Phil Mickelson’s journey with Bunkers in Baghdad | The LIV Back

LIV Studios takes fans inside the incredible charity work that Bunkers to Baghdad provides to members of the U.S. military and the inside story of their partnership with LIV Golf’s Phil Mickelson and HyFlyers GC.

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Get my seven. Yeah. Seven. Could you see it on the seven? That’s true. My kids love golf. In the morning, we’re going to have some mini golf on the television. Uh the boys are going to grab their golf clubs and hit around. William, what are you grabbing up there? I’m getting this. You’re getting a wedge? Yeah. Okay. They’ll pick their favorite club, whether it’s a putter or a wedge. They don’t care. They will hit anything in this house. Yeah. Let me check out this weather. Okay. Check it out. Oh, wow. Very good. I’m Joe Hannah. I am the founder and president of Bunkers in Baghdad. So, Joey, are we going to package up all these clubs? Yeah. And then we’re going to put them in a box. And where are we going to ship them? To the We’re going to send them to the army. Yeah. Okay. Do you want to help us do that? Yeah. Okay, come on. Let’s do that. Bunkers in Baghdad was incorporated on Halloween in 2008. We’ve been around for 16 years. We have collected and shipped more than 16 million golf balls to our troops and veterans around the world to 84 countries in all 50 states. I’m good. It’s a labor of love for the family because it does take up so much time and he’s so busy already. But what he’s doing is just remarkable and seeing how people truly feel receiving that package is probably the most meaningful. Which club are you going to put in first, buds? I’m put seven. You want to put in a seven iron? William, what do you want to put in first? Putting a driver in. You want to put a driver in? Okay, here we go. I was watching 60 Minutes. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were taking place and they showed our troops hitting golf balls in the desert. And then I read an article by David Farad and Golf Magazine that said our troops favorite form of stress relief is hitting golf balls. And after reading that article, I said, “You know what? The least I can do is collect some golf balls and golf clubs and ship them overseas.” Okay, there we go. Clubs are ready. Good job, guys. And here we are. 16.6 6 million balls and 1.7 million clubs later. We would like to welcome in Joe Hannah. He is the founder and president of Bunkers in Baghdad. Honestly, I thought it would be like a year and it would just die out. But he just kept plugging away and next thing you know, I said 100 years from now, they’ll wonder why the heck there’s so many golf balls in the deserts in the Middle East. I don’t see any golf courses. There’s golf balls everywhere. The origin when you go back and think about it and what it is today, we’ve come a long way. The early days of bunkers was, you know, pickup truck and we would go to golf shows. I think a lot of folks were just like emptying out their garages and basement. And it really started so grassroots. I had an apartment so we had a small little basement. and people started dropping off golf clubs and golf balls. So, I started storing them in my uncle’s garage, my mom’s house just to kind of figure out what we were doing cuz it took off very quickly. Once we started getting donations in, once we were written about in the Buffalo News, we were asked to ring the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange. It was one of those forest gut moments where you’re like, “Wow, we took this very small idea in my apartment in a basement and now we’re on a national global stage.” And then from there, we took off even more. Welcome to Cloverbank Country Club, your host of the 2025 Bunkers in Baghdad event. The course is in wonderful conditions. You’re in for a treat today. This is our biggest event of the year. It’s an opportunity to spend time with our veterans and active duty military members who will be here today. We’ve been doing this for 16 years now. It’s just an opportunity to say thank you. There we go. Bingo. Wow. Hey, nice shot. He always looked at it as he didn’t serve, but this is one way that he can serve is to support those that do. And I think he’s probably had such a significant impact on so many he doesn’t even grasp that. Eric, how you hitting them? Great. You know, it’s a great day. Good weather, great company. Yep. Great company, good friends. I first heard about bunkers in Baghdad in 2010, almost 15 years ago today. My name is Eric Harrison. I am a US Army retired field artillery officer. I did three separate year-long tours in Iraq. life is um well I would say it would be fairly monotonous. That monotony can be very tough to deal with the same thing day after day. When I received the donation from Buckers and Baghdad, boxes and boxes of balls of clubs arrived and I received word from our mail room that I needed to send additional trucks to go pick up all this equipment. I remember just like when I was in the service, you know, you got a letter from home and it was like brightened your whole day. So imagine troops and you’re stationed and you’re getting golf balls decorated by kids, letters from kids asking how your day is, drawings. I mean, that type of stuff’s super touching. So Joe, you know, you have such a strong impact on so many people and have used the game of golf to help better their lives. That’s why we’re so proud to be helpful in any way. My dad served for 12 years in the military. It’s one of the reasons why I really love bunkers in Baghdad. To be able to see the impact