Lulu Gribbin has a lot of drive — literally.
Just three months after she lost her left hand and right leg in a shark attack off the coast of Walton County, Florida, the Mountain Brook teen is “hitting bombs” on the driving range, and her inspirational story is getting noticed by top PGA tour pros.
The lulug.strong Instagram account, which the teen and her family have used to track her recovery from the June 7 attack, posted a video Thursday of Gribbin smacking a golf ball with only her right hand.
“Holy cow, look where that one ends up — over the bunker,” a man says in the video after Lulu’s successful swing. “Look at that — that was crushed.”
Lulu’s golf skills caught the eyes of two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and Jordan Spieth, who won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015 to go along with an Open Championship in 2017.
“Wowww,” Watson posted to the lulug.strong account, accompanied by a muscle emoji.
Spieth posted a collision emoji on the account.
Also on Thursday, the account shared a video of Lulu working on her golf swing in physical therapy with the caption, “Lulu putting in the work to get course ready. Who’s ready to play?”
In response to the post, Watson thanked Lulu “for being so inspirational.”
Lulu and 16-year-old McCray Faust, both Mountain Brook High School students, were on a mother-daughter trip at Seacrest Beach on Florida’s Gulf Coast June 7 when the teens were bitten while looking for sand dollars with their friends. Lulu’s twin sister, Ellie, was there as well and has describe what happened that day.
Lulu was critically injured, losing her left hand and her right leg above the knee. McCray sustained bite injuries to her lower leg and foot.
The shark attack happened just 90 minutes – and a few miles away – after 45-year-old Elisabeth Foley of Virginia was also critically injured in a separate attack.
