Vail Veterans Program uses golf to help vets

PGA great Tom Watson visits Vail to help veterans

By Jim Bebbington

PGA Tour great Tom Watson stepped onto a driving range in Vail recently to help a veteran’s golf program.

Since 2004, the Vail Veterans Program has been providing outdoor therapeutic programs for wounded warriors from across the nation in Vail. The group has hosted 5,400 injured military service members and their families for programs in summer and winter. Under the slogan ‘Can Mountains Heal’ the organizations use nature and outdoor activities to help former military veterans reconnect to civilian life after their service.

The organization started a golf outreach program in 2012. Each year they host 14 service members for five days of golf at Beaver Creek, Red Sky Fazio, Red Sky Norman and Eagle Vail.

At this year’s program in August, as the veterans began their second day of the program, Watson visited and helped coach them.

“I’ve always tried to help people play better golf,” he said. “Here at the Vail Vets Program here, you get these vets out here that have varying skills. You know some are eight handicaps, some are 30 handicaps. But to give them a tip that will help just maybe one part of their game, they come away from it and say, “Yeah, it’s been a good day.” I want them all to feel like, “Yeah, I got something that I can depend upon the next time I play.”

Watson encouraged the players to see the game as a way to combine competition, exercise and the natural beauty of the courses themselves.

“They asked golfers, “What is the number one thing that you love about golf?,” he said. “The number one thing was the beauty of a golf course. And why would they say that? Because you’re out in nature. You’re out in a park. And it fills you up. And sometimes the game tears you down, but that walk in the park is invigorating for the soul. It’s nature, right? Look at the elk we just saw at the top of the ridge there.”

For more information on the Vail Veterans Program, visit their site here. 

Jim Bebbington is the Director of Content at Colorado AvidGolfer and can be reached at [email protected]

Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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