Did a reality TV star attack a Myrtle Beach group for allowing disabled athletes to play?

A Myrtle Beach-based golf organization is firing back after a long-drive athlete from a competing group mocked it as “an off-brand Kmart version” and made tasteless, insensitive comments about its structure, notably having divisions for players with disabilities, known as adaptive players.

In a Dec. 4 video posted to YouTube that has since been taken down, Wold Long Drive athlete and former reality television star Bobby Ray criticized the Ultimate Long Drive league for having too many divisions and “world champions” but did so in part by sarcastically deriding it for having “the one arm divisions and the IQs below 100 division.”

The comments angered ULD founder Jeff Gilder, who is based in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and reposted the clip on Facebook. Ray’s remarks also led to calls from adaptive players for him to learn the difficulties of adaptive golf. Reached by The Sun News, Ray declined an interview request, saying, “No thank you!”

Ray is a former reality television star who appeared on the third season of Fox’s Paradise Hotel, a show where contestants won by staying in the hotel as long as possible by forming couples. Ray won the contest and a quarter of a million dollars. With more than 27 thousand followers on Instagram, Ray is 18th in World Long Drive’s Open Division.

Both World Long Drive, also known as WLD, and Ultimate Long Drive, known as ULD, are two of the most prominent leagues in the sport of long drive. The ULD and WLD have professional men’s open, women’s, senior and amateur divisions, but ULD also has age-based divisions from 7 and under up for boys and girls to 75 plus. ULD has between 47 to 50 total divisions and also provides divisions for players with disabilities, known as adaptive players and veterans.

WLD is older than ULD, having started in 1976, but in June 2020, WLD’s season was canceled before returning to competition this year. ULD never ceased holding events, and ULD Founder, President, and CEO Jeff Gilder added players have competed in both long-drive leagues.

In the video where Ray disparaged the ULD, Kyle Berkshire, the No. 1 World Long Drive competitor in the world, also appeared, although he did not comment on divisions for adaptive players. World Long Drive announcer Bobby Bradley, a former first-round pick in the 1999 MLB Draft and another video participant, appeared to say his son would enter the seven and under division ULD provides.

Adaptive golfers react to Ray’s comments

The video and Ray’s remarks generated outrage almost immediately. A YouTube commenter noted Ray’s statement, and Gilder shared Ray’s statement on Facebook.

“That’s why when this guy said what he said, it hit home so much. I feel like he offended people who are less fortunate, especially our military, and people playing with disabilities and actually call them out.” Gilder said in an interview with The Sun News. “When you rise to the top of any sport you’re representative of other people that want to aspire to that ... I don’t know if that’s how he feels. I know (Ray) does events for charity events, and it seemed to be talking down to the people that those charity events would be helping.”

ULD competitors also expressed frustration with Ray’s comments. Gianna Rojas, known as the “one-handed lady golfer,” competes in ULD, is a three-time division winner and has been featured by the PGA. Rojas, born without fingers on her left hand, holds demonstrations to show people how to play adaptive golf.

“Here’s exactly what happens. I blindfold you, you stand over the ball, you go ‘I’m never going to hit that ball’ in your head. That’s what we’re thinking, and that’s what other people think of us,” Rojas said in an interview with The Sun News. “Even if you move that ball three feet, you win the Masters because you didn’t think you could in the first place.”

Rojas added she resembles Bobby Ray’s remark about one-armed golfers and wanted to learn how adaptive players play, inviting him to the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, Jan. 23-26.

“He’s a bully ... And I want to educate him what he just said,” she said.

Barbara O’Grady’s son, Henry O’Grady, competes in Ultimate Long Drive. Henry, a South Carolina native known as “The Machine,” competes in the ULD’s amateur adaptive division, as he has Down syndrome, autism and was born with a congenital heart defect.

Henry O’Grady is under 5 feet tall but routinely hits long drives of more than 200 yards and is an amateur adaptive division world champion.

“(Henry’s) really your driving range rat; he wants to be on the driving range every day,” O’Grady said. “Long drive is actually made for somebody like Henry because he gets to kill that ball.”

O’Grady said she found Bobby Ray’s comments “infuriating.”

“What does this gentleman want Henry to do? Does he want Henry not to have any access to a sport that he’s passionate about?” Barbara O’Grady said in an interview with The Sun News. “I hate to sit down and throw out the term privilege because it’s such a heated word, but (Bobby Ray) has not faced these disabilities, and I would not wish this on him, but you never know in life when you might become disabled.”

How did ULD start in Myrtle Beach, SC?

The ULD origins began in 2017 in Myrtle Beach when Gilder helped promote a championship for wounded veterans and players with disabilities, he added.

Gilder said the league offers different divisions for athletes from all walks of life to compete.

“We felt like the sport should be accessible to everyone, regardless of your age, your playing ability. As your body ages, a 55-year-old can’t compete with a 35-year-old, and we found out that a 75-year-old doesn’t want to compete with a 65-year-old; there are big differences in their bodies.” Gilder said in an interview with The Sun News.

Rojas, who learned golf later in life, said having the ULD gives adaptive golfers a place to compete.

“They deserve to have a competitive pathway, just as equal and as much,” Rojas said. “So whether they are the world’s ranked one-arm golfer, or whether the world ranked able-bodied golfer, they still deserve that recognition. They earned it.”

Barbara O’Grady agreed.

“I am tremendously thrilled for Henry to be able to showcase his talents. Why should he be kept in a house and not have access?” She asked. “He loves it more than anything else in the world.”

ULD has sanctioned professional and amateur leagues throughout the country and abroad. The federation has held its world championship at Barefoot Resort before and will hold its 2024 match-up at the Par Tee Golf Center in West Columbia, S.C., in October.

ULD’s Coastal Carolinas League held its first event of the season Dec. 9 in Longs.