For the first time in 30 years, Anthony Laske heard someone say they were proud of him.
It happened, of all places, at a golf course, where he once believed was only appealing to the elderly and not to anyone like him, a younger man with darker skin.
It was only 20 months ago when Laske found a PGA HOPE program in Milwaukee and started hearing those words of affirmation. This week, the retired U.S. Army Infantryman, is representing the Wisconsin PGA Section in Washington, D.C., as one of 20 Ambassadors participating in PGA HOPE National Golf and Wellness Week, which includes time at Congressional Country Club. PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) is the flagship military program of the PGA of America REACH Foundation. It introduces and teaches golf to Veterans and Active Duty Military to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being.
“I realized that somebody’s looking out for me in a positive way,” Laske said. “That’s nice. They’re telling me that they’re proud of me, they’re telling me that they love me. I need to stick heavy with this program. It’s showing me that human beings can actually be nice to each other.”
Laske, 31, grew up in an atmosphere where people were not nice to each other. He was born in Milwaukee and raised in a rough neighborhood on the south side of town that was infested with gangs, shootings and drugs. His parents divorced at an early age, and he’d often spend time with his father on the north side of the city, which was equally as dangerous.
“I’m a biracial male, my father is a white male, my mother is a black female,” Laske said. “So growing up it was hard for me. I didn’t fit into a certain group. I was either too white for the black kids or too black for the white kids and since I grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood, I thought I could go hang out with them, but I didn’t speak Spanish. I found myself in an isolated spot. I was better being on my own. But no one ever had my back.”
That was the case for his entire childhood, according to Laske, where both his parents were often absent, leaving him to fend for himself in the crime-riddled environment.
He’d often awake to find out that someone in his neighborhood was shot but the one that affected him the most came while in high school, when a close friend of Laske’s since grade school was shot and killed. The two boys spoke almost daily and Laske was devastated.
He mostly stayed out of trouble and got good grades, until one fateful night during his junior year of high school when he was 16. A couple buddies asked Laske if he could drive them to a friend’s house to pick something up. It was near his father’s house so it made sense to help. After waiting outside for a few minutes Laske’s boys came running out, jumped in his car and told him it was time to go. Turns out, they robbed the house.
Law enforcement came to the high school the next day and asked Laske what happened. He told them he had no idea what the boys were doing and that he wasn’t involved. Police searched his backpack, found marijuana, arrested him on the spot and charged him with home invasion and being the getaway driver. He was kicked out of the school.
This whole situation was devastating for Laske, who, again, had mostly avoided trouble, had a 3.5 grade point average and was a star outfielder on the baseball team. There were only ever two things he wanted to do: coach baseball or be a professional baseball player.
“I tried to do the right thing for a long time and it didn’t work,” he said. “What’s the point of trying to go down the right path if it’s not working out for me? I was always finding myself at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
A year later he was able to get into Milwaukee Area Technical College where he played baseball. He admittedly had attitude problems toward the coach and was told to leave. He didn’t play baseball for a full year, was truly floundering and even attempted to get into the military. He failed the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) five different times. He was truly lost.
One last baseball opportunity popped up at Robert Morris University in Chicago. But anger issues resurfaced, he injured his elbow and didn’t last there long.
The next few years provided more uncertainty. Laske followed a woman to Indiana for a bit. That didn’t work. Then he went back to Milwaukee to live with a friend, who took advantage of him and ultimately left him without a place to live. His only option was to move back in with his mother in that same dangerous neighborhood.
Laske started dating another woman and found out five months later, just before Thanksgiving in 2018, that she was pregnant. He knew he needed to clean up his life with this new baby on the way, so he finally passed the ASVAB and left for basic training in Fort Benning, Georgia in January 2019.
“I finally had a true purpose,” he said. “I felt I was finally in control of my own life, that this is what’s going to set me on the right path.”
Laske excelled in basic training and was at the top of his class. A First Sergeant urged him to pursue Airborne School and an invitation to Ranger School, which he did.
During a night jump in Airborne School, Laske’s parachute collapsed, and he fell hard to the ground from a high distance – one he said felt like 100 feet but was probably more like 30. He landed on his left leg, ripped his arm to shreds and felt something happen to his spine. He hit his head hard and his jaw caused great pain. But he never told anyone and did the same jump again 24 hours later. Laske knew if anyone found out how badly he was hurting that his Army career would be over. The next week, somehow, he went to Ranger School and passed all the physical assessments. He waited until July to get checked out. It was then when he was allowed to head home to Milwaukee because his girlfriend Sarah had given birth to their daughter, Ensley.
The MRI came back, Laske had a fractured spine, damage to his shoulder, both hips and knees and his left ankle. He was not allowed to finish Ranger School and was sent back to the National Guard.
Laske was medically discharged in February 2021.
It was a bit later but he finally got the proper treatment for his body once he visited Veterans Affairs in Milwaukee. It was then when a therapist he worked with regularly asked him if he’d ever consider playing golf.
At first he was hesitant. But then Laske started researching Veterans golf programs and found information about PGA HOPE. He attended his first six-week session in the dead of winter at a Pure Fitness indoor facility. It was there where he connected with PGA of America Member Gunnar Stapp, who told Laske that he had a nice swing and thought he could improve fairly quickly.
“I went to as many as I could,” Laske said. “I’d drive way north just to go and start making friends and trusting people again.
“These people all care about me. They’re asking me how I feel, they’re asking me about my mental health. They help me find all the resources I need.”
Laske was told earlier this year that he would be the next Ambassador for the Wisconsin PGA Section. It’s given him a greater purpose.
“It’s cliché when people say that golf has saved their life, but no, it actually really did,” Laske said. “I want to shoot as low as possible. There’s always going to be negative stuff that happens to you, but I kind of block all that stuff out now and just focus on where I want to be with golf.
“I’ve started caring about people again. I hold doors open for people randomly, I’m going out of my way to help others because I know what it feels like to not have any help.”
Laske lives outside Milwaukee with Sarah, now his wife, and they have three daughters – ages 6, 3 and 2. He meditates every morning when he wakes up and again each night before he goes to sleep. He’s obsessed with golf, has miraculously dropped his handicap to 1.9, is the assistant golf coach for Bryant & Stratton College men’s team and works as a ranger and a starter at a local club. His goal is to pass the PGA Player Ability Test (PAT) and become a PGA of America Golf Professional.
“He’s outgoing and is willing to talk to anybody,” said Rob Elliott, chair of the PGA HOPE National Committee, who runs his own academy in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. “He’s been through a lot in his life, but he helps us be able to bring younger Veterans into the program. That’s exactly what we need.”
Said Christopher Garner, Laske’s squad leader this week in Washington, D.C.: “He was going down a bad path, but this program outreach is reaching him in a real and powerful way. Now he’s on the right path.”
For Laske, there’s certainly plenty to be proud of.
PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) is on a mission unlike any other – to change and save Veteran’s lives through the power of golf. The program introduces and teaches golf to Veterans and Active Duty Military to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being. Led by PGA of America Golf Professionals, the program is inclusive of a developmental 6-8 week curriculum. All programs are provided at no cost to all participating Veterans. To learn more or donate, visit pgahope.com.