Miller tees off at National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic

Posted 9/15/22

This week, Eldon Miller of Kalona, will once again be leading the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic, Sept.11-16, at the Blue Top Ridge golf course in Riverside. 

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Miller tees off at National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic

Posted

Photos by Jeff Yoder

By Ron Slechta

This week, Eldon Miller of Kalona, will once again be leading the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic, Sept.11-16, at the Blue Top Ridge golf course in Riverside. 

The 70-year old Miller, who has total blindness, helped found the golf clinic for disabled veterans after the Veterans Hospital in Iowa City invited him to ski in Aspen, Colorado in 1992.

Participating in that skiing event sparked his idea to organize a golf clinic as a way of getting disabled veterans out of their homes to enjoy activity on the golf course. He noted that  they have had veterans who have been in wheelchairs or on crutches participate in the golf clinics.  

“Only a few of us blind veterans have participated, but it is something we can do,” Miller said.  

“It is not only participating in the clinics that helps veterans,” Miller said. “They can take what they have learned in the clinics and take it home to teach other disabled veterans that they too can get out of their homes  and get active.”

Miller noted that he lost his vision when he was injured in an explosion during a tank training exercise in Fort Cason, Colorado  when he was 21. At first he had limited vision and was declared legally blind. He lost his vision totally about 20 years ago.

He is able to golf with assistance. Helpers assist him in lining up his swing and he is able to hit the ball a fair distance. A caddy takes him to where the ball stops.  He has a GPS instrument on the bill of his golf cap that lets him know the distance to the next green.

Miller hasn’t let his being blind stop him from skiing, fishing and hunting deer and pheasants. He enjoys both fishing and hunting and has done both on occasion with Kevin Reynolds, the husband of Iowa governor Kim Reynolds.

Miller was able to shoot a deer and a wild turkey by having an iPhone mounted behind a scope on the gun. Someone standing behind Miller will tell him when he has a deer or turkey target. 

In the past, the golf clinic for disabled veterans has been held on as many as seven area courses including the Kalona Golf Course. 

The Riverside Hotel and Golf Resort is the host site, but parts of this year’s clinic will also be held at Pleasantview Golf Course near Iowa City.

“We are able to raise enough money so that the veterans can participate in the clinics totally cost free,” Miller noted. “This includes the golf course fees, food and hotel rooms. We don’t want anyone not being able to participate because they can’t afford it. The Riverside Casino and Golf Resort has been generous in the project.”

Various veterans organizations help to raise funds for the clinic. 

Miller is able to negotiate his way around Kalona, going to the post office, bank and stores from his home on A Avenue.  He has gone through training for blind people at the Iowa Department for the Blind and gets assistance from the Veterans Hospital in Iowa City. 

He is optimistic that someday he could see again if the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics   obtained approval from the FDA for a stem cell implant project that might restore vision to the retina of at least one of his eyes.