By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
In 2023, PGA of America Golf Professional Ryan Cutter founded his non-profit, the All Abilities Golf Academy, with a mission: “To become a leading organization assisting those with disabilities.”
Cutter, a Bend, Oregon native, was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, a rare condition that causes amniotic bands to wrap around part of the developing fetus, halting the growth and maturation process. This deformation in Cutter’s legs led to him needing prosthetics when he was two years old. He and his family would go to Shriners Children’s in Portland every 6-12 months for reevaluation and sizing. As his body grew, so did the apparatus that aided his ability to get around.
Today, Ryan Cutter is the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Green Meadow Country Club in Helena, Montana. He’s building his non-profit through fundraising and awareness to benefit individuals with disabilities. He enables them to showcase their skills and talents by breaking down barriers to entry in golf and promoting inclusion in the game.
“Many amputees struggle with feelings of isolation and loneliness, and participating in a golf tournament can provide a sense of community and support,” Cutter says on his website. “By connecting with others in similar situations, golfers can share their experiences, offer advice and build meaningful relationships.”
Cutter got into golf at a young age, as his father was an avid golfer, and golf allowed Ryan to be more competitive against other local youth. Keep in mind, however, that Cutter did play many other sports – basketball, baseball and soccer, for instance – but his prosthetics hindered his full athletic potential and competitiveness. He was able to maximize his abilities on the golf course, competing by 10 or 11. After a couple of years at Loyola Marymount University with the idea of attending medical school, Cutter moved to Colorado, where his desire for golf resurfaced and he chose his career path.
Since then, Cutter has earned two Youth Player Development Awards and an Assistant Golf Professional of the Year Award in the Pacific Northwest PGA Section’s Western Montana Chapter.
As mentioned, he started the All Abilities Golf Academy in 2023, coaching predominantly out of Green Meadow Country Club. “I’ve been working with our Section’s PGA HOPE Program, and teaching veterans has been one of the coolest things I’ve done in golf. Some of them play the game, but most of them have never touched a club before,” Cutter explains.
At Green Meadow, Cutter has an indoor teaching facility on the range with two Trackman simulators that are used for teaching, fitting and winter league play by many of the club’s 425 members. Cutter maximizes the efficiency of the range, short game area and putting greens to bolster the skills of his members and grow his golf academy.
He’s run PGA Jr. League and Operation 36 programs and looks forward to starting a junior boot camp program with drop-in clinics each week, adding some flexibility to his busy schedule. After all, Cutter is a new dad balancing his responsibilities at home with those at the club and his young non-profit. He uses Operation 36 for his ladies and juniors and will implement its concepts and structure into his academy work with golfers with disabilities. He appreciates the seamless transition from the range to the course and will coach his academy golfers to grow into the game at a manageable pace, similar to his women and juniors. He also teaches and custom fits non-members, selling equipment and promoting the club’s amenities.
Cutter uses the facilities at Green Meadow for his academy, giving free private lessons to golfers, but has plans in 2025 to host clinics and implement additional academy programming when the facility is essentially closed for outside outings.
To achieve his goals, fundraising has become a huge facet of Cutter’s non-profit work. He hosted a charity classic golf tournament at Green Meadow earlier in 2024 that enabled him to buy specific equipment needed for his academy students, including SNAG Golf Equipment and a golf swing training apparatus.
“My fundraising for the past couple of years has been focused on purchasing training aids, equipment and other tools needed to coach golfers with disabilities,” Cutter explains.
He took his SNAG equipment to his VA and provided free instruction to some local veterans. He ran PGA HOPE through Green Meadow and will look to engage those veterans under the All Abilities Golf Academy umbrella in the new year. With Cutter’s community being close-knit, word-of-mouth has been driving his academy’s early success.
Cutter will be getting TPI-certified to work with a local chiropractor to help his students focus on their bodies as much as their golf swings. He will also teach people without disabilities through his academy and donate a percentage of the revenues back to his organization.
Cutter takes pride in opening golfers’ eyes to possibilities that hadn’t imagined before. He says it’s life-changing to teach a person to swing a golf club with one hand because that’s all they can do, even though they always assumed it had to be done with two. Whatever the disabilites or limitations experienced by his students, Ryan Cutter creates opportunities for them to enjoy the game, the camaraderie and the progress they make with every session on his lesson tee.
In addition to his local VA, Cutter is collaborating with other organizations, like the United States Adaptive Golf Alliance. He looks forward to additional fundraising to purchase a solo-rider golf cart that will help individuals with leg disabilities swing the golf club. If you’d like to contribute to Cutter’s efforts, log on to the All Abilities Golf Academy website, where you’ll see a donate button on the homepage.
