As anyone, who has played much golf in their life can attest to, golf is a sport, which can help you forget about your real-world problems for a while.
This may come in the form of having a really great day where you are hitting nearly every fairway and green in regulation and you have your putter going. For most of us hackers though, it is usually because trying to hit the dang little white ball is so frustrating sometimes, you just forget about everything else.
Either way, you are usually not thinking about the mortgage, your high cholesterol or the stress of your job for a while when you are on the course swinging a golf club.
The PGA and a local resident are taking the principles of golf and trying to use them to help veterans.
Since 2015, the PGA of America Reach Foundation has been doing what it can to help our men and women who are serving or have served in the military, who may find themselves in a dark place.
PGA HOPE stands for Helping Our Patriots Everywhere. It introduces and teaches golf to veterans and active-duty military to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being. It has served more than 65,000 veterans since 2015 with 624 program locations, according to pga.com.
Corbin resident Bob O’Neill first got involved in the program three years ago as a participant. He is now a PGA HOPE Ambassador helping raise awareness about the program and raising money for it.
“We are trying to prevent suicide and get them active and get their mind off things,” O’Neill said during a recent interview.
O’Neill served 12 years in the Kentucky National Guard. He also worked 24 years in federal law enforcement as a special agent for the U.S. Forest Service. He was assigned to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force out of London. He retired in 2021.
“We cater to all veterans. We try to find veterans, who are in a dark spot in their lives, and get them active in the game of golf,” he explained. “It is 100 percent free. We pay for everything. PGA Reach was paying 100 percent of everything. Now they are starting to scale back because we have gotten so big. Part of the job of ambassador is fundraising. We are trying to raise 35 percent of what we pay out for the year.”
The program caters to all veterans, including amputees and paraplegics.
“We have some mobility issue carts. If people are paralyzed, we have golf carts that will stand up and rotate and let them hit a golf ball,” he said.
In 2023, O’Neill became a participant and went to Man O’War Golf for seven consecutive weeks where he took 90-minute golf lessons once a week.
“I thought it was just free golf lessons, then I started looking into it and found out what all they do for veterans. I really got involved in it, and became an ambassador last year with the program,” O’Neill explained.
There are approximately 100 ambassadors nationwide. O’Neill is one of three ambassadors in Kentucky.
O’Neill said there are 12 PGA HOPE chapters in Kentucky with the closest one being in Richmond at Gibson Bay Golf Course. Efforts are being made to add another chapter in this part of the state in Pineville.
Everyone, who completes the training each year, can participate in qualifying golf tournaments for the state HOPE Cup, which O’Neill had the opportunity to do in 2024.
It consists of a five-person team, which is composed of four veterans and one golf pro, which is typically one of the people giving the lessons.
“Our team was fortunate enough to win the HOPE Cup, so we competed against the other states in the Secretary’s Cup,” he said.
PGA Hope puts on quarterly outings and fundraisers.
“We bring along 50 to 75 veterans once a quarter and let them play a golf course and we will pay for everything and feed them,” O’Neill said. “We are trying to get that camaraderie back and get them back active.”
Man O’War Golf conducts three PGA HOPE sessions per year, which graduates approximately 15 veterans per session. To graduate, veterans must complete four of the six weeks to get a graduate card.
The golf pros, who conduct the lessons, must complete a PGA HOPE course where they learn about veterans, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injuries and things of that nature.
O’Neill said the program helps some veterans tremendously.
The program got a boost earlier this year.
86th State Representative Tom O’Dell Smith, who serves Knox County and a portion of Laurel County, was a co-sponsor of HB 436 during the 2026 Kentucky General Assembly.
The bill allows PGA HOPE graduates and one guest to use golf courses at Kentucky state parks for only the cost of the golf cart rental fee. The bill was passed unanimously in both the house and senate and was signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear on April 7.
It went into effect July 1
O’Neill noted this means PGA HOPE graduates can play golf for approximately $20 as opposed to $60 at state park courses.
Kentucky’s PGA HOPE program has been ongoing for approximately five years, and it has approximately 200 graduates.
To find out more information about the PGA HOPE program, go to https://www.pgareach.org/pgahope.
If you have some local golf news you want to share, such as upcoming scrambles or recent accomplishments of local high school golfers, then e-mail me at mwhite@corbinnewsjournal.com. I may include the information in a future column.
In next week’s Par for the Course column, find out about some of the accomplishments of Corbin High School golfers this summer and about a couple of upcoming scrambles in the area.
