Adaptive Golf for People Living with Paralysis: Building Confidence, Community, and Independence

 Just 10 months after Joshua Basile sustained a C4-5 complete spinal cord injury from a 2004 swimming accident, he founded Determined2Heal to help simplify the difficult transition for other newly injured people.

Two years later, Determined2Heal launched SPINALpedia, which is now the world's largest video-mentoring network for the paralysis community.

“We have over 45,000 videos broken down by physical functionality to share hope, ideas and ways to accomplish daily living no matter what your functionality is,” says Basile, who is also a practicing trial attorney. The videos feature a functionality tagging system that lets users input their movement abilities and have thousands of mentors show them what's possible.

In 2010, Basile turned his focus to adaptive sports and developed a slingshot golf device that enables golfers with disabilities to putt. Three years ago, he learned about a swingless driver and worked with his caregiver, Andrew Mitchell, to form AdapTee Golf to bring access to these adaptive devices to more players.

“We applied for a Reeve Foundation grant after a year of building the AdapTee Golf program into something with national attention and draw. It was the Power2Golf swingless driver, which allows us to hit the ball between 75 and 225 yards that gave access to the full golf experience. That's part of the golf game that we didn't have access to with Josh’s slingshot system,” says Mitchell. “It was the last piece of the puzzle for us to be able to play and compete with able-bodied golfers.”

In 2025, Determined2heal’s AdapTee Golf program received a $23,560 Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Quality of Life grant to increase awareness of the program and purchase adaptive equipment, including 12 Pendulum Putters and 18 Power2Golf Swingless Clubs.

“We put together 12 golf bags with anything needed on the course for both play and maintenance of the equipment. So far, we have brought the game to over 250 paralyzed families across the country,” says Basile.

The grant enabled the AdapTee Golf to grow within the seven regions they serve: Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Nashville, the Washington D.C. area, Richmond, Philadelphia and Denver. In each region, AdapTee Golf connects with local rehab centers and adaptive sports groups to invite community members and an able-bodied teammate to a demonstration clinic. Participants learn how to relay shot directions to their teammate, who functions as a caddie.

“The adaptive golfer becomes the mind, and the caddie becomes the body,” says Basile. “I can direct Andrew to change the angle, the power, where his hands are and where to face the club. It's like playing a live video game.”

For new players, there are many missed shots, but Basile and Mitchell believe the fun part of the journey is building the confidence, independence and self-efficacy to improve your game.

“Getting six to 20 folks with quadriplegia in the same place is basically like a convention,” says Mitchell. “People have the chance to share not just their experience with golf, but life in general.”

After each clinic, AdapTee Golf leaves two complete golf bag sets with a volunteer sponsor in the region so players can continue to have access to the game. AdapTee Golf is also partnering with local rehab networks to train more adaptive golf teachers.

“For the first time, this sidelined population is on the course playing, competing, having fun and making memories,” says Mitchell. “It's an incredible feeling to see people arrive in a space where, for the most part, people don't expect to see them. They have a lot of curious looks when they get up on that tee box. After the first drive, everyone has already made a new friend.”

AdapTee Golf is working with PGA Hope to engage with disabled veterans. Practice and play have also begun toward a national tournament AdapTee Golf will host in October in Silver Spring, Maryland.

“This is just the beginning of something bigger than we ever could dream,” says Basile. “We're very grateful to the Reeve Foundation for this chance to get the word out because you never know when this reaches the right person, it could change their life.” 

You can learn more about our Quality of Life program by visiting here.