PGA HOPE program makes connection for veterans through the game of golf at Woodside Club in Syosset

Marilyn Charlot was retired in 2022 when she met a fellow veteran who introduced her to golf.

Charlot, 67, is a U.S. Army veteran (1984-91) who now splits time between Long Beach in the summer and Mexico’s Tulum Country Club in the winter. She was in Mexico when she picked up golf and had been “fooling around with it for about four years” in an unstructured environment.

That changed when the fellow veteran told her about PGA HOPE. She signed up, fell in love with it and “got addicted right away.”

PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) is a rehabilitative golf program for veterans, many of whom are dealing with mental, physical and cognitive challenges. The Metropolitan PGA Section launched its PGA HOPE program in 2015, and it since has served more than 1,900 veterans through six-week programs led by PGA of America golf professionals.

On Thursday afternoon at the Woodside Club in Syosset, 130 veterans — including Charlot — became the newest PGA HOPE graduates. They received a brand-new set of golf clubs, played a nine-hole tournament and were honored with opening and closing ceremonies and a dinner.

“Prior to my retirement, I had very little interaction with the veterans,” Charlot said. “Because once I got out, I really didn't know anything about the VA benefits or anything like that. They just kind of discharged us, and then I kind of went to the civilian world. So being reintroduced to the veterans, I've been able to connect with some folks  . . .  The camaraderie, being around the military again, it's almost like a part of myself came back to life.

“I think that's been the most beneficial, besides the golf. It's just the connection, just hearing the veteran stories, what we went through together.”

Charlot was stationed in Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, Germany, Alabama and South Korea. Upon completing her service, she studied economics in Columbia University’s veterans program and ultimately worked on Wall Street. Her home in Mexico is part of a golf community that includes the PGA Riviera Maya course, which hosts a Korn Ferry Tour event.

She has seen improvement with her chipping and irons during the PGA HOPE clinics and is looking forward to playing competitively. But the impact of the program goes much deeper, and golf serves as an outlet for her and many others.

“For me, with my PTSD, for sure,” she said. “I think that's why I got into it in 2022, and the veteran told me about it. I spent hours just chipping, and not so much to play golf, but just to keep the quiet voice. It's extremely healing, and also good for the body because I find myself working out in the gym more, eating better, so I can hit the ball longer. So it kind of works together, but the stillness is really beneficial.”

Frank Munnelly, 76, of Bethpage, is a U.S. Air Force veteran and a 2017 PGA HOPE graduate. He wasn’t a golfer before then, and now he has worked at The Woodside Club in golf operations for eight years.

He worked in health care for 45 years, and participating in PGA HOPE soon after retiring “very much so” helped him mentally and physically.

“The fact that they had this kind of a program, I was very impressed with that,” he said.

Thursday’s graduating class was about one-third Long Islanders, and the rest were veterans who participated in PGA HOPE programs in the Bronx, Hudson Valley, the Catskills and Connecticut.

PGA HOPE graduation is one of the best days on the calendar for Paul Glut, the head professional at The Woodside Club and a Marine Corps veteran, and Kelli Clayton, the foundation director for the Metropolitan PGA.

Clayton’s husband, Michael Clayton, was a disabled Marine Corps veteran who died in 2016. He was why she became passionate about PGA HOPE, and it’s a way to keep his memory alive.

“Golf's what brought them together here, but that's not the magic,” she said. “The magic is these guys and ladies getting together and actually being there to support each other in this community.”

Glut noted how a lot of the veterans don’t necessarily need help on the course, but the camaraderie that PGA HOPE provides is essential.

“Some of them are guys that have been in deep, dark places,” he said. “Being able to get them out of that, and hearing guys say — which I never thought I'd ever hear anybody say — that: ‘Golf saved my life.’ To hear them say that golf saved their life, that got them out, that they were contemplating terrible things, and that golf changed them. To be able to hear some of these guys that are 25 years old saying that their new best friend is like 60, and they play golf all the time together. And then they're out of the basement, they're out of a dark place, and they're playing golf and enjoying life again.

“I mean, gosh, it's just nothing more exciting to me than that. And being part of that since the beginning is just what makes it so special.”

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.