PGA HOPE Tee’s Up 12th Season
The Professional Golfers' Association (PGA), is now in their 12th season of PGA HOPE, coaching local Veterans enrolled with Battle Creek VA about the sport of golf.
HOPE, which is an acronym for Helping Our Patriots Everywhere, introduces golf to Veterans and Active Duty Military to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being.
The first session of 2024 took place for Veterans enrolled at Battle Creek VA Medical Center on April 16th and included nearly 25 Veteran participants, offering them a unique opportunity to learn something new or to improve on their game.
“If you’re a Veteran and you’re interested in golf, this is a great first step where you going to get the instruction you need to start and we do this for golfers who’ve never touched a golf club, golfers who causally play, to Veterans who play on a regular basis and everybody can get something out of this program,” said Bob Bales, General Manager of Angels Crossing Golf Club and PGA HOPE instructor.
The program introduces the game of golf through a developmental 6-8 week curriculum, led by PGA Professionals trained in adaptive golf and military cultural competency. All programs are funded by PGA REACH and supplemented by PGA Section Foundations, so the cost of programming is free to all Veterans.
“This is one of my favorite times of year, and even though this is one of the busiest times for us as instructors, we carve the time out because we because this is important and we think we have something great to share with Veterans that we think will help,” said Bales.
For some Veterans, like former U.S. Navy Sailor Samuel Gray, it is about getting back into the swing of things and polishing up some old skills with new coaching.
“I’ve played before but this is all about improving my game and these are golf professionals out here and that can give us a lot more confidence in what they are saying and putting that instruction into practice to improve our game,” said Gray. “For me to be a part of this and get in and this is pretty special to be one of the Veterans to be in the program and I really like the positive attitude of the instructors who are helping us.”
Prior to each session, a PGA instructor fly’s in from Florida to train the local PGA coaches who will be working with Veterans. During that period, the local coaches learn how to work with Veterans who have physical such as prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, vision impairments, or emotional challenges and PTSD.
“We measure success more in what it does for the person versus what it does for the golfer because while it’s great to see somebody who starts out swinging at the ball, but the memorable ones are those who come up to some of us later and say that this helped save me when they were in a very bad place mentally,” said Bales. “That’s how we rally measure success, and so if just one Veteran changes their mind about doing a terrible thing because of this program, that is success.”
PGA HOPE provides two sessions each year with the first starting in the springtime and the second taking place during the fall. Between 50-60 Veterans from Battle Creek VA will have participated in PGA HOPE, which also results in Veterans connecting with other Veterans.
“One of the huge benefits of golf is the social aspect of it so even if it takes a person two hours to play a round of golf, that’s two hours where they’re walking or riding along with someone else and get to talking about life,” said Bales. “It's great if can get a Veteran to become a golfer and spend time playing different courses, but that’s not the end goal because the goal is to use this to help advance their lives.”
In 2024, PGA HOPE will impact over 17,000 Veterans and Active Duty Military nationwide, taught by over 3,000 PGA Professionals from around the country. There are currently more than 500 PGA HOPE programs across the country, hosted in all 50 States.
To learn more about PGA Hope or find a location near you, please visit: https://www.pgareach.org/services/military