From a Ukrainian Orphanage to the PGA, Alex Fourie Is Changing Lives Through Golf

Mark White | The Mark White Show

Birmingham, Alabama - When Alex Fourie steps onto a golf course, he carries more than a club. He carries a story that began far from fairways and scorecards.

Born in Ukraine in 1992, Fourie spent his first seven years in orphanages, fighting daily just to survive. Born with one arm and a cleft lip and palate, he faced challenges few can imagine. Doctors later connected his conditions to radiation exposure near Chernobyl.

“Just staying alive was the fight,” Fourie said. “Keeping my head above water.”

Growing up in post-Soviet Ukraine, children with disabilities were often treated as burdens rather than blessings. Fourie remembers being marginalized and devalued simply because of how he was born. “The mindset was that if you had a disability, you were useless to society,” he said. “They didn’t think you mattered.”

Everything changed just before his seventh birthday when he was adopted and brought to the United States. His first stops were McDonald’s and Walmart. “I loved America immediately,” he laughed.

More importantly, he found something he had never known before. A father.

Within his first week in America, his adoptive dad placed a golf club in his hand. At first, it was simply time together. In Ukraine, Fourie had grown up without male role models.

“I just wanted to do what my dad did,” he said. “Fishing. Golfing. Everything.”

Golf did not come easily. He excelled quickly in soccer and football, even becoming a high school kicker, but golf required patience and persistence. Over time, the challenge became the appeal.

“I loved working hard and seeing results,” Fourie said. “Sports taught me teamwork, how to win together and lose together. That shaped my life.”

Those lessons followed him through college, where he fully committed to golf. He discovered the world of adaptive competition and found a place where ability mattered more than appearance.

Today, Fourie is one of the top one-armed golfers in the country. He has competed in multiple U.S. Adaptive Opens and won major tournaments across North America.

In 2024, he made history as the first PGA professional with a disability hired as a head professional. “It didn’t feel heavy,” he said. “It felt like confirmation. Exactly where I was supposed to be.”

Fourie does not see his achievements as personal trophies. He sees them as open doors for others. “I want adaptive players to see a future in this industry,” he said. “Not just to play, but to lead.”

That mindset led him to found Single Hand Golf, a nonprofit focused on introducing children with adaptive needs to the game. While many programs exist for wounded veterans and adults, Fourie saw a major gap for youth. “There were almost no clinics for kids with disabilities,” he said. “If I had that growing up, I would have found golf much earlier.”

His goal is not just to teach swings, but to build confidence.

“The first thing is fun,” he said. “If they’re not smiling, we change something. One good shot in the first ten minutes can change everything.”

Through his clinics, Fourie creates spaces where children with similar challenges can support one another, compete together, and learn how to handle both victory and defeat with sportsmanship.

The impact extends far beyond the course.

One of his earliest students, a young one-armed golfer named Mac, stayed with the game. Years later, the two now compete in the same adaptive tournaments.

“That’s special to me,” Fourie said. “That’s why this matters.”

Fourie’s heart for service also reaches back to his homeland. Since the war in Ukraine began, he has helped raise more than $130,000 to assist orphaned children displaced by the conflict. Working with Hope Now Ministries, he has helped relocate nearly 4,000 orphans to safety, even helping fund bulletproof transport vehicles. “I can’t imagine being an orphan in a war zone,” he said. “That’s personal to me.”

Despite growing recognition, Fourie says adaptive athletes are still misunderstood. “People think we’ll slow the course down,” he said. “But there are elite adaptive golfers who could compete with anyone.”

His own dream is to one day qualify for a PGA Championship, not for personal glory, but to further shift perceptions. “It would be huge for adaptive golf,” he said.

Fourie recently visited Bob Sykes Bar B Q in Bessemer with his father, a Birmingham minister. A photo shared online caught the attention of The Mark White Show, leading to this conversation.

For Fourie, community support is essential. “Local businesses using their platform to share stories like this makes a real difference,” he said.

He encourages anyone, golfer or not, to look for ways to serve. “You don’t have to be perfect to make an impact,” he said. “Just be willing.”

Fourie says success is measured not in trophies, but in transformed lives. “When I lay my head down at night, I want to know the day mattered.”

From an orphanage in Ukraine to PGA milestones and a mission changing lives, Alex Fourie is living proof that challenges do not define us. What we do with them does.

To learn more or support his work, visit singlehandgolf.com.