Meet Special Olympics golfer Garrett Stortz

PALMER - 27 year old Special Olympian Garrett Stortz has been working. Stortz wakes up at 4:45 a.m. on work days to arrive at the Palmer Golf Course and hop on a lawn mower at 5:30 a.m. After work, Garrett often spends time on the driving range with just his swing, his clubs, and a bucket of range balls. Stortz’ work has paid off, as he won the gold medal at Nationals in Seattle in early July.

“For me, personally, I feel like I’ve come a long ways in the fact that I never thought I’d get a chance like this. I never thought I’d be able to compete in these big tournaments,” Stortz said.

Stortz lines his shots up with agonizing detail. Stortz addresses the ball, settles into his feet, and swings the club lightly back and forth over the ball. Then he taps his club three times, takes a breath, and repeats. As his hands slowly draw back, his right foot tilts onto its side, and in an instant, his hands drop, his weight transfers from foot to foot, and the club head attacks the ball. Stortz finishes his swing with his hands high above his head and his chest facing out to the driving range, square to the mountains. Stortz arrived before the crowd, while it was still raining on Wednesday night. He stretches, meticulously cleans his clubs, and works on hitting the ball long and straight. Stortz’s 7-iron travels low and fast out towards the barn past the edge of the Palmer Golf Course driving range. The ball rises, rises, and finally falls, traveling more than 200 yards of a straight line and falling gently to a target.

“It’s been fun. It’s been a blast. What I’ve gotten to do and accomplish and don’t take any of it for granted, I was able to win another gold and compete relatively well and find out more about myself as a golfer and what else I’m able to do with my game,” Stortz said.

Stortz is a product of the Palmer Golf Course family. Stortz credits Trenton and Jared Berberich for pushing him early on in the game of golf, which he only started playing a decade ago.

“I am hitting clubs a lot farther than when I first started in golf. For me it’s little things like alignment and stance and just feeling right. If I’m going to be good, I’m going to really have to start practicing. For a lot of people my age, they don’t get opportunities like I have gotten and it’s something I’m very thankful for,” Stortz said.

PGC Director of Golf George Collum III received high praise from Stortz for pushing him to practice and compete more. Stortz also credits coworkers and maintenance staff like JD Mitchell for pushing him to new limits, course pro Joe Butler and his coach Scott Johnson.

“I appreciate him a lot. Without the support of him the golf course family here, just everyone else, especially my parents, for allowing me to do this and travel and get all this stuff to be able to happen has been pretty awesome. I think I’ve taken a lot of people by surprise and done very well and I think that’s something to be proud of,” Stortz said.

Stortz will compete in the state championships this fall, but will not compete on the Special Olympics circuit until Nationals in Orlando in 2022.

“It’s something I enjoy doing, It’s something I love to do. I love playing golf, getting to learn new things every day being out here, it’s just an all around fun game. There’s no right or wrong way to go about doing it, if you want to play a sport and you think you have the passion for that sport you know go out and try your best,” Stortz said.

Stortz competed at the World Championships in 2015 in Los Angeles and delivered his finest performance to date, marking on his scorecard an 80,78,78, and 77.

“In the meantime, I’m going to hone in on my skills a lot more and get better and just enjoy playing golf with a lot of friends up here and trying to get better and looking forward to the next nationals,” Stortz said.