Back on course
/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/nBrad spent four months in a hospital bed, but was able to go home early because his mother was a nurse and could care for him. And even though it was six months before he walked for the first time without assistance, Brad was back around the golf course chipping and putting eight weeks later./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/nSchneider’s love for golf was passed down from three generations. For years, there were pictures in his grandfather’s Sun City home of a tiny Brad holding toy golf clubs in his hands./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Not long after that, he began to show an immense promise of someone well beyond his years on the golf course. Despite being small compared to others, Brad could crank drives longer than his friends and even started whipping his grandpa and father on the golf course at a young age./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
“By 9 or 10 years old, I started playing a lot and started shooting some scores. I started breaking 80 and then I broke 70 the first time when I was 13,” Brad said in a matter-of-fact manner./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Remarkably, it wasn’t long after learning to walk that Schneider was shooting similar under-par scores with the assistance of a brace on his left leg and ankle. Working daily with golf trainer Randy Meyers and later testing out a variety of braces that would allow him to incorporate the golf swing on wobbly legs, Brad started chipping and putting, worked his way to his mid irons and in a matter of weeks began driving the ball once again./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Getting back on the golf course was the fuel for his inner engine. It made him singularly focused, much the way he is now when he pounds balls for hours on the driving range on off days./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
“The first time I stepped foot back on a golf course I was just chipping and putting because it was the easiest thing to do. But really I didn’t know how I was ever going to swing a golf club again,” Brad admitted. “I just had to find the right brace appropriate for the golf swing and walking the course. Gaining my strength back through all of the physical therapy and strength training was huge for me. Every day I’d work at it 2-to-3 hours a day on weight training, physical therapy and stretching on top of practicing so that I could hit the ball like I did before the injury.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Not a chance, Jim Schneider thought originally. “I knew he’d find a way to play golf again someday, but to get back to competitive golf in college is just amazing.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Brad Schneider even amazed himself during his first full round in 2007, not long after coming to Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ for his redshirt freshman season./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
“The first time I played 18 holes, I played in a cart at (Rio Pinar) and shot two-under,” he said. “After that, playing more and walking more, I knew I could still do it. And all of my teammates were so supportive of everything that I was doing. I knew then, starting to hit the ball the way that I wanted and getting my strength back, it was very good for me.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Leaving a legacy at Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½
/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/nSchneider isn’t just one of the most inspiring athletes in the history of athletics at Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½; he is also one of the most successful./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/nAs a freshman, he helped Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ win the first of three straight Conference USA titles. And he saved his best golf for the NCAA Regional when he fired a final round 62 and finished with a three-day total of 13-under 200 that vaulted the Knights into the NCAA Championships./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Remarkable stuff considering that Schneider had to walk 18, and sometimes 36 holes, a day on legs still trying to recover from “the accident” and the surgeries that followed. And in college golf there are no caddies, so forays up the fairways are done with the loop of the golf bag thrown over his shoulder./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
C-USA titles followed in 2010 and 2011, as Schneider emerged as Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s best golfer. And this past season was his finest as a Knight as he took medalist honors at the Northern Intercollegiate, shot 13 rounds at par-or-better and finished in the top five of events five times. Accomplishing so much while also overcoming such great odds helped him with the David Toms Award./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
“I can’t really sum it up without getting emotional. Seeing all of the work that Brad did, I called him the other day and told him that he really deserved it all,” said Jim, who is a fixture at all of Brad’s tournaments. “To handle it the way that he did, he’s always been an inspiration to a lot of people around him. There are still times when I look at him out there and my stomach still gets in knots and my heart drops because of all that he went through. I’m the one who sometimes wonders, `Why him?’ But with Brad, I’ve never seen him like that. I’m just amazed at how he’s been able to handle it all.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Starting on Thursday, Schneider will step to the tee box in a NCAA Regional for the fourth straight year. Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ is one of 13 squads that will compete in the Stanford Regional in California. Coach Bryce Wallor’s team, which won three tournament titles and once rose to as high as No. 6 in the national rankings, will be looking to finish in the top five to advance to the NCAA Championship (May 29-June 3 in Pacific Palisades, Calif.)./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/nRegardless of what happens later this week, Brad feels like he’s already won. He’s back doing what he loves and back hitting the ball 270 yards in the air and 290 yards with the roll./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
Shocking stuff, indeed, for someone barely 150 pounds. And even more shocking when playing partners hear stories of all that Brad has had to overcome. They see signs of it in his limp down the fairway, but not in a picture-perfect golf swing that doesn’t seem a bit bothered by all of the trauma suffered five years ago./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
“Actually, my legs are as good now as they were in junior golf,” Brad said with a snicker, still somewhat amazed himself. “Walking 18 holes and walking 36 holes, I can do it and it’s not a problem at all. There are certain pains that come up on certain days, but they are something that everyone has. I knew I had to get better physically to play good golf. I did it and I’m able to do something I love again.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a lump in his throat and his stomach often in knots, Jim Schneider will peer out onto the golf course and marvel at the fluidity and seemingly effortless swing of his son, Brad Schneider. Then, as Brad makes his way down the fairway and follows drives that often travel 290 yards or more, the Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ senior’s cover is immediately…","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":36663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[564,632,3087],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-36661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-brad-schneider","tag-bryce-wallor","tag-mens-golf"],"yoast_head":"/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36661/n
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