“Life is always a struggle. But I’m privileged to have the problems that I have now. I’ve dug myself out of the hole, and now there is no hole.”
Those powerful comments are from Dusty Hull, a retired E-5 sergeant with the Michigan Army National Guard, who, as he describes, was always the poor kid growing up.
Yet there he was, back in October playing famed Congressional Country Club representing the Michigan PGA Section as one of 20 Ambassadors in the nation’s capital for PGA HOPE’s National Golf and Wellness Week. PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) is the flagship military program of the PGA of America REACH Foundation, introducing and teaching golf to Veterans and Active-Duty Military to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being.
“This program has given me experiences that are not even once in a lifetime, they’re once in a bloodline,” Hull said.
Born into a military family, Hull’s mother went into labor on his dad’s aircraft carrier 39 years ago in California. But five years later his father bailed on the military and the family, leaving Dusty, his younger brother and then-pregnant mother without health insurance. They moved to Hawaii and Wisconsin before settling in Muskegon, Michigan.
Times were tough. Hull played different sports growing up but mostly competed so he could be part of a team and community. He was a skateboarder, a snowboarder, struggled with personal relationships, was perhaps a bit rebellious and usually angry. But he always knew that he’d spend time in the military, so years were spent doing what he needed to do just to get through it. It was going to be his out.
But that didn’t necessarily make the teen years easier. Hull vividly remembers the exact time when he realized that he was a “poor kid.” His bus in middle school picked up kids from an affluent neighborhood in the city and the apartment complex where he lived.
“There were literally the haves and the have-nots all on that same bus,” he said. “It was undeniable.
“No one was mean to us because of the circumstances. We would get invited to do things, but we knew we couldn’t do them because we didn’t have the money. I think a lot of anger came from that and then the embarrassment.”
The vibe was different in high school, which was more urban than his previous stop. But Hull still had trouble fitting in because he is mixed race.
“My mom is white, my dad is black, but I was constantly told I’m not really black,” he said. “I was never as dark as them. I didn’t talk like them.”
Still, Hull actually enjoyed high school. Or, at least, the classwork in high school, where he took mostly advanced classes in science, writing and math.
After graduation, in what he calls a moment of rage and frustration, Hull decided to attend Central Michigan University on a multicultural scholarship instead of joining the service. That only lasted a year, however, and he joined the Michigan Army National Guard. He had finally found his purpose.
Hull went through extensive training for a year and in January 2007 he was asked to help support security detail for former President Gerald Ford’s funeral in Grand Rapids. He received a couple challenge coins and met Betty Ford.
“I was still the poor kid,” he said, “but it was cool dealing with the secret service. It helped me appreciate the full scope of it all.”
After more training in 2007, Hull was deployed to Iraq, or as he said, it was time for him to receive his varsity letter. Only three days into the tour a massive bomb hit the military base and he woke up to an explosion that knocked everything off the walls. A few weeks later he was in a tower guarding the base when he had to use force on a car that was driving fast and had rammed into a fence. There was some sort of explosion or uneasiness on every single day of that 2008 deployment. When he returned home there was no one there to greet him. He had to call a friend to ask for a ride home.
In 2012, Hull deployed to Afghanistan and was assigned to guard a combat outpost, a smaller spot outside of a bigger base. One morning soldiers noticed that a note was left outside the base saying that U.S. soldiers could expect retribution that day at noon. A pastor in Florida had burned a Quran and the natives were restless. By 12:05 a complex riot attack had begun.
About 15,000 Afghans—both soldiers and locals—were armed, aggressive and rioting. It lasted for two hours, until fighter jets could come help clear everyone out. Hull was not sure how many U.S. soldiers were injured.
“It was the most hairy event I had,” Hull said. “But it was also one of the most profound. Just watching how everybody stepped up. Cooks stopped cooking and were running ammo to everybody. Interpreters don’t have firearms, but they’re running water and dragging people who were injured to safety. Everybody was clicking on high. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.”
Although Hull didn’t leave the military until 2019, he turned his focus to education after returning from Afghanistan in 2012. He considered the Central Michigan experience a blemish. He wanted to overcome that and was accepted to Penn State, where he graduated in 2016, the same year he married Suzanne, who was pregnant with their first daughter.
In 2018, Hull was accepted to Cooley Law School and he and Suzanne find out that another daughter was on the way. He graduated in 2021 and became licensed in 2022. Life remained a whirlwind.
“When I got out of the military some of my friends killed themselves. I didn’t know what to do,” Hull said. “Fast forward and I’ve got this house, I’m an attorney, I’ve got a wife, I’ve got kids and I’m still miserable.”
Hull joined various Veteran organizations but nothing suited him. He’s now an attorney for a financial services company and one day at work he received an email that prompted Veterans to take free golf lessons with a PGA of America Golf Professional for eight straight weeks. It was from PGA HOPE. His co-workers told him to jump at the opportunity.
Two years ago, a winter session was available indoor in Grand Rapids and Hull took advantage. Until then he had dabbled with the game, but it was never important to him. In fact, he bought his first set of golf clubs at Goodwill about a decade earlier.
Golf is now extremely important to Hull, culminating in being named to the Ambassador role for the Michigan PGA Section and being invited to Washington, D.C.
This program has given me experiences that are not even once in a lifetime, they’re once in a bloodline. This is what I’ve been looking for. Life is always a struggle, but I’m privileged to have the problems I have now. I’ve dug myself out of the hole, and now there is no hole. All things are possible through the game of golf. That’s my new life mantra.
“This is what I’ve been looking for,” Hull said. “It’s my white-collar bridge with people who are rough around the edges like me.”
Hull has been a constant presence within Michigan’s PGA HOPE initiatives. He’s helped with fundraisers, is a key voice with recruiting other Veterans into the program and he’s always available to do whatever is asked of him.
“He’s really relatable from a Veterans standpoint,” said Madison Maurier, PGA REACH Michigan Activities Director. “He’s seen a lot of things that these Veterans have gone through. He’s well-rounded and he’s easy to talk to. For him to go out and have a voice that people understand is really helpful. He’s very relatable and compassionate and is always welcoming, making sure they know they have a safe place to go to.”
Daughters Brynn and Cora even have the golf bug. They went with their father to the LPGA’s Dow Championship in Midland, Michigan, and from a suite, were able to watch the world’s best players hit amazing shots in front of them. They now occasionally tag along with dad when he goes to the range or plays a few holes.
“PGA HOPE reinvigorated an entire lifeline to his family and being able to involve his wife and daughters,” Maurier said. “That’s the coolest things about it to me. The amount of people he’s impacting. He’s got a lot of new people into a new path.”
Said Hull: “It’s cool as the poor kid to watch your kids do things that you couldn’t dream of as a kid. All things are possible through the game of golf. That’s my new life mantra.”
Or as Hull put it – he dug himself out of the hole. Now there is no hole.
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 www.pgahope.com.