The nation’s only golf course designed specifically for facilitating the rehabilitation of wounded and disabled veterans officially doubles in size on June 4 with the opening of the new “Nicklaus Nine” at American Lake Veterans Golf Course in Lakewood, Wash. The Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course will represent the 400th Nicklaus Design to open worldwide since Jack Nicklaus embarked on his course design career in 1969. The Golden Bear donated his design services for American Lake Veterans Golf Course so that more of the nation’s veterans could experience the remarkable healing powers of golf.

“It is a very interesting thing to watch these guys that come home after serving our country and to help them transition back to society. Golf has been a big, big booster to a lot of the guys that have post-traumatic syndrome,” Nicklaus said.

“We’ve got a lot of men and women coming back home, and they need our help,” he added.

The “Nicklaus Nine” will debut during American Lake’s annual volunteer appreciation tournament on Saturday. The grand opening will include a ceremonial ribbon cutting by Joanne Hatner, whose father was the director of the VA Hospital during the first ribbon-cutting ceremony for the course in 1957, an event she attended.

Following the ribbon cutting, Ken Still, a former PGA TOUR professional and fellow member of the 1969 U.S. Ryder Cup team, will represent his close friend Nicklaus and hit the first drive off the new nine while the Golden Bear tends to responsibilities as founder and host of the Memorial Tournament, which also actively supports servicemen and women.

The much-anticipated expansion will be open for others to play beginning Sunday, June 5. The course is ADA-accessible and is run by 200-plus volunteers and operates without any federal funding or paid employees.

“We are all exceptionally excited about the opening of the Nicklaus Nine,” said Bruce McKenty, course manager. “It has been a long time coming and our veterans deserve a first class golf course for all the sacrifices they have made for our country.”

Nicklaus visited the site several times to personally oversee construction and assess its progress. He was drawn to the project by Still.

“Kenny called me, oh, I don’t know, six or seven years ago,” said Nicklaus, “and he told me, ‘Jack, I need your help. We’ve got nine holes of golf out here, and it’s playing 40,000 rounds a year. We need more golf. All these veterans, they’re unbelievable, and I want to help them.”

“‘I want you to design another nine holes,’  Nicklaus recalls Still asking him, “‘and fix up the other nine.’ Well, we’ve raised the money. We’ve done the renovation work on nine holes. And we’ve gotten the [additional] nine holes built.”

American Lake Veterans Golf Course is open to all veterans, their families and guests. This includes active duty, as well as retired military, National Guard and reserve members. The only non-veterans allowed to play are employees of the Veteran’s Administration. Anyone can also play as a guest of someone who qualifies. In 2015, the course ranked No. 1 on Golf Digest’s 2015 list of The 9 Most Cheerful Courses in America.

“I could not be happier that American Lake turned out to be Nicklaus Design’s milestone 400th golf course,” Nicklaus said. “Everything that American Lake stands for parallels our mission at Nicklaus Design, and that is to give people a place to recreate and congregate, and to design a course that best services the needs of the people who play there. It’s been a labor of love to be involved in the planning, fundraising, groundbreaking and design of the Nicklaus Nine at American Lake. I have always said that, in some ways, golf course design is a vehicle for me to give back to the game of golf. This time, we get the opportunity to give back to the men and women who have sacrificed their lives and limbs so we can live free in this country. To thank our nation’s heroes in this small way really is my privilege. It is the least we can do for the 1% of Americans who protect the other 99% of us, reminding us that there is nothing free about freedom.”

In March 2015, the Golden Bear received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor the United States Congress can bestow on a civilian, becoming one of only seven athletes to receive the prestigious honor. A decade earlier, in 2005, Nicklaus was honored by President Bush at The White House with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the Office of the President can  award any U.S. civilian. Nicklaus is one of only two golfers—and just the 17th individual—to receive both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. In addition, he was presented in 2013 with the Corporal Brock Bucklin Patriot Award from Folds of Honor for his unwavering support of military-related causes, such as K9s for Warriors, Combat Veterans to Careers, and Warrior Canine Connection, in addition to American Lake.

Nicklaus’ first design project was Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C., a co-design with Pete Dye that opened in 1969. Since then, no fewer than 140 Nicklaus Design courses have hosted close to 900 professional tournaments or significant national amateur championships worldwide. As many as 100 Nicklaus Design courses have appeared in various national and international Top-100 lists. Among his numerous course design honors, Jack Nicklaus was recognized most recently as Architect of the Year by Golf Magazine for 2014. Nicklaus Design also has three out of five global finalists in Golf Inc.’s 2016 “Renovation of the Year” Contest. The firm currently has projects under construction or under development in 20 different countries.

American Lake is located at 9600 Veterans Drive S.W., Lakewood, Wash. For more information about the course, visit veterangolf.org or call (253) 589-1998.