Legends Golf & Country Club's two-day Veterans Day fundraiser will support former Army sergeant Joshua Tromanhauser's return to golf with adaptive equipment. The effort is part of a broader history of local fundraising for disabled veterans: club members have provided more than $390,000 in prior years toward similar causes. This year's proceeds are earmarked for Tromanhauser.
According to the Lehigh Acres Citizen, the ball drop starts at 4 p.m. on Nov. 10 at Legends Golf & Country Club, with each ball marked with a number tied to the person who purchased it. Balls that land in the holes split their pot fifty-fifty between the owner and a nonprofit that assists disabled veterans. The following day, Nov. 11, golfers can pay to join a scramble and putting contest on the club's newly redesigned 18-hole course, while others compete in pickleball, bocce ball and pop tennis court-sports tournaments, the Citizen reports.
A Decade-Old Tradition With a New Face
Since 2012, Legends residents and staff have partnered with the Stand Up and Play Foundation on a Veterans Day golf and court-sports fundraiser, according to Golf Wire. The event has raised more than $350,000 for disabled veterans, the outlet reported. Proceeds have historically helped provide a VertaCat, an all-terrain mobility rider that can raise a user into a standing position.
What adaptive golf equipment and funding can—and can't—tell us
The American Family Insurance Championship describes the VertaCat as an all-terrain mobility rider that elevates users who are paralyzed to a standing position. That description does not specify practical access requirements or limits, or establish which equipment Tromanhauser will receive or how it will work for him.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says its Adaptive Sports Grant Program funds organizations to expand adaptive sports activities for veterans and service members with disabilities. The program description does not establish whether an individual recreational-golf device is covered by veterans' benefits or determine Tromanhauser's circumstances; the Legends fundraiser is separately raising money for his equipment.
This year's beneficiary, Tromanhauser, served in the military for a decade and deployed to Afghanistan for a year during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2009-2010, according to the Citizen. The outlet reports that toxic exposure during the deployment later aggravated respiratory failure, pneumonia and septic shock in 2024. Tromanhauser spent 107 days on life support across multiple hospitals before both legs were amputated above the knee.
Veteran Credits Family, Plans to Attend
Tromanhauser has credited his wife and three children with helping him endure the medical crisis, according to the Citizen. He has encouraged people to express their care for loved ones and not postpone pursuing the life they want. He and his family moved from Indiana to Florida earlier this year and are expected at both days of the Legends events, the Citizen reports.
Separately, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation has documented his path back to the sport, noting that he enlisted in the Army in 2006 right after graduating high school and is now returning to golf with adaptive equipment following the amputations.
Morning Ceremony and Founder's Visit
The Veterans Day ceremony on Wednesday morning will include a presentation of colors by the Cypress Lake High School Jr. ROTC color guard, tributes to service members and the playing of military branch anthems, the Citizen reports. The club will also hold a luncheon featuring a silent auction and a missing man ceremony recognizing fallen, missing and imprisoned service members.
Anthony Netto, founder of the Stand Up and Play Foundation and inventor of its adaptive golf carts, is scheduled to attend both days, according to the Citizen. The outlet reports that Netto is a United States Golf Teachers Federation master teaching pro who trains PGA professionals, rehab therapists and adaptive golf organizations to use golf as therapy.
The Stand Up and Play Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Move United describes its mission as expanding access to recreation and everyday activities for wheelchair users and others with impaired mobility through adaptive equipment, clinics and programs. The Citizen reports that the foundation has active chapters in Tampa and Panama City, with adaptive carts in use, and that its board and advisory board include Florida residents and Legends members.
A Growing Network of Adaptive Equipment
Additional adaptive vehicles are available for use in Naples and West Palm Beach, according to the Citizen, and more vehicles will be brought to Legends during this year's two event days. A similar expansion played out in 2024, when a newly established Clearwater/St. Petersburg-area chapter of the foundation was slated to receive a vehicle for Paralympic participant Kim Seevers, Golf Wire reported at the time — part of a pattern of the fundraiser's proceeds seeding new regional chapters. That same year, organizers gave a VertaCat used at a Legends event to the foundation's new Tampa Bay chapter, according to WINK News. Golf Wire reported that the fundraiser has raised more than $350,000 in total.
Legends Golf and Country Club dates back to 1999 and includes 1,291 home sites, the Citizen reports. Its championship course reopened this year after a 2025 redesign by Garl & Nix Architects.
