More Than Golf: How Manfredi O&P's Adaptive Golf Clinic Is Changing What's Possible for Amputees in New Jersey
Every June, Manfredi O&P closes the clinic for a day and takes things outside. The golf course. The sunshine. A sport most people wouldn't think to connect to prosthetic care — and a community that keeps proving why they should. This is the 2026 MOPA Adaptive Golf Clinic recap. There are a lot of photos. There's a story worth reading. And there's a scuba trip coming this September if you want in.
Manfredi O&P Adaptive Golf Clinic 2026
More Than Golf
Nobody puts a golf clinic in their patient brochure.
Manfredi O&P does it anyway — because some of the most important moments in rehabilitation don't happen in a treatment room. They happen on a driving-range, in front of people who thought it they could never do something like this again.
On a Wednesday morning in June, occupational therapists and physical therapists from across Monmouth and Ocean County pulled into the parking lot of Spring Meadow Golf Club in Farmingdale, New Jersey. They came to learn. They came to watch. They came to be the person who hands a club to someone who hasn't held one since the accident — and means it when they say try.
By afternoon, their patients were on the course.
Thirty-one years. Same day. Same reason.
Spring Meadow Golf Club Farmingdale NJ
The Morning Belongs to the Clinicians
Lou Namm of the Eastern Amputee Golf Association (EAGA) leads a structured training session – along side Jean Manfredi of Manfredi O&P – for the occupational therapists, physical therapists, and rehab professionals who want to understand adaptive golf from a clinical standpoint.
That means equipment modifications. Swing mechanics for different limb loss presentations. How to talk to a patient about golf as a functional goal — and when to suggest it.
It's continuing education that happens outside four walls, in the sun, on a golf course. The setting matters. By the time patients arrive in the afternoon, their therapists have already held an adaptive club, felt the swing, and understand firsthand what they're asking their patients to try.
That's intentional.
Then the Patients Arrive — and Something Shifts
Not everyone who showed up to the MOPA Adaptive Golf Clinic last week swung a club.
Some did.
Some hit their first shot ever — a shaky, lopsided swing that went nowhere and got the loudest cheer of the day.
Some played with technique they've been refining for years.
And some sat in the sun, watched their peers play, and were right there in the thick of it without ever gripping a club.
All of them left smiling.
There's something specific that happens at this event that doesn't happen anywhere else.
The person next to you has been through it. Not a version of it. The same it. The loss. The recovery. The first time you tried to do something you used to do without thinking — and the moment you figured out you could still do it differently.
You don't have to explain anything at the MOPA Adaptive Golf Clinic. Nobody is politely curious. Nobody needs you to manage their discomfort. The cheering when someone's shot goes sideways is the loudest, most genuine sound of the day — because every single person cheering knows exactly what it took to get to that swing.
They were standing in that same spot not long ago.
That's what adaptive sports actually give people. Not just the physical work. The permission. The proof that the door is still open.
That the community around Manfredi O&P doesn't exist only inside the clinic — it exists on golf courses and at support group meetings and, starting this September, at the bottom of the ocean.
Out on a Limb
The First Swing Adaptive Golf Clinic is one event in something larger.
Out on a Limb is Manfredi O&P's amputee support and lifestyle community — a group that gathers throughout the year to do things together that remind everyone what's still possible. Some months that looks like a support group meeting. Some months it looks like June 23rd at Spring Meadow.
And this September, it's going to look like the water.
Ken Hoffman — Out on a Limb's group leader — is organizing an adaptive scuba diving clinic for community members this fall.
Details to follow. But if you or a patient you work with has ever looked at the ocean and wondered whether that door was closed — it isn't.
Mark your calendar.
We'll be in the water, and you’ll be trying something new.
The People Who Make This Possible
Every year, something comes together to make this event possible — the therapists who give up a Wednesday at their facility, the organizations like USAGA and EAGA who believe in what adaptive golf can do, the team at Spring Meadow Golf Club who host us with genuine warmth, and Chef Wesley Dustin and the Meadow 28 crew who make sure everyone is well-fed and well-taken-care-of from the first tee to the last bite.
We also want to talk about the rehab facilities — because their presence here isn't random.
Manfredi O&P works alongside the rehabilitation community across Monmouth and Ocean County every single day. When a physical therapist refers a patient to us for prosthetic fitting, that's trust. When we send a patient back with goals and a plan, and they show up to gait training already motivated — that's a clinical partnership in action. These aren't referral relationships on paper. They're built visit by visit, phone call by phone call, and — once a year — on a golf course in Farmingdale.
Twelve facilities. One Wednesday morning. Here's who showed up:
That list isn't decoration. Every one of those facilities has patients at Manfredi O&P right now. Their team-members drove in on a Wednesday, held an adaptive club, and went back to their clinics knowing something they didn't know before.
That's the relationship. And we don't take it lightly.
This year, we'd be remiss not to mention: when an unexpected obstacle threatened to derail the event in the weeks leading up to it, Callaway Golf donated equipment, Jonathan Snyder at USAGA stepped in, David Windsor from the PGA came through, and Lou Namm of the EAGA donated his own personal set of clubs.
The event happened.
It always does.
Because that's the thing about this community — it doesn't cancel.
It adapts.
Physical therapists adaptive golf training — MOPA/EAGA First Swing Golf Clinic 2026 - Spring Meadow Golf, Farmingdale, NJ
The 2027 event date is already set.
If you've never been to the MOPA Adaptive Golf Clinic, put it on your calendar now.
Wednesday June 2, 2027
Manfredi O&P 32nd Annual First Swing Golf Clinic
@ Spring Meadows Golf Course
^Seriously….click it!
You don't need to have ever held a club.
You don't need to be ready to play.
You just need to want to be part of something that reminds you — or your patients, or someone you love — that an amputation is not the last chapter.
Not even close.
Golf is waiting.
So is whatever comes next.
Contact us to learn about upcoming Out on a Limb events, or call (732) 380-0366.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is adaptive golf?
Adaptive golf is golf modified for people with physical disabilities, including limb loss. Equipment modifications, alternative swing techniques, and rule adjustments allow amputees, wheelchair users, and others to participate fully in the sport. Organizations like the U.S. Adaptive Golf Alliance (USAGA) and the Eastern Amputee Golf Association (EAGA) run clinics and training programs across the country.
Who can participate in adaptive golf?
Anyone. Upper and lower limb amputees, bilateral amputees, and people with other physical disabilities can participate in adaptive golf — with or without a prosthesis. No prior golf experience is required.
What is the EAGA First Swing program?
The EAGA First Swing Clinic is an introductory adaptive golf program run by the Eastern Amputee Golf Association. It's designed for amputees who have never played golf before and for the OT/PT clinicians who work with them. The Manfredi O&P Adaptive Golf Clinic uses this model each year.
Are there adaptive golf programs in New Jersey?
Yes. Manfredi O&P hosts an annual adaptive golf clinic in Monmouth County, NJ — typically in June — for amputee patients and the occupational and physical therapists who work with them. It's part of Out on a Limb, our year-round adaptive sports and support community. For the Amputee Coalition's full national directory of adaptive sports programs, visit their resources page.
How do I find adaptive golf near me in New Jersey?
Contact Manfredi O&P at (732) 380-0366 or email us through our website. Our Out on a Limb community events are open to amputees across Monmouth and Ocean County, NJ, and we're connected to EAGA and USAGA resources statewide.
