Playing golf can be frustrating and rewarding. But it can also get your mind off of things and be therapeutic – and that part of the game is helping some of our soldiers returning from war.
The Salute Military Golf Association gives any combat-injured soldier the opportunity to take part in learning the game at various golf courses throughout the country, including at the Brookhaven Golf Club in Greenfield through the Wounded Warrior Golf Training Program.
Brookhaven Golf Club is also the site for this year’s SMGA NY Wounded Warrior Golf Tournament to be held on Saturday, June 30, at 10 a.m. The tournament is open to the public and will be a scramble format. Registration is$65 per golfer.
Frank Dorchak, 75, a Navy veteran and the regional manager for the New York Chapter of the Salute Military Golf Association, brought the training program to the state three years ago. He’s been golfing since 1989 and felt it was something he could do for returning soldiers.
“They were football and baseball stars in high school and college, they come back missing two arms, legs, hands, faces disfigured. It just blew my mind,” he said.
Funds raised from the tournament will help teach soldiers who have lost a limb or suffered post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury to play golf at free clinics. The Albany/Saratoga Submarine Veterans andthe U.S. Marine Corp League of Ballston Spa, through the Salute Military GolfAssociation, are sponsoring the tournament.
The program’s mission is to “provide rehabilitative golf experiences for combat-wounded veterans in an effort to improve the quality of life for these American heroes.” SMGA was founded in 2007 by Jim Estes, who is the director of instruction at Olney Golf Park in Olney, Md.
“I wish all the wounded soldiers knew about this … I think it’s an awesome program,” said Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Montgomery of Fort Drum.
Montgomery, 25 never thought he’d be playing golf. Football was his game in high school and he was planning on attending college to pursue that sport. Then came 9/11, and his calling to serve.
Last April, Montgomery sustained a traumatic brain injury as well as injuries to his back and right shoulder in an explosion in Afghanistan. He has since discovered the golf program and has taken part inan eight-week course at Fort Drum, learning the game inside and out.
He advises anybody playing golf to practice and said, “When you make a bad shot just forget about it and work on your next shot. If you think about a bad shot, it’ll completely ruin your round. … You just have to clear your mind.”
Montgomery has participated in many tournaments and even won a few, and plans on attending the Golf Academy in Myrtle Beach, S.C. to become a PGA teaching professional.
“Just being able to get out there and take my mind off of everything else, just worrying about my next shot helps me a lot to kind of get over the PTSD and helps me practice using my memory,” he said.
Clinics in the Fort Drum area are helping to get the word out about Albany area clinics that are available through certified instructors like Kevin Canale at Brookhaven Golf Club.
“I thought it was great. I’ve gone through other training, how to teach the handicapped and the physically challenged,”Canale said. “Not only did it help me and teach me a few new things…this was about learning how to deal with different types of limitations and abilities. I’m hoping that this tournament will generate the interest that we’re looking for.”
He added that he’ll spend as much time as needed to get wounded warriors “comfortable to get them out and playing on their own.”
Over 800 soldiers have participated in the program so far. That interest is a testament to its effectiveness, Dorchak said.
“Every one of them will say that golf has helped them recuperate a lot quicker than anything else they would have done in physical therapy,” he said. “In the combat zone, what do you have? You have dust, smoke, sand and smells getting all around you with brown and grey. What do you have on a golf course? The green grass, birds singing … white clouds and blue sky.”
There is no cost to the wounded warriors and they are given a set of clubs and a green jacket upon completion of the program.
For more information on the Salute Military Golf Association or the upcoming tournament, visit smga-ny.org.
