THANK YOU, PING !

I received the below e-mail from my friend Carole, who is a huge supporter of our military and is always on the lookout for people and stories that shed the best light on Americans Patriotism. 

Being anal on printing what I can verify, I found out the following.

·        The golf club manufacturer helps soldiers who have been severely wounded while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, offering them free golf clubs and lessons.
·        Ping is one of the gold sponsors of the Disabled Sports USA’s Wounded Warrior Disabled Sports Project.
·         Ping has partnered with PGA of America to offer golf lessons at five of the major military medical centers in the U.S. The format involves running an eight-week long course where wounded warriors receive instruction from PGA professionals who have been trained in adaptive teaching techniques. The soldiers who attend at least six of the training sessions and have a permanent severe disability receive the custom-built Ping golf clubs and a bag.

E-MAIL 

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 about his 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 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, whose products are made with pride here in America ( Arizona ), has the good judgment not to advertise this program. God Bless America and the game of golf. Thank you " PING "!!!

"May God Bless our Military!!!"

Source: Truth or Fiction

Snopes

The Truth: 

Ping is a manufacturer of high quality golf clubs in Phoenix, Arizona and a company spokesperson told TruthOrFiction.com that they donate about 50 full sets of golf clubs every year for the Wounded Warrior program.
 They also offer special rebates to members of military as a Thank You for their service.

updated 5/24/11