ROCKVILLE, Md. — Anthony Netto is not a household name in golf.
But for a subset of players, he ranks with the likes of Ely Callaway and Karsten Solheim as a pioneering figure whose enterprising spirit has transformed the game.
Netto is the father of the VertaCat.
“I saw other people suffering in ways that I had,” he said. “And — no pun intended — I wasn’t going to take that sitting down.”
It was a muggy afternoon in this Maryland suburb about 40 minutes north of Washington, D.C., and Netto was speaking from a seated position on a cart path at Woodmont Country Club, where practice rounds were underway in the 2025 U.S. Adaptive Open. In the near distance, one of his creations rolled into view.
At a glance, the VertaCat looks like something you might find in a cart barn, with wheels, a seat and a steering mechanism. But it is more than a means of on-course transport. Its users depend on it to knock a ball around.
Netto first saw the need for something like it in 1991, after injuries he suffered while serving in the South African military left him paralyzed from the waist down. He was 33, and a lifelong golfer, having learned to play while caddying as a kid in Cape Town before going to compete on the mini-tours and then becoming certified instructor. The game was in his blood and he was keen to get back to it. But — again, no pun intended — “baby steps.” Netto had even broader goals in mind.
In his rehab ward, Netto was surrounded by other wounded soldiers, many with injuries similar to his. In their sedentary states, they’d been ravaged by bedsores. Other complications went beyond skin deep.
“Think about it, all your life, you’ve been the tough guy, the alpha,” Netto said. “And suddenly you’re someone who has to have his butt wiped. It takes a heavy toll.”
For reasons both physical and psychological, Netto knew that it was crucial to get his cohort up and around again.
“And if you’re trying to get someone off their butts and standing, there’s no better way to motivate them than by putting a golf ball in front of them,” he said.
It wouldn’t be easy. In Netto’s view, the right technology didn’t exist. He’d tried playing golf in a wheelchair, but wheelchairs weren’t much good on grass. Trying to swing a club from one was also hellish on the hips. In those days, some golfers relied on scooters with swivel seats that could raise their riders into a semi-tilted position. That was a good start, but Netto wanted more. He dreamed of something that could prop a player into full golf posture. But how, exactly, would it work?
The lightbulb moment came when Netto visited a wounded friend who was lying in a mechanical hospital bed that could raise on one end. When the bed lifted his friend’s upper body, Netto noticed the machinery behind it.
“I thought, that’s it,” he said. “Let’s get this thing on wheels.”
Netto contacted the Danish company that made the bed and began communicating with its engineers. A year-and-a-half of collaboration later, a prototype was ready, to be manufactured by a German prosthetics company. In 2000, the first product was released.
Netto branded it the Paragolfer, and billed it as an “all-terrain standing sports wheelchair,” though it called to mind a cross between a scooter and a modular cart, with three wheels for easy maneuvering, a seat that tilted fully upright, and straps that kept the rider’s lower body stable and secure.
Netto paid for the design and production out of his own pocket by selling shares of the military security firm he’d founded. He gave out the first 100 Paragolfers for free. Money wasn’t a concern until it became one. In 2009, Netto fell victim to financial fraud (long story short, the investment firm he used had entrusted the bulk of his portfolio to Bernie Madoff). A year later, strapped for cash, Netto founded the Stand Up and Play Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to giving “as many people as possible the gift of standing up.”
He sustains that organization through corporate sponsorships, private donations, charitable events and other fundraisers. But support of that kind only goes so far. Netto also runs a business, Stand Up USA, which, in addition to standing wheelchairs, specializes in adaptive golf therapy and accessible sports programs.
“I do whatever I can to keep this dream alive,” Netto said.
In 2023, Netto marked another milestone when he co-developed the next iteration of his adaptive cart, the VertaCat, which he describes as “the Paragolfer on steroids.” More easily adjustable than its predecessor, the VertaCat is powered by a stronger, longer-lasting battery that can propel the vehicle over steeper terrain and go 18 holes without the risk of conking out. Its wheels, like those of the Paragolfer, can roll on greens and through bunkers without damaging them.
The Paragolfer is far from obsolete. Around 700 remain in use around the world, along with nearly 200 VertaCats. The latter don’t come cheap. They retail for $29,300, though Netto pitches in through his foundation whenever he can.
“I don’t want cost to keep them from people who need them,” he said.
Married, with three adult children, Netto lives in Las Vegas but is often on the road, meeting with veterans’ groups and golf organizations, appearing in outing and exhibitions. At the 2019 World Long Drive Championships in Mesquite, Nev., he set a world record in the wheelchair category with a drive of 350 yards.
On Sunday at Woodmont Country Club, he was fresh off a redeye and had come straight to the course. Dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt in the sweltering weather, he roamed the property in a motorized chair with a small front wheel that he’d jury-rigged himself.
At this week’s U.S. Adaptive Open, a handful of players are using his adaptive carts. As Netto neared the 9th green, one of those golfers approached on a VertaCat.
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