Carole Robinson Staff Writer
On any given day, Mike Reeder can be found somewhere on a golf course. During his years on the course he has made a hole-in-one and he has hit the little white ball at the Holy Grail of courses - The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew's in Scotland, one of the oldest and prestigious golf clubs in the world - and several prestigious courses in the United States.
Over the years Reeder has broken several records, including his proudest moment 10 years ago when he shot a 79 at St. Andrews besting golf pro Rory McIIroy, who days before, shot an 80.
This is quite an accomplishment for a man with no legs.
An Excelsior Springs, Mo. native who loved music and always thought he'd end up working in the music industry, Reeder joined the Navy in 1967 when he was 19, "to learn something new." The Navy offered him a position with the Navy band or chorus, "But I already knew how to play the drums and sing," he said. He wanted to learn something new.
Reeder wanted to be on a nuclear submarine, but at 19 he was still growing and by the time he stopped he was well past 6-foot - too tall for a submarine.
"The Navy made me a corpsman and I spent two years at Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines," he said.
In September 1969 the Navy had him "join" the Marines and sent him to Parris Island, SC to learn survival the Marine way. In January 1970 Navy Corpsman, Mike Reeder was on a plane to Vietnam with returning Marines who were all too willing to share stories of past deployments, which gave him a heads up when the plane landed and a mortar shell welcomed them. It hit the runway tarmac as the soldiers were deplaning at Da Nang airport.
Two weeks later, Reeder was in the jungle with the 5th Marine Division. While meeting his new platoon the air burst with gunfire. A bullet grazed his neck. Not five minutes on the ground and Reeder qualified for a Purple Heart. The wound wasn't serious enough to send him home.
Four months later on April 2, 1970, a hot, muggy day just weeks before the monsoon season, the squad was on patrol in the rice paddies. They stopped at a hooch owned by an elderly woman with a cornfield filled with ripe corn. In exchange for some of her fresh corn, the Marines offered to harvest the woman's field.
Fed and rested the Marines, strung out in a column with "Doc" Reeder, the Navy Corpsman, in the center for safety, were in the paddies on patrol searching for "Charlie."
But "Charlie" already had them in his sights. He had been patiently watching them for hours and he also knew the most valuable players - the Medic and the Radio Operator.
From the tree line he watched the American 82mm mortar round he had buried at the edge of the rice patty. "Charlie" watched as five Marines passed waiting until Reeder stepped near the explosive. He touched the wires to the battery and Reeder's life changed in an instant.
His first thoughts, "The corpsman is not supposed to get hit."
That's why he's in the middle.
But as he swung his legs to sit up - he knew - traumatic amputation of both legs below the knees and other wounds - but always a medic with a strong desire to live, he barked orders to the others for the them to staunch the bleeding and kept himself from going into shock. Once stable, he turned his attention to the platoon sergeant who was also hit. His arm was dangling by a little muscle and skin. Reeder stopped the bleeding and supported by their fellow Marines, the two wounded waited for the med-evac chopper to take them to Da Nang Hospital.
After two years in the hospital Reeder was back home in Excelsior Springs - home of healing mineral waters.
He did radio.
"I was the morning voice of KEXS 1090 AM," he said. Although he couldn't play his drums anymore, "I had the music in me - I had to do something associated with it."
He went to San Francisco College for Recording Arts and stayed in California to work in the business through the 1970s when the music industry died in California.
To stay in the music business his choices were - Los Angeles, New York City or Nashville. A country boy at heart, husband and father, he was tired of the big cities so with a job at Columbia Records, Reeder and his family headed to Nashville.
While they were en route, Sony bought Columbia Records and he lost a job he never worked. But Reeder is a fighter and a doer. He worked as an independent engineer for several years and then became a househusband in their home in Forrest Crossing where he watched the golf course being built and played Mr. Mom to his three daughters while his wife Debby worked.
One day he went into the golf shop to buy a birthday gift for a friend.
"The guy asked me if I had ever swung a golf club sitting down," he explained. "I said no. Then I tried and as the Golf Gods would have it, I swung perfectly into the target."
He became a regular at the course where he practiced hitting balls any chance he could get.
I was told, "I was a natural," he said. "I just picked it up - instinctively knew what to do - how to play. I am very proud to say, to my knowledge I am the only seated golfer who ever shot a par round of golf."
Not bad for something that "was a fluke."
Over the years, Reeder designed and developed a wheel chair specifically for playing golf. It has additional bracing and a unique golf spike that holds the chair "terra firma" so it doesn't slide from under the golfer.
"I develop a lot of torque when I swing - even without legs," he said. "It was very frustrating the first few years. I had to figure out something."
Reeder's only request to the manufacturer of the chair, when one ordered, "Forewheel Golf" is prominently engraved on the chair.
"When I'm on the golf course I'm in the great green cathedral," Reeder said. "If I'm out by myself I'm in commune with the Lord and all his beauty. If I play with friends, then I'm having congenial banter. What I like best about golf is playing with strangers and becoming friends. Play golf and find a friend forever."
Although Reeder spends a lot of time on the golf course, his wife, Debby doesn't mind.
"It's brought me focus," he said. "I was scattered going in 14 different directions. You've got to focus before you swing - golf pulled me into focus."
In 2009, Mike Reeder published the book, "From Where I Sit - Forewheel Golf, a Memoir of a Wheelchair Golfer;" it's Mike Reeder's story in 18 rounds of golf.
"Don't forget the veterans," Mike added. "So many are coming home now after their third, fourth, fifth tour overseas. They appear physically fine, but mentally at best, they are beat up. They are going to need love and understanding and a lot of years before they can shake it loose. It took me a good three years to shale it loose."
When you see a veteran, tell them "Welcome home."
http://www.williamsonherald.com/features/w_life/article_5186bd75-4612-5d...
