Army veteran and CDGA member Mike Mason can explain the circumstances that led to him receiving a Purple Heart with three words.
“Being blown up.”
The year was 2010 and Mason was in Afghanistan, his second deployment after serving in Iraq from 2006-08. He was driving a Husky Vehicle Mounted Mine Detector (VMMD) with a clearly defined mission.
“My job was to find [an explosive] before it found anybody else,” Mason described.
Mason’s VMMD made direct contact with a roadside bomb. He was thrown approximately 6-8 feet in the air and suffered a Grade 3 concussion.
Upon recovery, he was transferred to Oahu, Hawaii which is where he rediscovered his passion for golf.
Mason, 47, was first introduced to the game as a teenager growing up in near-west-suburban Northlake, playing on his high school team. Upon graduation, he began a career as a designer and draftsman. As was the case with so many, however, the September 11 terrorist attacks set his life on a different course. He joined the Army in 2003.
“I joined because of 9/11,” Mason said. “It was something I needed to do.”
The first eight years of his stint were spent at Fort Drum in upstate New York. There, he “went away from golf” and spent more time fishing, before ultimately re-engaging with the game in Hawaii.
“I've always loved golf – it's just that in upstate New York, you really don't really have that many golf courses,” Mason said. “Whereas when I was on Oahu, there were a ton of golf courses on that little island.”
He began to play more frequently, utilizing special rates on military-operated golf courses, and also volunteered twice at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open.
He eventually medically retired from the Army in 2012 and returned home to the Chicago area with his wife and five children, settling in Franklin Park. He began work as a general contractor. Acclimation to civilian life, for the most part, was smooth. Mason missed one aspect of Army life, however – the camaraderie.
This is what led him to the Veteran Golfers Association (VGA), a group dedicated to enriching the lives of veterans and their families through golf. He first encountered the organization at the 2023 Chicago Golf Show® and quickly realized the group helped fill a void.
“I didn't realize I missed [the camaraderie],” Mason said. “In the military, you get that camaraderie when you’re in. You build that brotherhood or sisterhood. When I went to the first [VGA] event, I felt that again.”
He played in a handful of VGA events that first year before expanding his slate to nearly 50 events the following season. In 2025, he became an Assistant Director of the Illinois chapter, a role that is multifaceted. Part of his responsibilities are helping secure sites for the chapter’s various playing opportunities, including the CDGA-VGA Two-Person Veterans Cup Series (scan QR code for more info). He also strives to introduce the organization to more veterans in hopes of helping them fill the same void that he had.
“This is why we’re trying to grow the organization – to bring the brotherhood and the sisterhood back to civilian life,” Mason said.
“If a veteran loves golf, this is absolutely the place they need to be.”
—Casey Richards
CDGA Member Spotlight articles are a partnership between the CDGA and Wintrust to highlight an individual, group or program making their underrepresented community Better Through Golf. Individuals with CDGA Member Spotlight ideas should reach out to magazine@cdga.org
