When the tee times collide with team spirit, and birdies have people on cloud nine like a high-flying drone. In the new establishment of the Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA), where march is done in boots and duty is denser than the Texas heat, an ally in morale support and community building unexpectedly goes into motion: golf. Yup, that soft stuff of silent voices, plaid trousers and immaculately trimmed greens. However, do not think that the outer appearance of calm betrays the strength of strategy of this sport that is used to bind the military community together. Imagine: the battlefield in the place of fairway. Caps have replaced helmets. Rather than combat boots, soft spikes. The mission? But not in order to take away land, but to unite souls. The JBSA golf courses, including such facilities as Gateway Hills and Randolph Oaks, are not patches of grasses where we run after dimpled balls. They are green oases in which stress is cut shorter than a novice golfer drives his first shot.
Greens That Ain Unfortunately Grass
At JBSA golf has little to do with swinging holes, and everything to do with swinging the golf tales with friends, late night laughs across the bunkers and friendship through the stories shared between tee and pin. These are classes in the old-fashioned village square–only to greater numbers of carts and fewer pitchforks. They are no man land, where rank is dissolved like butter in a Texas sun.
You would see a four star general and a fresh airman stumbling his way out of the same sand trap. And the guess is? Who really cares about ribbons or reports when trying to make a 15 foot putt with three eyes on you and a soda down the line.
These greens are bonding agents of society. And to tell the truth all bases have a pressure valve. Whereas a knock-out bag or a psychiatrist couch proves a relief to some people, a nine-hole conversation with nature and neighbors is the comfort of many on JBSA. Even the off topic discussions usually revolve around common interests fanciful football joining TonyBet where some of the young people will track results by live betting as the cognizance of the moment in the tee slot comes along. The combination is funny: blistering digital excitement and slow, methodical swings.
Now there, Camaraderie Swings Hard
Morale, in military terms, is not just a buzzword, but it is oxygen. And then golf offers a place where the service members, veterans, as well as families can relax. It is counseling in khakis. The game requires patience, presence and only some aspect of skill to make it interesting. Not a surprise that it became the favorite sport amongst commanders and cadets. Golf tournaments are typical at JBSA but do not be confused that they are button-ups. Such festivals make the community come out said their colours. There are charity raising events with themes (play golf in costumes anyone?), husband scrambles, and kid days where the children get to learn to swing like maniacs with no form at all- the way the golf gods want to see it done.
Parent-Child Relation Shaped on the Links
The life of a soldier is not defined by battles and duty assignments, but the way how families have to deal with being relocated, to learn to bond and to survive in the newlands. The courses that JBSA provides constitute one of the few places where not only toddlers and retirees can come together but they also do not require a special clearance. Husbands and wives turn out to be team players. Like miniature marines, kids are running after lost balls. And grandparents, quite likely retired military themselves, offer patriarchal wisdom posing as golf advice. During these times the JBSA seems more like a neighborhood where people just live rather than a base, except the HOA is enforced by salutes.
More Than 18 th Hole
It is the actual beauty that remains the golf game played in JBSA is all about. The discussions they begin about a scorecard usually have to do with cookouts, carpools, or late-night porch conversations. Relationships are formed here, not only among soldiers, but also between families who recently left Michigan or Okinawa and now are drinking sweet tea under the same Texas sky. Weirdly enough it is golf which becomes the needle that sews the quilt of this short-lived, duty-ridden community. It is the game of patience, endurance, and meekness; with the last qualities being familiar to all military members.
The Last Putte
Therefore, the next time as you hear someone say that golf is a walk of the rich-man ruined, think otherwise. In JBSA, it is even more. It is where the bunkers are non-threatening enough to be called jokes, and the only fighting one has to do there is the war against a stubborn slice. In the silent beauty of a golf swing, between the smooth noise of the carts and the rustle of the pines, JBSA experiences something uncommon, a place where we go slower, feel our hearts open, and build a sense of community; one swing at a time.