WASHINGTON (7News) — For about a week, veterans from across the country living with physical or cognitive challenges, representing all US Military branches, have been in the DMV as part of the PGA HOPE (Helping our Patriots Everywhere) rehabilitative golf program.

“We start with the basics. Teach them all the way up to where they go out and play around the golf,” explained PGA HOPE Military and Veteran Liaison Chris Nowak. “What we’re trying to do is get them to understand what we call ‘the moment in time.’ Whenever you ever played the game of golf, you know, you really have to be focused. You really got just clear-minded. So if we can teach them to have that thought process around the golf, then they can apply that to everyday tasks that they’re dealing with at home or at work.”

Seventeen thousand veterans take part in PGA HOPE nationwide to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being through the game of golf. Twenty veterans are selected every year to participate in the PGA HOPE National Golf and Wellness Week.

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“Somebody within their golf journey recognizes they have some leadership potential and that they want to give back,” said Nowak. “So they get nominated. We get about 40 applicants a year that have been through the program. We select the top 20.”

The PGA HOPE ambassadors then bring the skills they’ve learned back into their communities. There are more than 550 locations nationwide where PGA HOPE sessions are offered at no cost to the veterans.

“It’s a six-week golf program where we use golf as a modality [to] help veterans who are dealing with different injuries, whether it’s PTSD limb loss, TBI, various disabilities,” said Nowak. “Golf is a great therapeutic tool for them because it requires them to focus, be singular, focused, not be thinking about the trauma they’ve experienced or the trauma they’re dealing with. Otherwise, they’re gonna have a poor result in a golf shot.”

Nowak said he wishes he picked up golf earlier and that a program like this existed decades ago.

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“I got shot in the 87, so there weren’t programs like this You didn’t see amputees and other veterans, disabled veterans, participating in sports, or pretty much anywhere around, so my struggle was different,” remembered Nowak. “I think that’s why I’m very passionate about this. I want to make sure that no other veteran has to deal with the things I had to deal with through their rehab process.”

Nowak was a big hockey player and played on the USA amputee hockey team for a while, was a powerlifter, but was looking for something different. So, he picked up golf.

“I grew up in the military family, joined the United States Marine Corps right out of high school,” said Nowak. “I was an infantry squad leader. I got shot during a training evolution, which resulted in the loss of my lower leg, went to work for the VA [veteran affairs] for 19 years doing various things right here in D.C. I actually worked here, and I used to run all the adaptive sports for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which then got me engaged in golf and things like that, and helped develop this program and get where we are today.”

This is the program’s fifth annual event at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. Nowak said Monday’s event is like graduation for the veterans who have been learning life skills together all week.

“We do some mental health, we teach them yoga, but then we teach them public speaking, social media, and we teach them how to help promote this game to their fellow veterans,” said Nowak. “These veterans are then called ambassadors, so they go back and they represent HOPE locally in their community.”

You can learn more about PGA HOPE, the ambassadors, and how to take part in the program here.