Printer Friendly Page

IOWA CITY DISABLED VETERANS GET NEW GOLF PROGRAM

-- New partnership between the Blue Top Ridge at Riverside

golf course and the Iowa PGA is intended to improve the mental,

social, physical and emotional well-being of veterans.

 

 

Story here...  http://www.press-citizen.
com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200
70714/NEWS01/707140320/1079

Story below:

-------------------------

Golf program will help vets

By Iowa City Press-Citizen

Injured and disabled veterans soon will get the opportunity to develop their swing on the area's newest golf course.

Thanks to a new partnership between the Blue Top Ridge at Riverside golf course, the Iowa PGA and the VA Iowa City Health Care System, the Iowa Veterans for Golf four-part program is intended to improve the mental, social, physical and emotional well-being for veterans served by the medical center.

The program is in the process of identifying veterans who will be a good fit, VA spokesman Kirt Sickels said.

The four-part program will start with PGA-taught basics of the game, including scoring and technique.

Next will be the swing phase, where PGA representatives will work with the veterans in a classroom setting to see how their injury or disability affects their swing, and finding the adaptive equipment or changes necessary for them to be successful.

Third, the veterans will make their way out to the driving range to work on hitting the ball.

Finally, the veterans will get to play rounds on the Blue Top Ridge course.

"The excitement is just incredible," Sickels said. "All three want to offer a top-notch program."

The opening day of the Blue Top Ridge course, Aug. 1, is already set aside for a fundraiser for the Golf for Injured Veterans Everywhere foundation, which will fund the Iowa Veterans for Golf program.

The resort found a sponsor for each of the 18 holes, as well as 12 to 14 other teams that will participate in the event.

Sponsors gave $5,000 and teams gave $2,500 to the foundation.

"We're really focusing on this," casino and resort general manager Joe Massa said. "This will be our premiere project" that the casino will sponsor, other than the Washington County Riverboat Foundation Inc., the not-for-profit that holds the casino's gaming license and distributes more than $3 million a year to organizations throughout Washington County.

The golf program will be open to patients enrolled in the VA Iowa City system who are eligible for medical services, Sickels said. Those interested can contact any of the three partners, he said.

 

• To learn more about the Iowa Veterans for Golf Program or to donate to the G.I.V.E. Foundation, contact Sharon Haselhoff at the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort at 319-648-1234 ext. 1950.

-------------------------

Larry Scott  --