Although his days of high-level competition are behind him, Georgia Club resident Glenn Mullian still remains happiest on the links.
A scratch golfer in his youth in Richmond, Virginia, Mullian enjoyed a successful run of senior division victories and in 2010 came out on top in nine tournaments, earning the Senior Golfer of the Year award from the Virginia State Golf Association.
But in the spring of 2011, Mullian — who has played in two U.S. Senior Opens — was in a life-threatening automobile accident, losing his right leg and sustaining serious injuries to his right hand, wrist and shoulder.
“I had over a dozen surgeries to try to fix everything,” said Mullian, 66, who with his wife Debbie moved to the Athens area five years ago.
Mullian, who in 1973 played on the UGA golf team under Bulldogs legend Dick Copas, spent weeks in the hospital, and once it was assured he would survive, he then began to think about what golf would now look like for him.
“When I was in the hospital I didn’t know what to expect,” said Mullian, who was able to return to the course about 15 months later. “The doctors don’t usually paint a beautiful picture and I had so many issues. I had so many injuries they didn’t know where to start with me. It was a real bad wreck and they helicoptered me to the emergency room; if they had not done that I would not have made it.
“I always thought in the back of my mind that I’d play again but I also knew it was going to be a challenge after losing a leg. I also had extreme damage to my left leg – I have a pin there. My ankle was also broken. My left leg hampered me as well and was very weak.”
Former UGA and U.S. Senior Open golfer Glenn Mullian poses for a photo at The Georgia Club on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. (Photo/Joshua L. Jones, Athens Banner-Herald)
Mullian, who carries a 6 handicap, said he continues to tinker with different prosthetic approaches and added he often has fewer problems with his right leg than he does his right shoulder and wrist.
“I’ve shot a couple of rounds under par but my game is nothing close to what it was before,” he said. “I have limited power and that’s my weakness. I can still hit the ball straight and make nice shots, but I’ve lost power. Part of it is age, I know, but the other part of it is the makeup of what I’ve got. I just don’t have the power to play the kind of golf I’d like to play and I used to play.
“There’s only so much I can do when I swing when I can’t swing so fast. My prosthetic and my bad shoulder are on my right side and I also have a fused right wrist, which has gotten better but still limits me in terms of power. I’m just right down the middle, right in front of the green somewhere and I try to chip up and make a putt. I do OK.”
Mullian usually plays during the week and once or twice on the weekends and enjoys frequent visits to the driving range.
“I usually play two or three times a week and go to the driving range a couple of times a week; I’m kind of a range rat now,” he said. “I enjoy beating golf balls and I like playing, too – I like to mix it up. But I have my hands on the clubs five or six days a week, for sure.”
Years after his accident and subsequent return to the game he began playing as a teenager, Mullian said while he’s often discouraged with the results, he’s grateful to be back on the course.”
“It’s half and half,” he said. “One half says, ‘I’m just happy to be here,’ and the other half says “When am I going to turn the corner?’ It’s hard playing on one leg and it’s hard playing on a shoulder and a wrist that won’t move much, but I’m enjoying it and I’m trying to have fun and stay positive because I have nothing to prove as far as my career goes.
“I don’t know what I’d do without golf and being retired; I wouldn’t be retired, that’s for sure. Golf is my savior, even though it’s extremely frustrating to play the way I do compared to what I used to play.”
from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3b1L1QM