We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cody Hill. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cody below.

Cody , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I was writing a research paper for the University of Alabama and I chose the topic Veteran Suicide. While writing that paper I had received news that one of my brothers I served with had committed suicide and it really hit home seeing I was doing the research on that topic. I knew something had to change and I wanted to be apart of something that could help change the statistic of 22 veterans a day that commit suicide; which is where the “22” in “Fore 22” came from. I had come to love the game of golf after I returned home from the Marine Corps and I found that golf really helped with my mental health (being outdoors and always able to shift my mind into working on mechanics and how to hit my next golf shot better). That brings us into the “Fore”, which if you are a golfer you know that means to duck because someone hit the ball way left or right and could possibly hit you. So altogether “Fore 22” is a play on words that we golf Fore the 22. After my first golf tournament in November of 2021, we had a group of firefighters from Gulf Shores AL play and after hanging out and talking to them I knew I had to do more to include our local heroes. This is the point where the new logos and our mission of being more than just a round of golf was born.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As a Marine Corps veteran, I am acutely aware of the mental health struggles that service members face. What some may not know, is that a majority of hardships begin after you are released back to civilian life. You go from having your brothers and sisters day in and day out, to being thrust back to wherever “home” is and trying to assimilate back to civilian life, essentially on your own. The sense of purpose fades and the last several years of life as you knew it, disappears instantly. It is incredibly isolating at first and that is where the mental health struggles begin for most. Having personally experienced this along with the suicide of 5 brothers that I served with, I felt compelled to start a movement of awareness and action surrounding mental health of service members.

We held our first golf tournament in November of 2021 in Gulf Shores, Alabama, specifically dedicated to veterans. When the tournament concluded, I was speaking with a member of the Gulf Shores Fire Department who loved the idea and expressed that he wished there was something like Fore 22 out there for fire departments as well. This jolted the wheels into motion and I instantly knew that we couldn’t simply advocate for veterans alone. Our local heroes need mental health awareness and action as well.

In early 2022 I began working on logo designs to incorporate not only veterans but fire departments, police departments, as well as EMS. We have a specific logo for each entity and decided that a portion of the proceeds of each sale will go towards that specific group. We currently have hats and hoodies available but in the very near future will have many more items in regards to merchandise available for those who wish to support our local heroes.

In November of 2022 we held our second golf tournament in Fairhope, Alabama. Through a “boots on the ground” approach, we were able to gain several more sponsorships, a gracious amount of donations, and a greater turnout than our first tournament. This reiterated two things for me; that there certainly is a need for mental health awareness surrounding veterans and first responders, and that the public is incredibly supportive of our veterans and local heroes as well.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

We began as a nonprofit for veterans. We are currently an LLC.

My wife and I thought the idea of a nonprofit was great. So we blindly went in to the nonprofit world and quickly realized we were in over our heads. The amount of rules and regulations you have to follow as a nonprofit is astronomical. With two young kids, homeschooling, and working other jobs, we came to the realization that nonprofit was not the way to go. After our first golf tournament we also came to the conclusion that we needed to include first responders in our mission of mental health awareness and action. That was simply not possible under the specifications that we initially filed for under the nonprofit status.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As a very young business and also as someone who is dealing with post-service mental health trauma myself, this question may not seem relevant in the grand scheme of life but it is for me. This business is run solely by my wife and I. We have to young kids who stay at home with us and we both work part time jobs. If you know anything about young kids, you know it is a challenge to get anything done while they are present. That means for us it is constant early mornings and late nights to get work done. I’d be lying if I said I’d never second-guessed the whole endeavor. However, every time I’m feeling low about it, every time I’m ready to through in the towel, I receive a testimonial about how thankful someone is that we are out here advocating for our heroes, I solidify another sponsorship for the next tournament, I get an email about an interview that someone wants to have because they’ve heard about our mission and believe in the cause as well. It is divine intervention at its finest and it simply cannot be ignored. I thank God for affording me the opportunity to see that because if it were not for those small moments of visible victory, I’m not sure I would have the resilience to continue.

Contact Info:

• Website: Fore22golf.com
• Instagram: @fore22golf
• Facebook: @fore22golf

Image Credits
Lacey Coastal Photography