News

No. 12 -- Ken Green

December 06, 2009

Typical of amputees experiencing phantom-limb syndrome, Ken Green stands over a golf ball feeling as if the bottom half of his right leg is still a part of his body. Instead, he has been breaking 80 from the white tees with a 20-inch prosthesis inserted into a golf shoe.

"The brain says you can do it without a problem," he says, "but the body says no way."

Green, 51, is hoping to return to the Champions Tour by April, less than a year after a blown tire led to an RV accident that killed his brother, his girlfriend and his dog June 8 on an interstate near Hickory, Miss. Green suffered multiple injuries, including a broken orbital bone and extensive damage to his right leg below the knee, which necessitated the amputation.

Recently, he has been working with instructor Peter Kostis to become more of a hands player.

"The hardest thing is that one of my assets was my lower body," Green says. "I'm not able to move it with the speed I used to."