Twenty military veterans recently experienced the healing power of golf at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) is the flagship military program of PGA REACH, the charitable foundation of the PGA of America. The program introduces golf to veterans with disabilities to enhance their physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being.
“Golf is life,” said Marine Corps veteran Chris Nowak, the veteran and military liaison for PGA of America. “What I mean by that is it’s twofold. When you’re playing the game of golf, if you have a bad shot, you can’t be taking those thoughts into your next shot. Just like life. If you have a bad day, you’ve got to leave that day behind you before you go into the next step.”
The program introduces the game of golf through a developmental 6-8 week curriculum, taught 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.
Nowak said those who participated are Hope Ambassadors and advocate for the program across the country.
“They go out and recruit veterans, they help us grow the whole program and they help other veterans get hooked up with the program,” he explained.
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The week-long event, which was held Oct. 13-17 in connection with National Golf & Wellness Week, has been a staple at Congressional since 2017. It was recently announced that the iconic course will be the host of National Golf & Wellness Week through 2037.
Nowak said the program's goal is to get veterans to think about things differently.
“Golf is a frustrating sport, but you have to have a clear mind, you have to be singularly focused and totally be able to block things out, all the negative things you have in your head to clear your mind to strike the golf ball and get a good result,” he said.
Once veterans understand the mental portion of golf, they can apply that to other parts of their life, Nowak said. That means “learning how to think about something else; focusing on the moment of time that they are in right now and not being consumed with the past or the dramas they are dealing with now,” he said.
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The program also has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Veterans Affairs which enables recreational therapists to refer veterans to it as a form of therapy.
PGA Hope has 220 programs nationwide and impacts more than 7,500 veterans, Nowak said.
To learn more, go to www.pgahope.com.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.