HOPE for Heroes was held for the first time on Monday, April 25 at Oxmoor Country Club in Louisville. A new event on the organization’s calendar designed to benefit PGA HOPE Kentucky, the event served its purpose but did far more than that in the process.

PGA HOPE has been a focal point of the Kentucky Golf Foundation for a couple of years now. Every year since its inception in the Commonwealth (2017), funding and resources have increased with each year as the reception and impact among its participants continues to grow.

This has been seen nationwide since its launch across the country nearly a decade ago. It may sometimes sound cliché to say “golf is saving lives,” but that’s exactly what this program has done. Those who have fought harder battles in more trying circumstances than anyone could ever imagine sometimes face an even harder battle when they return home: readjusting to “normal” life.

Anyone who’s ever played golf for a long stretch of time knows how impactful the sport can be, but no one can arguably vouch for that more than Veterans. Hundreds of testimonials have come in from men and women of the Armed Forces exclaiming how if it wasn’t for golf emerging in their post-service life, they may have committed suicide. They felt out of place. Or it seemed like they didn’t belong anywhere.

But PGA HOPE has been the place where those feelings come to a halt. Whether men and women have joined the free program with a buddy, a spouse, or by themselves, they met friends and got personalized coaching from a PGA Professional that provided joy one seldom finds during the good shots, the bad shots, and the time in between.

Hitting a perfect golf shot alone isn’t enough to erase the traumas of being in the middle of warfare. Sure, it can come help, but thanks to today’s technology it doesn’t matter if a person lost an arm and/or a leg overseas as it relates to playing golf. Because there is machinery that will allow them to put a golf club on a golf ball, the impetus of what the game is all about.

Okay seriously, how cool is this? Pretty incredible how technology allows for our wounded Veterans to continue enjoying golf and hit long, straight drives like this one. pic.twitter.com/vWgicUPNU1

— Golf House KY ⛳️🏠 (@GolfHouseKY) April 25, 2022

But that goes for anyone, regardless of if you have served or not. HOPE for Heroes brought together a lot of Veterans, but also plenty of folks who haven’t served. Thanks to the event’s format, every group was guaranteed to have at least one Veteran in each team. In many cases, the Veteran(s) came in as a stranger to their playing partners.

Over the course of 18 holes at Oxmoor, however, it was apparent that was all people needed to establish a bond with their teammates for the day. What may have started as polite handshakes at the beginning of the day with a stranger culminated with deep conversations about life or in-depth analysis over a certain shot they faced during the day. Among the comments this particular writer overheard following the round:

“He was such a cool guy to spend 5 hours with.”

“That was the most fun round I’ve ever had being paired up with a complete stranger.”

“I gained a whole new appreciation for what Veterans deal with after talking to him today.”

The folks who have bravely served the United States are owed many expressions of thanks, and participating in HOPE for Heroes as a non-Veteran doesn’t fill that debt. But whether the people who played at Oxmoor see it for themselves or not, the money and time they donated today will have a guaranteed impact on a Veteran. It could be for someone in Cadiz who will one day participate in the PGA HOPE Boots Randolph program. Maybe on somebody currently serving in the Marines away from home and will soon return to Kentucky and get pointed towards PGA HOPE Florence. Or maybe for the Veteran they played with today, who met a new friend and got to enjoy a comfortable spring day participating in a common bond.

Sure, there was only one technical winning team in today’s scramble. Every team came into the parking lot this morning wanting to walk away with that first-place prize and the grinding throughout the day, fist-bumps after a made putt, and high-fives after a dart thrown to within a foot of the hole represented that.

But it’s not often when you get to play in a scramble for a cause truly bigger than yourself and your team. Today’s scramble was truly about a whole country, and the men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting it. The event lived up to its namesake, providing HOPE for Heroes for those who have served, are serving or will serve.

To find out more about PGA HOPE Kentucky, click here.

Media Contact:
Ethan Fisher, PGA | Golf House Kentucky | efisher@kygolf.org | (502) 792-9703