Combat Veteran Teaches Golf To Learn About Himself

Joe Steadman was in the U.S. military for 13 years, including multiple special operations deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and today is the director of instruction at the Country Club of North Carolina. Photo: Courtesy Joe Steadman

As a 14-year-old, Joe Steadman worked at a nine-hole golf course known as The Barracks on the grounds of the now-closed Plattsburgh Air Force base.

“That’s where I got the bug,” said Steadman, 35, the director of instruction at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst. “Golf up there wasn’t much. There’s not much of a season and in the summers, hockey wasn’t going on.”

He first played golf with his father and grandfather at The Barracks, and it remains his favorite haunt when he returns to where he grew up near Lake Champlain in upstate New York. But today, after 13 years of military service, including multiple special operations deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and a stint as an instructor at Fort Bragg, and earning his professional golf management (PGM) and MBA degrees from Campbell...