YOUNGSTOWN, N.Y. [WKBW] — When you think of golf, you don't think of a way to help veterans fight some of their toughest battles, but that's what happening with the PGA HOPE program in Western New York. HOPE is an acronym for Helping Our Patriots Everywhere, which is what the program has aimed to do with the game of golf.
"It saves lives, it changes lives," PGA HOPE ambassador Justin Weglinski said. "I mean just for myself, it completely changed my life.”
PGA HOPE is a program that teaches golf to veterans to help combat post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. Weglinski, who served in the United States Army, participated in the program before becoming an ambassador. Ambassadors help lead lessons on the course while sharing their stories in an effort to help their fellow veterans.
"Getting out on the golf course I noticed the first guy, he’s jittery, he’s nervous, he can’t fathom the stress and I get up there and I feel the same way, which normally isn’t something that people can relate to," Weglinski added.
Kenmore native Scott Smalter served in the United States Navy before returning home to Western New York. After self-medicating, the PGA HOPE program was recommended to Smalter from the Buffalo VA Hospital as a way of getting his life back on track.
"With PGA HOPE, it’s the comradery, it’s passing on my knowledge and my journey to others to see them get past what they might be going through and see the other side of things," Smalter said. "Once veterans get out here and see what it’s all about, it doesn’t take much to have them come out here again."
Smalter and Weglinski are two of the three PGA HOPE ambassadors for the Western New York section, covering Buffalo, Rochester, and Northwest Pennsylvania. Ambassadors and local PGA professionals lead the sessions in the Buffalo area at Glen Oak Golf Course in Amherst and Niagara Frontier Golf Club in Youngstown. Veterans are paired with instructors who teach them everything they need to know about the game.
"Getting a chance to give back to the veterans who have given up so much for us, I can’t put into words how much that means," PGA professional Matt Clark said. "I can feel myself just getting choked up talking about it."
"It's cliche, but you're going to get a lot of PGA HOPE saved my life [because] in another three or four months I would’ve succumbed to my depression or addiction or something like that," Smalter added. "I’ve heard that from people I know on a direct level six or seven times."
