Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Leap.
Jason, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In 2012, after being absent from the game of golf for 12 years, I had decided to get back into the game. Back in the early 1990’s, I was a collegiate golfer, playing golf for McNeese State University and Portland State University. I hung around the mini-tours for a couple of years, played in state amateur and US amateur tournaments, and almost made it to the 1992 US Open at Pebble Beach. As with life, golf can take a turn for the better or for the worst, and for me it was the worst. After struggling to qualify for collegiate tournaments, I finished my 3rd year of college and enlisted in the United States Air Force as a Security Forces Member. I served from 1995 – 2005, deployed to the middle-east (4) times and ended my career in May of 2005. I struggled with alcohol and drugs for 3 years after getting out. In 2008, my wife (Allison) and I turned our lives to Jesus Christ and on May 15th, 2008, we became sober. There was still a piece of me that was missing, and that was golf. I had stopped playing golf since 2000 after my father passed away. He was my best friend and my golf buddy.
So, in the summer of 2012, I started picking up the game again. I was shopping for clubs when I walked into an Edwin Watts golf store in Southlake Texas when I met a young man who was wounded in combat. His name was Nick, a fellow Air Force Veteran and retired Security Forces.
I had heard about Nick when he was injured in Afghanistan. Nick told me about this golf tournament for wounded veterans in September, gave me his business card, and out me in contact with a man named Glenn Rosenberger. Glenn hosted me to his 2nd annual fundraising golf tournament and I immediately fell in love with his vision… Wounded veteran golf clinics for DFW wounded veterans.
I volunteered to be on the North Texas Warrior Golf Association’s board of directors in 2012, we hosted our first DFW spring golf clinic in 2013, and in 2015, Glenn resigned from NTWGA and I became President of the organization. Since 2013, we have hosted over 60 DFW wounded veterans in our spring golf clinics, outfitted them with custom fitted Taylormade Golf Clubs, bag, shoes, and apparel. We have provided hundreds, of golf experiences to our NTWGA members, including; trips to the Masters, Monday after the Masters Pro-Am, Ireland Golf Trip, Byron Nelson Pro-Am, charity golf tournaments, many other incredible golf opportunities.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been a lot of work. Our board of directors is comprised of five combat wounded, injured, or ill veterans. All board members have gone through our 8-week program and after completion, they jumped at the opportunity to volunteer to help out other struggling veterans.
We all volunteer our time to work yearly for this organization. I average about 20 hours a week in my duties with NTWGA. Each board member has their area of specialty… Warrior registration, warrior operations, treasurer, marketing, etc. We tend to butt heads time to time, but we are all great friends and have one common mission/goal… Our mission is to provide therapeutic and rehabilitative golfing experiences to wounded veterans in the DFW metroplex. Taking care of our Warrior Golfers, one fairway at a time!
The biggest challenge we face is gaining enough traction for DFW area sponsors to sustain our program. Our goal is to not host an annual fundraising tournament and conduct a fall clinic for additional DFW wounded veterans.
Http://www.ntwga.org/about-ntwga.html
Please tell us about North Texas Warrior Golf Association.
NTWGA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit who provides golf lessons, golf equipment, and golf experiences to DFW wounded veterans. As President, I manage and oversee the operations of the organization. I specialize in tournament operations and fundraising efforts. I’m known for my past golf experience and current golf experiences. I’ve participated on (3) three US Simpson Cup Teams (2013, 2014, and 2016), where Team USA won the cup in 2014 (Congressional Country Club, Maryland) and 2016 (Oak Hill Country Club, New York). I’m able to bring my love and enthusiasm to new golfers and help demonstrate the passion of the game and what it can do for recovery.
I’m most proud of our volunteers… My board of directors. Our sponsors that have been with us since 2011 are Second to None! We couldn’t operate without the generosity of our DFW sponsors.
We are the only program in North Texas that provides this type of service to our heroes… 97% of every dollar goes directly back to the veterans in our program!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Every year, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, we had some veterans infiltrate our organization and deceive us. In 2017, we launched an extreme vetting and interviewing process for prospective clinic applicants and the 2017 clinic participants were one of the best groups ever! We had zero issues and no problems. Their participation level has exceeded year’s past and this is something I wish we could have done earlier.
We learn something new every year and that is what has built us to become an excellent program.
Pricing:
- $150 to outfit each veteran with a shoes, shirt, hat, glove, and pullover
- $80 is to provide a veteran with a single golf lesson
- $1000 is to equip a veteran with a custom set of golf clubs
Contact Info:
- Address: NTWGA
542 Indian Creek Drive,
Roanoke, TX 76262 - Website: www.ntwga.org
- Phone: 8174750165
- Email: northtexaswwga@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/n.txwarriorgolf/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ntwga/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ntxwarriorgolf
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