that it’s having on men and women who are serving our country is very fulfilling. We were very fortunate to have the high flyers reach out to us last year. We did a phenomenal kids clinic. We had 40 military families come out where the highf flyers taught the students how to putt the ball. Noah, I’m Phil. Nice to meet you. So, we’ll start at one and what you’re going to notice when you go around, it’s going to break a little bit different. Good job, Noah. There’s one. Bunkers in Baghdad is so impressive because over 99% of the revenue and the donations that go into the program get to the actual people who need them. My dad serving is a great model for me just of uh self-sacrifice and I will do anything I can to help those who are serving today and who have served in the past. It makes me feel great to be a part of what what Joe’s done here. And obviously like I can’t put myself in their shoes and and understanding how difficult it is uh you know to be deployed overseas and the sacrifice that they’re making. To actually get the experience of seeing with these kids and see how passionate they are to write the letters to active duty military that are deployed and to kind of see the behind the scenes of it was very touching. And I think it’s doing what we want to do which is use golf for good and grow the game worldwide. And that’s what Bunkers and Bagghdad’s all about. Phil and the High Flyers have their YouTube channel as well through Live Golf. And when those videos air, we get a flood of requests. So I donate every bunker I’m in. Uh I don’t I donate a thousand, but I ask every guest to donate $100 every bunker that hit into bunkers and back. So thank you for for doing that. Thank you. Absolutely. The target audience in the YouTube videos is a lot younger and I want it to be in their minds the impact that the men and women who serve this country have on our freedoms and just to be aware of that cuz it’s our duty to show appreciation to those that do serve. A very important aspect of our charity is our bunkers buddies program. This is room 225 first grade. Everybody say hello. Hello. These kids are so energized. They’re so involved. They’re very excited about it. Like the least we can do is work with these schools and instill in them the importance of giving back and helping others. So, we’re gonna write some letters and draw some pictures and color some golf balls that we’re going to send to our troops who are overseas, the people who protect us every day. We’ve worked with over 200 schools across the country and the students continue to write letters. They continue to draw pictures and color golf balls. Kaylin, that is phenomenal. That looks beautiful. Thank you. We’ve been around long enough. We have had students who have started with us in grammar school, worked all the way through high school and college with us, and are now deployed overseas and us shipping them golf equipment. Thanks, Bunkers and Baghdad. The golf clubs work perfectly. Thank you for your support. Feedback from the military is what drives me. When I hear back from our troops, when I hear back from our veterans, when I hear them say, “Thank you for not forgetting about us, which is a wild concept if you think about it.” Dear Mr. Hannah, I wanted to commend you and your team for the absolutely wonderful work you are doing with the Bunkers in Baghdad endeavor. I believe you’re bringing great joy to many people’s lives. A great way to relieve a bit of stress and build on the camaraderie. Thanks for making our Sunday. Brigadier Australian Army General Simon Gold. June 1st, 2009. Long time. You know, I get a little emotional because I have a lot of folks I know who have been there. And uh and I know when you read those letters from family members and from troops, they’re not sending that without it being totally heartfelt and meaningful. This one’s from 2012. making a difference in their lives and a great stress reliever from being out. Very appreciative for everything we did and this is coming to us from Afghanistan. These men and women are deployed overseas. They’re doing so much for us. And then they’re sending me an email back or writing me a letter saying, “Thank you for not forgetting about us.” I’m like, “Wow, I have to help these people.” Now, what we have here are club donations that have come in over the last 10 days or so. They’ve come in from all across the United States. Our troops and veterans are so appreciative. It’s the least we can do. You know, our life here is so good. We have these three little kids. We have our cozy home. And then to receive a letter from a wife that is just so appreciative of just some golf clubs and golf balls. I can’t imagine being that wife. Dear Joe, my husband recently reached out to Bunkers in Baghdad requesting a donation of golf clubs. You responded and said you would send him a club. Ever since he has been like a kid waiting for Christmas morning, the club came in today and I can’t even begin to describe how happy he was. So for Joe to send that dad a package to give him some sort of entertainment or relief when he’s sacrificing so much for us, it’s pretty huge. The future for us is just to keep growing and try to impact more and more people because as men and women who serve the country become aware of the opportunity at clubs. There are more and more requests. As long as we continue to receive requests from our veterans and our troops, this charity will keep going. We get a volume of requests in every day. We can still help tens of thousands of troops and veterans. And if we could just support all these people, we’re doing a great job.