Still Us Foundation announced that its signature adaptive golf program, formerly known as Engaged Golf, was reimagined and renamed Still Us on the Green. Through the sponsorship of philanthropist Vivian Jacobson, the program is now offered at no cost to participants, eliminating the previous $10 fee and dismantling the last financial barrier between people living with dementia, their care partners, and a morning on the course.
The program welcomes people experiencing brain change and the loved ones who walk beside them–spouses, adult children, neighbors, and professional caregivers–onto the same green, in the same patch of sunlight. There are no scorecards, and all swings are welcome. There is only the love of the game, friendly company, and the simple dignity of being met as the person you have always been.
Still Us on the Green is the first community program by the Still Us Foundation, a new nonprofit led by neuropsychologist Karen D. Sullivan, whose work has helped shape a person-centered approach to dementia care across the community. The program first launched as Engaged Golf, developed under Sullivan’s 2023 Reid Healthcare Transformation Fellowship through The Foundation of FirstHealth, one of more than 75 community inclusion initiatives created as part of The Engaged Brains Project. It was an impact project of Sue Wright and Lorelei Penta Milan, with support from Lori Lee and Laurie Fabian.
Still Us on the Green carries that work forward as one of its most visible expressions: a place where dementia support does not happen in a clinic, and where the people most often defined by a diagnosis are simply welcomed into community life.
Why Pinehurst and Why Now?
The stakes are uniquely local. Pinehurst is the officially designated “Home of American Golf,” a title bestowed by both the United States Golf Association and the state of North Carolina. Nearly 40 percent of its residents are age 65 or older, one of the highest concentrations of older adults of any town in America.
“For an enormous share of those neighbors, golf has not been a weekend hobby,” Sullivan said in a press release. “It is the reason they moved here. It is the rhythm of their weekly social life, the shared language of their friendships, and a meaningful piece of who they are. A dementia diagnosis has too often meant losing access to the very things that drew people to this community in the first place and with it, the friends, routines, and sense of self that came with the game. Still Us on the Green is built on the conviction that it does not have to be that way.”
“Identity does not end at diagnosis, and neither does belonging on the course,” added Sue Wright, president of Still Us Foundation.
The Neuroscience Behind the Swing
Behind the program’s emotional power sits a piece of neuroscience that helps explain why golf, of all activities, works so well for people living with brain change. The dementias do not damage the brain uniformly.
Procedural memory, the kind that moves the body into position to putt or swing, lives in the basal ganglia and cerebellum, regions largely spared until late in the disease, according to Sullivan. Declarative memory, which we rely on for the names of clubs and the keeping of scores, depends on the hippocampus, a region Alzheimer’s disease damages early, said Sullivan. The result is that someone who can no longer recall the day of the week can still step up and connect with the ball with great success.
“What is really cool is that other parts of the brain remember very well how to putt and swing,” Sullivan said. “What makes golf remarkable isn’t just having great technique. Time on the course gives people needed cardiovascular exercise, exposure to sunlight, time being social, sensory stimulation, and identity all at once. Most therapeutic interventions touch one or two of those, but golf touches all of them.”
Community Sponsor Chips In
At the program’s inaugural free event on May 4, that ethos came vividly to life. A van from Magnolia Gardens pulled up to the course and another one from Belle Meade. Ultimately, more than 40 neighbors arrived, old and new friends ready to spend a morning together putting at Wee Pines Mini Golf in Pinehurst. Music and laughter, too, were included, and for a special donor, tears of the good kind.
For Vivian Jacobson, the moment that crystallized her support came on the course itself, remembering with her mother-in-law, Greta Jacobson, who lived with dementia and inspired her donation.
“I know that my mother-in-law is not in heaven today: she is on this course with us,” Jacobson said, reaching for her phone. “I called my stockbroker from the green and told him that there was no stock on the New York Stock Exchange that had the return on investment that this program does and to do whatever it took for me to be able to reduce all financial barriers to participation.”
Participants and volunteers celebrated Jacobson with cake, hugs, and an outpouring of gratitude. Her sponsorship ensures that anyone who wants to participate in Still Us on the Green can do so regardless of means.
“Players and volunteers of all kinds have showed up in full force,” said Lorelei Penta Milan, who envisioned the original Engaged Golf program alongside Sue Wright. “Susan with Wee Pines has been a fabulous host and welcomed everyone with warmth and flexibility. Being able to honor Vivian and her support of our program on the course with more than 40 players was heartwarming. It was truly a day that Sue and I dreamed of when we first imagined this idea back in 2024—people of all abilities, backgrounds, and experiences simply connecting through joy, play, and belonging.”
More Than Memory Care
Program leaders note that while the science of dementia care informed the program’s design, its heart is something larger.
“At the end of the day, what may have been the most important thing is that it wasn’t about dementia at all,” Wright said. “It’s about being out in the fresh air, having a laugh, being supported, singing along to 1960’s era music, and being a part of this amazing golf community that brought so many people to our area.”
Where to Play
Still Us on the Green is hosted monthly, primarily at Wee Pines Mini Golf, where Wright and Milan continue to organize a deep bench of neighbors who turn out month after month. Now, the group has additional support with Still Us board members Steven Wright, Lori Lee and Clive Becker-Jones, as well as community members Pam Hansen and Debbie Lookabaugh.
Pinewild Country Club has joined as the program’s first satellite venue, championed on the ground by Fabian and Bob Weber, whose tireless coordination has helped turn an idea into a reality that participants now look forward to all month.
The Wee Pines group meets the first Monday of the month from 10-11 a.m. at Wee Pines Mini Golf, located at 265 Central Park Ave., Pinehurst. Upcoming dates include July 6, Aug. 3, Sep. 14 (due to Labor Day holiday), Oct. 5, Nov. 2 and Dec. 7.
The Pinewild group meets on the third Monday of the month from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the Pinewild Country Club Driving Range, located at 85 Glasgow Dr., Pinehurst. Upcoming dates include June 15, July 20, Aug. 17, Sep. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 16 and Dec. 21.
All are welcome to attend and play at both sites, and there is no cost to participate.
Still Us Foundation is seeking additional partnerships with local golfers affected by brain change and with golf organizations interested in hosting future sessions and plans to add additional satellite venues as the model expands across the region.
Still Us Foundation creates community-rooted experiences for people living with brain change and the caregivers, families, and neighbors who love them. Through programs like Still Us on the Green, the Foundation challenges the cultural narrative around brain change—insisting that connection, identity, and joy remain available long after a diagnosis is delivered.
For more information on Still Us Foundation or Still Us on the Green, contact 910-800-3065 or visit www.stillus.org.
Feature photo: Still Us on the Green participants and volunteers gathered at Wee Pines Mini Golf in Pinehurst for the May putting social.
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Contributed article/photo.
