jordan said with a laugh. “I like golf because it’s you who gets to determine your score.”
Lloyd agrees with Johnson that Jordan “has been through a lot and we have seen him grow up a lot faster” than most 13-yearolds. The kid, however, is upbeat and holds his head high. He takes things in stride, being appreciative to walk.
And if it weren’ t for the headaches in shoe stores, he would have figured he had normal, arched feet like any other young teenager.
“I don’t think about my feet because, well, it’s just my feet,” Jordan said. “What I really think about is how I can perfect my golf swing. My feet work, so I’m not thinking about them as long as they’re in the right spot during my swing.”
