The PGA of America has been very involved with the Wounded Warriors Project and Peter has been making weekly trips up to Fort Belvoir to work with our fallen heroes (see article). There are about 50 soldiers they work with who can’t get enough of the game. They started with the basics a few months ago and yesterday everyone got to play a few holes with a PGA professional, giving them all on-course tips and instruction. Dad even had a veteran from the canine unit riding along in the cart with him (the dog was wearing a vest denoting all the tours and deployments he had been in and even had a purple heart for being wounded while in combat). Imagine Dad’s surprise when President Obama showed up unannounced and thanked him personally for his help with these heroes. Dad’s response to the commander-in-chief:  “Everyone keeps thanking me for doing this but it’s me who can’t thank these people enough.” WAY TO GO PRO!!!!

On a side note, please keep posted as Hodson Golf will be starting a fund drive to get these soldiers some decent equipment. Although there are about 50 of them that our local pros have been working with, they are basically using old donated clubs (mostly from lost & found bins). Hodson Golf is currently planning a weekend where we can pull up our rig and build these heroes some custom equipment based on their needs and/or injuries. Please reach out to me if you would be interested in donating some good, used equipment or making a monetary contribution to this worthy cause.