Anita Weiner celebrated her 100th birthday five days ago. On Wednesday, she took her first golf swing in eight years on the practice tee at TPC Houston in Sugar Land.
Weiner took up golf at 52 after knee problems ended her tennis career. She lowered her handicap to a 7 and won the 1995 Texas Senior Women's Golf Association Championship on the course where she swung again this week. She put her clubs away at 92, and told her family before her birthday that she wanted to swing again.
The swing was made possible by the VertaCat, an electric stand-up device designed to help people with limited mobility stand securely to play golf. Anthony Netto, a South African military veteran and paralyzed golfer who co-developed the device, traveled from San Diego to fit Weiner into it. Netto said his Stand Up and Play Foundation has provided 300 to 400 mobility units to injured veterans and first responders.
Her older son, K.C. Wiener, said he had worried about pain and embarrassment. He said he was moved by his mother's joy and her improvement with each swing.