It’s a big year for Folds of Honor.
After having top billing this past weekend once again at the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the NASCAR race, the countdown is on to the May 2 opening of American Dunes Golf Club in Michigan. Later in May is the annual Patriot Golf Day over Memorial Day weekend.
The opening of American Dunes is what really makes 2021 a big year for Folds of Honor.
Jack Nicklaus, architect of more than 425 courses in 40 countries, has renovated what used to be Grand Haven Golf Club. It’ll reopen as American Dunes near the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. Grand Haven hosted the first golf tournament that would inspire the formation of Folds of Honor and Patriot Golf Day.
Once the tee sheet opens, all profits from American Dunes – a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course – will be donated to Folds of Honor.
Nicklaus is one of many giving an assist to Folds of Honor, which started in 2007 and has more than 28,000 educational scholarships for spouses and children of disabled veterans and fallen soldiers.
Over the weekend, the NASCAR race provided another great opportunity for Folds of Honor to remind sports fans what its mission is about.
Ryan Blaney celebrates his win in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 21, 2021, in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo: Curtis.Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Associated Press)
Folds of Honor was started by U.S. Air Force Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney, a pilot, who was once a decent golfer but not good enough to make a career out of it.
“Thank God I wasn’t a great putter because I probably wouldn’t have gone in the military, and Folds of Honor would have never happened,” Rooney once told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rooney’s efforts are most evident every Labor Day weekend, when Folds of Honor conducts Patriot Golf Day to raise money that helps fund the scholarships. The deadline to submit a scholarship application is March 31.
Golfweek’s Jason Lusk contributed to this article.