Golf drive for troops surpasses expectations / LJWorld.com

Lawrence and Douglas county

March 6, 2007

Local businessman is bringing a favorite pastime to troops in the Middle East

Upon hearing that some troops overseas spend their downtime hitting golf balls, Kyle Taylor, owner of Golf USA, collected 2500 clubs and over 12,000 balls to send abroad. Enlarge video

Photo by Thad Allender

Signatures from local golfers cover a thank-you card for soldiers serving in Iraq.

Photo by Thad Allender

Rich Davis grabs a handful of golf clubs donated by local golfers for American soldiers serving in Iraq. Golf USA owner Kyle Taylor, pictured in background, estimates more than 2,500 golf clubs and 12,000 to 15,000 golf balls were donated for the project. Davis packed the clubs for shipping on Monday.

A Lawrence golf shop owner has hit a hole in one with his idea to help U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

Kyle Taylor, owner of USA Golf, 3220 Iowa, thought it would be a good idea to collect used golf clubs and golf balls and send them to troops to use during their free time.

Taylor teed up the idea last week. And it soared once the word got out.

"It's been overwhelming," Taylor said. "It was more than I ever expected. I knew we would have a good turnout. It was just incredible."

As of Monday, he collected about 2,500 golf clubs and 12,000 to 15,000 golf balls.

"We had so much support from the community," Taylor said. "It was great. We probably had at least 250 different individuals come in with items."

The drive to collect the clubs and golf balls ended Monday - and not a moment too soon.

The front of his store was brimming with donated clubs, including left-handed clubs and clubs for women.

"We're just kind of overwhelmed right now. There's so much, and we're trying to get through it," he said. "We have everything. We have complete sets. We've got drivers, irons, putters, wedges ... and lots of golf balls."

On top of the donations, he's sending about 200 clubs from his store. And representatives of Alvamar Golf Course also donated clubs, he said.

The next step is to pack up the clubs and balls and send them to a nonprofit organization, Give2theTroops (www.give2thetroops.com), based in Connecticut.

"We've got so much stuff that we've got a lot of work ahead of us just to get it packed up and get it out of here," Taylor said.

He also received $946 in cash donations to help pay for shipping the items. He's now working with a freight company that has offered to do the shipping at a reduced rate or at no charge.

"If that happens, any (cash) donations that we received, we're going to give directly to that organization, Give2theTroops," he said.

The idea for collecting the used golf balls and golf clubs came from one of Taylor's customers, an Ottawa member of the military who returned from Iraq last fall.

The customer told him that troops had a lot of free time and had come across an old golf club and some old balls and spent a lot of time sharing the old club.

Taylor said that conversation spurred on his idea.

"I wanted to do two things. One, I wanted to give stuff to those guys over there," he said.

And he wanted to underscore what troops are going through in Iraq, he said.

"If it makes people kind of think about them a little bit," he said, "then we've done our job here."