SPORTS
Chad Pfeifer, who graduated from Golf Academy of America’s Phoenix campus in May of 2011, is a military veteran who won the first annual Warrior Open, a golf tournament whose participants served and were wound- ed in armed conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pfeifer, a Corporal, qualified based on an IED (improvised explo- sive device) detonation that forced the amputation of his left leg above the knee. Accepting the winner’s trophy from former Presi-
dent George W. Bush, Pfeifer said, “It’s an honor to win the inaugural Warrior Open; but to all of our brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate sacrifice, this one’s for them.”
Pfeifer parlayed his 16 months at Golf Academy of America into a job as an assistant golf professional at Tatum Ranch Golf Club in nearby Scottsdale. Many of Pfeifer’s fellow soldiers who have attended
includes a wide range of ages, from those just out of high school to middle-aged men and women who seek a change in careers that allows them to follow their pas- sion: the game of golf. “We are proud to foster an atmosphere that is
welcoming to both the 19-year-old recent high school graduate and the 50-year-old father who seeks a new ca- reer path, and even to the 65-year-old retiree who wants to continue his or her lifelong learning experience in a golf setting,” said Largent. “All of these students gain an enriching education within our walls.” Take Nancy Harvey, for instance. At the age of
33, Harvey was a 12-year employee and executive of a Fortune 500 company in New York City. She played her first few rounds of golf more or less on a whim and within a few months, bitten by the golf bug, she moved to Orlando to attend Golf Academy of America. “In my first school tournament in Orlando I shot
128,” said Harvey. “Sixteen months later, I shot 74 in a tournament. Te bookwork came easy to me, so my hardest job was getting better at golf. I played or prac- ticed six days a week and took lessons once a week at [Golf Academy of America].” Now, Harvey is a teacher at the Dana Rader Golf School, the top destination for golf instruction in the greater Charlotte, N.C. area and one of the most well-respected gatherings of golf instructors in the South. She gives more than 2,000 lessons a year. “I’ve never looked back,” she says proudly. Golf Academy of America has a special appeal to another segment of the population: military veterans.
SEPT/OCT 2012 •
TODAYSCAMPUS.COM 31
Golf Academy of America have found great therapeutic power in their experiences, a healing portal to a return to civilian life. Tis is also the case for George Wallace and his sons.
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