Golf...More Than Just a Game

We have been facing an epidemic long before any of us ever heard of the Coronavirus. We have a mental health crisis in this country, and our nations veterans have not been spared. Today, 1 out of 4?adults today live through some sort of mental health challenge.?Tragically, 130 of those people take their own life every single day. That number alone is staggering, but while veterans make up less than 5% of our county’s population, they make up over 10% of the daily suicides. Our nations warriors put themselves in harm’s way on our behalf and their mental health?pays?a long-term toll because of it.??

One of the best tools we?have to?combat this mental health epidemic is not a pill or vaccine, but as?simple as getting outside with each other.?That’s?right. If you take a little sun, fresh air and add a smile and these challenges can begin to be mitigated. Golf courses have quickly become an integral part of most park departments?in a post covid world, and their importance extends far beyond just that.??

Regardless of if it is spending an hour at the driving range or 5 hours playing on a course, it allows the veterans to?open up, develop peer mentoring groups that result in connections outside of the game of golf.?Next thing you know they are calling each other to schedule the next round, and then just calling to check in. It also gives them the opportunity to be competitive against themselves, diagnose a problem, and then develop a solution to resolve that problem. Golf has a way of forcing veterans to take life less seriously and is a constant battle within our selves. It forces us to let go of what just happened and focus on what is in the present. Reminding them that one bad shot?doesn’t?mean the next shot will be bad. When you learn to let go of a shot, you can learn to let go of other challenges in our everyday lives. This?isn’t?just anecdotal observations, but?rather backed?up by peer reviewed research.??

The challenge with golf is that it can be intimidating for even our hardest of warriors.???The large, perfectly manicured?course, dress codes, membership requirements, green and cart fees, 130-page USGA rule book, the pro shop fully stocked with expensive clubs, training aids?you’ve?never seen before and a wide variety of styles and brands of golf balls.??

Thankfully, nonprofit organizations like?North Texas PGA?and?North Texas Warrior Golf Association?partner with many of these local courses and go out of their way to?eliminate?those factors to get veterans on the course for absolutely free.?Through community donations and support they engage veterans, teaching them the game of golf from the ground up, help them gain therapy though the sport, and give them a skill can use for decades to come.??

These programs often depend on municipal courses to bring this resource to veterans. Municipal courses do not just benefit veterans, but they bring access to this game to everyone. On average in DFW, to join a private club you are looking at more than $3,000 A YEAR for just one membership.?Even privately held courses that are open to the public are more expensive than the majority of your municipal courses.?

Municipal golf courses are in fact critical to ensuring this therapeutic outlet remains available for everyone. Not only that, but how many future Phil Mickelson or Rickie Flower, both who got started on public courses, would we deny if we privatized every course. Not to mention the benefit they bring to making the game accessible to everyone. Private courses have no incentive to make the game more accessible, and thus closing off an important demographic in our society.?

As many of our local governments begin to evaluate city budgets over the next couple weeks, limited revenue generating departments like Parks and Recreation / municipal golf courses are often the first to get cut or pushed to privatize.?They get pushed aside as fluff, nice to have amenities and the private sector would handle this if the residents really wanted it.?

Privatizing would likely cut off access to golf and the benefits that are?provided to?civilians and veterans alike. The private sector goal is to maximize profit for its shareholders, with little regard to the critical role something might play in community resiliency. Cutting these budgets today is only going to increase?all of?our own costs down the road.??We must continue to urge our local government to make the items priorities not because they are nice amenities, but because they play unique and pivotal roles in our physical and mental health as a community.?