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Ping Golf story

ualtim

Carrollton, TX
Supporting Member
Aug 20, 2005
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Recieved this story in an email from my folks. Not my words or story, but figured that I would share it.


Great Story.
Even if you're not a golfer this is interesting.
On Monday, a friend played the Disney Lake Buena Vista course. As usual the starters matched him with three other players. After a few holes they began to get to know each other a bit. This is the rest of what he reports.
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 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, whose products are made with pride here in Arizona, has the good judgment not to advertise this program.
This sure beats the hell out of Nike's million dollars giveaways to athletes who will not respect our flag nor our Country. Ping, on the other hand, renews your faith in mankind, or at least the class of the PING Corporation. Too bad PING doesn't take advantage of this wonderful program by advertising it. You can bet the Media won't do it for them
God Bless America and the game of golf.
Thank you PING
 

limpalong

Mental Ward Escapee
Supporting Member
Oct 18, 2006
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I forgot!
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From what I understand, Ping Golf benefits wounded veterans with about 50 sets of clubs/year... along with a fitting. There is also a Ping program that will allow active duty military a discount on clubs. Neither of these programs are advertised by Ping. They do this as a service and do not want any accolades or advertising because of it.
Some years ago, Ping's military program came under significant scrutiny. Ping had a very strict policy that any retailer who would discount Ping products would have their dealership cancelled. Ping enforced this with vigor. Through this, they did bring forth a program whereby retailers could offer discounts to ONLY active duty military. Some retailers began using the military discount as a competitive device. They would tell customers a discount was available and simply do their own paperwork to show the customer was military. A number of Ping retailers were cancelled and Ping did away with the program. Of course, those who were cancelled spread the news that Ping no longer appreciated the sacrifice our military was making. Some retailers even cancelled their Ping license because of the bad press.
Karsten and John were hurt deeply by how a program they put forth as a service suddenly was turned against them. They had asked nothing. All they wanted was to quietly offer something for those deserving. Ping stayed fairly quiet about the bad press. After the initial 'thunder' had died down, they quietly... again... began a program assisting a small number of wounded veterans. They also brought back their discount to the military... with quite a bit more paperwork being required from retailers to confirm duty status.
 

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