A prison in Washington state is using golf to help inmates aim for a better future, giving lessons to men who are set to be released within the next few years. The program at Cedar Creek Correction Center frames the sport as a kind of course on life, one that focuses not just on the mistakes a person has made, but on how they play the next shot.
One of the participants, Michael Helmer, recently started taking golf lessons and says the game is teaching him much more than he had imagined. He explained that the simple act of constantly showing up, even when he is not very good at it, is a mentality he believes he can carry into life on the outside whenever he runs into problems or difficulties at work.
Helmer is currently serving a 15-year sentence for shooting a man in the shoulder and pointing a gun at several others. He described it as a mistake he wishes had never happened, saying he feels bad about it and acknowledging that he ruined not only his own life, but also the lives of his family and of others affected by his actions.
He is one of about a dozen men at Cedar Creek Correction Center, a low-security prison in Little Rock, Washington, who have been given the opportunity to play golf. Initially, those behind the idea say, the effort was not about golf at all, but about programming, reducing idleness, keeping people busy and bringing diverse groups together.
Tim Thrasher, the then-superintendent, believed that adding golf would be a good way to help rehabilitate and change the men. For him, the rules of golf are essentially the rules of life, covering the ethics, the etiquette and the need to do things the right way even at moments when nobody else is watching.
Another participant, Nico Wiley, was 20 years old when he was involved in a drive-by shooting in which no one was hurt, and he is now serving a 15-year sentence. He spoke about growing up in an impoverished community, where young people can gravitate toward things that are not good for them without really understanding the consequences at such a young age.
Wiley says golf has helped him see new possibilities for his life, as he looks back on his past crime with a sense of disbelief at what he used to do. The men involved are due to be released within the next few years, and the goal of the program is to prepare them to become better members of society and to set them up for a successful re-entry.