Twenty years ago Rob Strano decided to begin a golf clinic for students at Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine and hold it during the week of THE PLAYERS.
Two decades later, and the clinic and his mission is still going as strong as ever, with this year’s event held March 7 at the No. 9 hole at Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass.
However, the impact his clinics have made goes far beyond just helping those locally, as he has also held U.S. deaf golf camps in 29 cities throughout the years.
“It was just a God-led thing that happened,” Strano said. “I played professionally for 15 years, and after I finished my playing career God led me to learn the (sign) language. “More than 1,000 deaf kids have learned the game of golf through sign language with these camps.”
It was entirely new venture for him, but he trusted in the path God laid out for him and he has never looked back.
“I didn’t really have any touch points with the deaf community prior to this, I had no family or friends who were deaf and had never seen sign language before, but God said ‘I need you to learn,’ and so I did,” Strano said.
Once he began learning the language and interacting with the deaf community, he began to notice that a real need existed.
“I found that no one was teaching deaf kids how to play golf through sign language, so we started the camps back in 2003 in Pensacola, followed the next one which was here (TPC Sawgrass), and away we went,” Strano said.
Since then, he has enjoyed watching the camps continue to grow, with 15 camps throughout the country being the most held in one year.
According to Strano, ideally the spots for the camps are in areas that have a PGA Tour event and a deaf and blind school nearby.
“We’ve been all over creation with these camps over the years, and it’s been a lot of fun,” Strano said. “It’s all about the smiles on the faces when you see a kid hit a great shot.”
The clinics have a routine number of 16 participants that take part, all of which never swung a golf club or knew about the game of golf until that day.
Each year’s group has special shirts that are made for them that they wear during the camp, which adds yet another lasting token that they will be able to remember from the day that was, as well as the opportunity to hit balls at the replica famed “Island Green,” at the 17th hole challenge presented by Optum, Morgan Stanley and Grant Thornton.
