In 2019, champion professional golfer Tom Watson partnered with David Feherty’s Troops First Foundation and formed an additional channel called Watson’s Warriors to help raise funds to support our veterans. Tom saw the priceless value in the efforts of the foundation and wanted to use his platform to make a difference in the lives of combat-wounded service members and their families. Watson’s Warriors invited Cordillera Ranch to join their platform and I had the opportunity to meet with U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class (Ret.) Chris Schwope who is a Boerne local and also happens to be an avid golfer. The Schwope family was a direct beneficiary from Troops First as they sent Chris to Annapolis to receive the Stellate Ganglion Block treatment for PTSD. Chris will be the first one to tell you — a lot of veterans don’t want to ask for help and he was one of them. Through the game of golf, Chris was introduced to Troops First and it changed his life in more ways than one. After his treatment, he found a new mission — to help other veterans through golf in his role of Golf Coordinator for Watson’s Warriors.

The fundraising component of Watson’s Warriors is through Golf-A-Thons. In short, clubs and their pros partner with the foundation and help raise 

money to support their initiatives. I completed our Golf-A-Thon on Saturday, May 14, where I played 72 holes in one day. Thank you to everyone who let me play through and all of you who financially supported the event. We raised over $6,500 to support our veterans! To put that in perspective, it costs roughly $5,000 to send a service member to Annapolis to receive the SGB treatment that Chris had.

For more information and to offer support, visit WatsonsWarriors.org.

Corey Roberson, PGA, is the Director of Golf at The Clubs of Cordillera Ranch. He can be reached at 830.336.4653 and croberson@cordilleraranch.com.