IT has been 25 years since Steve Smith lost his left leg in a work accident.
Yet, he continues to shine playing golf at Woolooware Golf Club.
Smith, a low handicapper who these days is helped by a more refined prosthetic, managed to become one of four finalists to make it through to the club's new handiskins final on Saturday.
With numbers dwindling on golf courses around Australasia over the past decade, in particular, a new concept was needed to inject new interest in the game.
Woolooware Golf Club became the first club in Sutherland Shire and St George to run handiskins as featured in TV's Golf Show.
Handiskins is a competition designed to allow amateur golf players the chance to feel what it is like to play skins.
Beverley Park Golf Club is scheduling a handiskins competition later this year.
The concept is that each hole is worth a certain value and until someone wins the hole outright, the prize jackpot keeps accumulating.
In professional golf, a player could be putting for tens of thousands of dollars.
Being amateurs, they play for prize vouchers and not cash, where each of the first six holes is worth $40, the next six holes worth $60 each and the last six holes worth $80 each.
There are also two closest to the pins prizes worth $80 each — which makes a total of $1200 on offer.
The four players qualified for the final over five competition rounds over the past two months, with their best three scores counted.
Almost 50 golfers entered and the winner of each of the five rounds won a Hamilton Island holiday.
"Handiskins is due to become an annual event at Woolooware," said club captain Wayne Patterson.
NB: Brad Edwards fared best on Saturday, pocketing more than $750 in vouchers.
Are you a handiskins fan? Tell us why.
