Member News Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 19, 2006
Marianjoy Teams With Peter Longo for Therapeutic Golf Clinics
Media: You are invited to interview golf expert Peter Longo,
a certified golf instructor from Marianjoy, and participants.
Photographers are welcome.
What: Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital has teamed up with
Peter Longo, a former PGA Tour player who is internationally known as a
leading authority and teacher of golf for the disabled, to offer a
series of golf clinics. These clinics are specifically designed to help
individuals with a disability, chronic pain, or arthritis get back into
the game or start from the very beginning.
Together Marianjoy’s golf therapy specialists and Peter Longo have
created several clinics to help people return to golf or perhaps start
playing for the first time. Clinics are and include two hours of
instruction focusing on the individual’s particular needs at their
level of play. Participants are divided into beginner, intermediate,
and advanced groups for better instruction and learning. Registration
and physician release are required.
For more information on the clinics or to register, contact Tracy
Ekstrom, CTRS and certified golf instructor for individuals with
disabilities at Marianjoy (630) 462-4040.
Remaining 2006 clinics:
- June 15 at Cantigny Golf Course in Wheaton, 6-8 p.m.
- July 20 at Oak Meadows Golf Course in Wood Dale, 6-8 p.m.
- August 24 at Cantigny, 6-8 p.m.
- September 21 at Cantigny, 6-8 p.m.
After 25 years of working with disabled people, Peter Longo is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on the subject. He has written dozens of articles for individual publications, along with teaching manuals on disabled golf for the USPGA, The Spanish Golf Federation and the National Golf Foundation.
Peter produced the first video ever done on handicapped golf, (CHALLENGE GOLF, 1987) which has become an industry standard the world over. In 1989, Peter authored a treatise on golf and challenges for the U.S. Government that earned him a trip to the White House to meet sponsors First Lady Barbara Bush and Queen Sylvia of Sweden.
He was an original member of the PGA’s Committee for the Physically Disabled and still serves as an advisor.
Since 2003, Peter has teamed with the Fundacion Deporte y Desafio (Foundation for Sports and Challenges) in Madrid and international star Sergio Garcia, conducting Spain's first ever disabled golf teaching seminars for professionals in Barcelona, Madrid, Gijon, Malaga, Castellon, Seville, Majorca Island and The Canary Islands.
Recently, Peter released a Power Point computer teaching CD for the PGA of America. The work, entitled “CHALLENGE GOLF-CD,” is available to both PGA members and the general public.
About Marianjoy
Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital is a 120-bed hospital in Wheaton, Illinois, dedicated to the delivery of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Founded in 1972 by the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters, Marianjoy has a network of inpatient, subacute, and outpatient sites and physician clinics throughout the greater Chicago area. Throughout this network, Marianjoy provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services, including programs that assist patients with community re-entry, such as driver rehabilitation and return-to-work programs. Marianjoy is a member of Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, headquartered in Wheaton, Illinois. Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare owns and operates more than 100 health and shelter service organizations in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.