#paragolfer

This article is part of our Documentation Series where we share a little behind-the-scenes look at what our organization does during the day-to-day to serve.

The Heroes

Building relationships with strong organizations brings opportunities to create special projects to help those we serve in the community. We were introduced to the Cary-Kildaire Rotary Club through a connection on our Board and have since been overwhelmed by the generosity and service of this amazing collection of individuals. The Inspiration Golf Tour Trailer was a milestone in our organization’s young history and would not have been possible without dedicated Rotarians who helped us along the way - inviting us to share our mission at one of their meetings, championing a transfer platform building project, and sending a volunteer team to one of our Inspiration Golf Clinics. Thank you Cary-Kildaire Rotary.

The Design & Build

A semi-screwless 6-foot trailer is a definite upgrade over the garages, sheds, and car trunks that used to house our adaptive golf equipment, but this blank canvas needed to be more efficient in its use of space and it had to withstand the bumps and shakes of the open road. Thankfully, our Treasurer spent some time building log cabins near Boone, NC for a semester and I have made a career out of coming up with creative solutions. Not ones to pass up a “Bro Project,” we met at Lowe’s to… well, mostly wander around trying out different ideas for hinges and shelving (initially inspired by some ideas on YouTube). We knew we wanted something modular that made efficient use of the space inside the trailer, so we came up with the idea of a static top shelf and a folding lower shelf. The folding lower shelf would also be useful for maneuvering our Paragolfers during travel to different golf courses and events. For maximum versatility we wanted a large space at the nose of the trailer to be secured with cargo netting, along with a way to add a power strip to the inside to charge our radios and equipment. As with most creative endeavors, this project spurred lots of conjecture over what would and what wouldn’t work, but we were aided in our decision-making by a super useful and essential tool - a budget. When you’re faced with a multitude of choices, strict adherence to a budget and well-defined criteria are invaluable to making the best decisions.

During the build, we were able to use a combination of bought and found materials to create our storage space. A pair of suspension shelves stabilized by an aluminum edge and a solid bar bolted through the top of the trailer gave us strength and the ability to handle the vibration of the road for our upper storage. The dynamic lower shelves required us to create three hinge points made from steel L brackets and lag bolts (the center lag bolt’s top was sacrificed to make a double joint between the split shelves). It took some trial and error, but we were able to create a pair of hinged shelves (that were level with each other) with clip-on suspension cables to hold them up. To neutralize the vibration and bouncing of road travel, we added a connecting rod between the shelf and the hinge brackets - solid as a rock. Rotary cutting a hole and installing a weather-resistant power plug from Amazon allowed us to connect an extension cord without having to leave the door cracked open.

We are so excited for the opportunities this trailer will open up for bringing adaptive golf resources to golf courses, health systems, etc. in the surrounding areas and beyond. Thanks to the generosity of the Cary-Kildaire Rotary we have an incredible resource that will help us serve adaptive golfers and others who would like to use golf-based interventions in their recovery. Here’s to the next chapter… Play.Live.Inspired!