Business community gives wounded soldiers ability to golf

The Colorado Springs Business Journal’s Corporate Golf League, Wells Fargo and the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs have teamed up to purchase a special golf cart that will allow wounded soldiers to enjoy the game of golf.

The cart, called a SoloRider, allows soldiers, or anyone who has lost mobility because of an amputation or traumatic injury, to golf, because the cart allows the golfer to stand and swing the club while remaining steady and strapped into the cart’s seat.

Each SoloRider costs $8,500, and that’s a lot more than many of the wounded soldiers who now call Colorado Springs home can afford.

Each year golfers from the Wells Fargo Colorado Springs Business Journal Golf League donate “mulligan money”, money raised from payment for do-over shots, to charity.

This year golfers raised $4,086, and the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs will “match” that amount with $4,000 to purchase one SoloRider.

“This is just one example of how the golf league builds community,” said Business Journal Publisher Lon Matejczyk. “These golfers are community leaders who realize how much soldiers have given their community. This is a small way we can give back.”

A check will be presented to Scott Gray of ThanksTroops.com at 4.p.m. today during the Business Journal’s Best of Business 2008 reception at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs’ Dwire Hall.