LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Hero is a four-letter word — As is the word “golf.”
But Tennye Ohr has spent her life making that sport a little less frustrating for as many golfers as possible.
“Everybody wants to hit it further, right?” asks the veteran golf professional. “And so (we’re) trying to find an ability for them to hit it a little further.”
Ohr and other pros at Man O’ War Golf Center are among the few in the Commonwealth and in the nation who have signed up for a new program. PGA Hope gives golf lessons to retired veterans at no charge.
“It’s approved through the VA, so it’s a working arrangement with the PGA of America and the Veterans Association,” Ohr explains. “We have to go through an 8-hour certification class, particularly if we’re dealing with how to help amputees or maybe people in wheelchairs who wanted to learn how to play golf.”
It’s the first year that a Lexington facility is in the program, and the second session is now underway. A couple dozen vets are hoping to make this hobby a little less stressful, and hopefully, their days on the course will be filled with fewer of those other four-letter words.
Do the exchange on the driving range and the putting green get a little colorful at times?
“It can get salty sometimes!” Ohr admits with a laugh. “I mean, within a nice way!”
“They were talking about it down at the VA center, and I decided, why not?" It might help my game a little bit 'cause it’s not too good right now,” says retired Navy veteran Earl Phillips. “There was a lot of gratitude for us helping them, and every one of them picked up something new for them, and they didn’t realize how much they could learn, you know?”
Tom Lundy’s goals are simple. “Just a little better, just a little bit better. Just learn what I’m doing wrong. They seem to be awfully good teachers and instructors. It’s just a good feeling to be here,” says the retired Air Force veteran.
“You learn to find the ones that cut up and do that, and they want to learn, and then there’s the serious ones that you stay within yourself,” says Ohr. “Particularly if they’re a general or something!”
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