Ping…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
No, not THAT ping…

This is about Ping golf clubs, and something they do without any press, any renumeration, or anything else as a way to say thank you to our wounded warriors…

This isn’t a joke or cartoon; just something interesting to know…
This is an email that came in via the Mil-Email net…
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 a 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 has the good judgment not to advertise this program.  God Bless America and the game of golf.

I’ve played a couple of rounds with folks that also had these clubs, and every one has the same goal; and a couple of them whipped up on me pretty well!  Another thing Ping does with little/no fanfare is to provide ‘rental’ clubs to military golf courses (especially overseas), and little to no cost… 

Comments

Ping… — 12 Comments

  2. Looks like it’s 100% legit. Damn, this makes me wish I were a multimillionaire with my own business so I could do crap like this!

    Hats off to Ping.

  3. Ed- Yeah, this is pretty special… I ‘almost’ didn’t post it, but dammit we need some GOOD news!

    Tango- Concur!

  5. I don’t play golf, can’t understand the logic behind beating up on a small ball.
    BUT I’d buy a Ping product just because of their support program.

  9. My grandmother used to call me that. I’d ask her, “don’t you want me to be smart?” and she’d whack me with a wooden spoon. Obviously, it didn’t work.

    On a serious note, it’s a cool thing they’re doing. If I was a golfer I’d certainly kick some business their way.

  12. As I’ve said before, I’m not one to play golf, unless they’d let me smack the ball down the course with a .22lr.

    If the day should come though I ever feel like playing, I know what brand my clubs will be. I may think a golf course is a waste of a good range, in this case I make huge exception and just smile.

    Sometimes it takes a bit for the words to come NFO, I saw it earlier and then someone else linked it.