Veteran golfers tee it up at Battle Creek

The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) is now in its 12th season of PGA HOPE, coaching local Veterans enrolled with VA Battle Creek Health Care about the sport. HOPE, 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 on April 16 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’re going to get the instruction you need to start. We do this for golfers who’ve never touched a golf club, golfers who causally play, to Veterans who play on a regular basis. Everybody can get something out of this program,” said Bob Bales, general manager of Angels Crossing Golf Club and a PGA HOPE instructor.

“One of my favorite times of the year.”

The program introduces the game of golf through a developmental six- to eight- week curriculum, led by PGA professionals who are 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. Even though this is one of the busiest times for us as instructors, we carve the time out because we think 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 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. That can give us a lot more confidence in what they are saying and putting that instruction into practice to improve our game. For me to be a part of 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,” Gray said.

Prior to each session, a PGA instructor flies 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 considerations, such as prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, vision impairments or emotional challenges and PTSD.

“This helped save me when I was in a very bad place.”

“We measure success more in what it does for the person versus what it does for the golfer. While it’s great to see somebody who starts out swinging at the ball, the memorable ones are those who come up to us and say that ‘this helped save me’ when they were in a very bad place mentally,” said Bales. “That’s how we really measure success. So, if just one Veteran changes their mind because of this program, that is success.”

PGA HOPE provides two sessions each year, with the first starting in the spring and the second taking place during the fall. Between 50 to 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.

Learn more about PGA Hope or find a location near you.