WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4 Sports) - With winter weather here, there's not much for golf pros to do. Unless they play hockey.
Four members of the Utah Section PGA are hockey players. They had never played together, until recently, when they got a chance to play for a good cause.
"Joel and I are actually in the same league," said Tele Wightman, the Thanksgiving Point head pro. "We always play against each other, so it's fun to team up with him. Todd Tanner and I, Todd is an in-line hockey guy. So we always talk hockey, but we never play."
"I had no idea," said Janson Eisenstat, Spanish Oaks Golf Course assistant pro. "I know Todd Tanner played roller hockey. We've played together in some tournaments over the last few years and talked hockey, but I had no idea there was enough guys until Tele reached out to me about this."
What he's referring to was a game between the PGA pros and the Special Grizzlies, a team of special needs players who have learned to play hockey.
"First couple of years while these kids couldn't skate across the ice," said Don Homan, the Special Grizzlies head coach. "We had chairs on the ice. They're pushing chairs or holding their stick. So the first couple of years, it was fun. Because you actually saw them progress. And as soon as somebody is able to skate the width of the ice, then we knew we had them."
The special Grizzlies have two lines. One is a group of athletes who are just learning the game, and the other group is very competitive.
"My goalie, Jason, he does not like to be scored on," said Homan. "He's got the real goalie mentality. Even in practice. He doesn't want pucks behind him in the net. So now they're no different than the other kids. Just take a little bit longer to figure it out."
Half of the game was letting the first group of players score and feel good about the experience. The other half was a more serious contest and the section players were more than happy to help out with both.
"It's fun to give back in a different way than we normally are," Wightman said. "You know, on the golf course, and that's kind of like our realm, but just being out doing something different. It's so fun."
"It's this is incredible," added Eisenstat. "This is this is a little emotional for me. My mom helped start this team six years ago. My oldest brother was severely autistic. So I've been playing against these kids, the Special Grizzlies, for six years now, and I can't seem to beat them."
It was difficult to tell who was having more fun, the golfers or the kids.
"Oh, my goodness. I gave one a high five and she just had the biggest smile on her face," said Todd Tannner, River Oaks Golf Course teaching pro. "It was amazing."
"To me, it's giving back to the community," said Joel Grose, Hobble Creek Golf Course assistant pro. "It's giving back to helping these kids out, building some confidence in them. Hockey is not an easy sport. So to have them out here doing this skating, stick, handling, passing, being able to be part of this, to give them that opportunity it's an awesome feeling. It's awesome to be out here watching these kids, the excitement they have."