Less than 2% of registered golfers with the United States Golf Association have a 0.0 handicap or better, according to Golf Monthly, and Jack Bonifant is one of them. But the Sandy Spring native balks at the suggestion that he has always been good at golf.
“I think that’s a relative question,” he said. “I’ve certainly always tried to be. I’m just competitive by nature. I love the arena, and with my handicap, I was just able to compete in golf where other sports were exceptionally more difficult to play one-handed.”
That handicap is a partial paralysis of the left side of Bonifant’s body as a result of a fall when he was 6 weeks old. But it won’t stop the 36-year-old federal account executive, husband and father from competing in his fifth consecutive U.S. Adaptive Open, which highlights the world’s best golfers with disabilities.
Bonifant, who will compete in the coordination impairment category, is one of 96 qualifiers who will participate in the championship, which takes place at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville from Monday through Wednesday for the second straight year. Bonifant opened with a round of 75 on Monday, putting him inside the top 20 of all the men’s players in the field. Justin Nogay, who has known Bonifant for more than 25 years, said his friend is a model of resilience.
“He could still play with the rest of us, and we never thought of it as anything different than he was just a really good player,” said Nogay, who owns a golf training center in Charleston, South Carolina. “So it definitely doesn’t surprise me. He’s dealt with it really well.”
Bonifant’s journey began harrowingly. A babysitter carrying the 6-week-old Bonifant was descending a flight of stairs when the family dog scurried between her legs, causing a fall.
The babysitter broke her leg, but Bonifant landed on his head. After the baby was flown to an area hospital, doctors informed James and Debbie Bonifant that their son had fractured his skull and there was hemorrhaging in his brain.
Bonifant said doctors had to wire together his skull, and the operation left him with a 15-inch scar on his scalp. He went through physical and occupational therapy a couple times per week for the next decade to adjust to living with paralysis on the left side.
Bonifant said he can make a fist with his left hand, but has trouble controlling his fingers. His left leg is considerably shorter than the right, which has resulted in him walking with a limp and wearing a lift inside his left shoe.
Despite the physical limitations, Bonifant can grip golf clubs with both hands. For about ages 5 to 10 years, he wore an ankle and foot orthopedic brace to encourage him to get his heel to hit the ground first when he swung, and he continues to wear a brace on his left ankle for stability.
In 2008, Bonifant was named a Washington Post All-Metro golfer as a high school senior at Sherwood High in Sandy Spring. He joined the golf team at James Madison as a walk-on.
“I certainly have made the effort to max it out as much as I can physically,” he said. “I can hold things, but I don’t feel the left side of my body quite like I can feel much sensation on the right side.”
The disability has cost Bonifant some distance on the course, but he makes up for the difference with an adept short game and consistent putting. Nogay said what his friend can do on the course is remarkable.
“You want to try to put it in perspective, but you just can’t because you don’t know what it feels like in those shoes,” he said. “But just from my understanding a little more about the golf swing and his biomechanics, there are some limitations he has that definitely make it harder for him than the average Joe. He’s got to have a little better hands than most. He’s got to rely a little bit more on timing than most.”
Bonifant’s prowess at golf helps him to refuse to let the paralysis define him as a person.
“I think it makes me pretty stubborn, to be honest,” he said. “It is not easy. It’s something that I deal with every day. But I think things like this sometimes are a good distraction. I like to play golf. So I go play golf. But I also don’t take it for granted.”
Bonifant has fared well at previous U.S. Adaptive Opens. He placed seventh in 2022, 12th in 2023 and 11th in 2024, but missed the cut last summer.
Bonifant speculated next month’s championship might be his final one for a while because the tournament will move to Oregon for 2027 and 2028. So he is eager to play well at Woodmont.
“It being at Woodmont where I played as a junior, where I know a number of members, some of whom played at JMU a few years before me, it’s the U.S. Adaptive Open,” he said. “It’s a very cool experience and something that I’m going to be happy that I did decades from now.”
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