Subject: THANK YOU, PING
This isn't a joke or cartoon; just
something interesting to know...you may want to forward this on to
others.
On Monday, I played the Disney, Lake
Buena Vista course. As usual the starters matched me with three other
players. After a few holes we began to get to know each other a bit. One
fellow was rather young and had his wife riding along in the golf cart
with him. I noticed that his golf bag had his name on it and after
closer inspection, it also said "wounded war veterans". When I had my
first chance to chat with him I asked him about the bag. His response
was simply that it was a gift. I then asked if he was wounded and he
said yes. When I asked more abouthis injury, his response was "I'd
rather not talk about it, sir".
Over a few holes I learned that he had
spent the last 15 months in an army rehabilitation hospital in San
Antonio Texas . His wife moved there to be with him and he was released
from the hospital in September. He was a rather quiet fellow; however,
he did say that he wanted to get good at golf. We had a nice round and
as we became a bit more familiar I asked him about the a brand new set
of Ping woods and irons he was playing. Some looked like they had never
been hit. His response was simple. He said that this round was the first
full round he had played with these clubs.
Later in the round he told me the
following. As part of the discharge process from the rehabilitation
hospital, Ping comes in and provides three days of golf instruction,
followed by club fitting. Upon discharge from the hospital, Ping gives
each of the discharged veterans, generally about 40 soldiers, a brand
new set of custom fitted clubs along with the impressive golf bags.
The fellow I met was named Ben Woods
and he looked me in the eye and said that being fitted for those clubs
was one of the best things that ever happened to him and he was
determined to learn to play golf well enough to deserve the gift Ping
had given him. Ben is now out of the service, medically discharged just
a month ago. He is as fine a young man as you would ever want to meet.
Ping has the good judgment not to
advertise this program. God Bless
America and the game of golf.
