Foundation offers free golf training and equipment for veterans

RIVERSIDE, Iowa (KCRG) – Golf for Injured Veterans Everywhere, or the GIVE Foundation, has helped injured and disabled veterans learn to pay golf for nearly 20 years.

The program offers a five-week training with PGA professional instructors for veterans and a partner – along with free golf equipment and free or reduced-price access to golf courses like Blue Top Ridge in Riverside.

The organization was founded in 2007 by World War II veteran Lou King with help from the owners of Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, Dan and Bobby Kehl.

Now, the nonprofit continues to grow and provide a place for healing and support to those who served.

Veteran Kevin Willis, a graduate of the program who now volunteers at GIVE events, says military service makes you part of a brotherhood.

Willis served in the Army and lead a crew of soldiers as a staff sergeant. He was stationed in Saudi Arabia and Germany throughout the 1990s until neck and back injuries put him on the sideline.

“Pretty hard to make that rank and have my own vehicle and have it all come crumbling down in one day,” said Willis. “It was pretty hard being told that you can’t do your job anymore.”

After a move to Eastern Iowa, his wife’s coworker at the Veteran’s Affairs offices in Iowa City told him about the GIVE Foundation.

Willis went through the training program in the summer of 2021 and began volunteering in 2023.

“Seeing someone’s face when you hand them a bag of golf clubs that’s theirs, and you’re teaching them how to play and how to use it, it makes you feel like, ‘okay, I just did something for one of my brothers,’” said Willis.

Willis spoke to the sense of unity established both in the military and continued in the GIVE program – saying it is easier to talk about the experiences with fellow servicemembers.

“We may have met five seconds ago, but we’ve known each other forever,” said Willis.

Program members can play for free at courses like Blue Top Ridge and Lacoma Golf Club in East Dubuque.

“Still today, I play this course, and I’m like, ‘really, they’re letting me do this for free?’” said Willis. “You know, it’s just, wow. So coming back out and volunteering to help was a no-brainer for me.”

Mike Armes is an Army veteran who served as a military policeman in places like Thailand and now teaches other veterans in his role as GIVE’s lead instructor.

“There’s an old saying that ‘all gave some and some gave all.’ Every one of these veterans gave something, and they’re all disabled in one way or another,” said Armes. “We try to help them with whatever disability they have to get the enjoyment of golf, get that exercise.”

Armes emphasized the rewarding feeling he gets from helping fellow servicemembers learn about the game – across all levels of physical ability.

“I’ve instructed quad amputees, paralyzed, blind, all of that, and it’s, it’s such a joy, especially that first time they actually hit the golf ball and they feel it was right, and they see it fly, and the look on their face pays everything to me,” said Armes.

Participants bring their spouses and grandkids to GIVE trainings and events to have another golf buddy and source of support.

Each summer, the organization hosts tournaments at Blue Top Ridge for veteran participants and donors. The organization serves veterans in the Iowa City, Des Moines and Sioux City VA regions.

According to the organization, Iowa’s GIVE program inspired the PGA’s Helping Our Patriots Everywhere (HOPE) program – which provides golf training and opportunities for veterans nationwide.

To those veterans, the program is more than a chance to get out on the green – it’s a time to bond.

“Veterans around veterans will let their hair down a little bit,” said Armes. “But there are those that still don’t. You hear the stories of especially the World War II veterans… (former GIVE lead instructor) Sergeant Major Dickerson was a military man, but his father never talked to him about being in World War II.”

Armes and Willis both emphasized that GIVE provides an opportunity for veterans to connect and relax.

“Honestly, I mean we joke about it here, it’s a therapy session with a little bit of golf thrown in,” said Willis.

If you’d like to donate to GIVE or get involved, you can check out the website here.