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Evidence-Based & Proven
Grounded in clinical research (PGA HOPE, VA programs, USC studies). Outcomes include reduced PTSD symptoms, improved social connection, and restored civilian identity.
⛳️ 18 Holes Foundation
Helping Israeli Combat Veterans Heal Through Golf
Open Air
Focus & Skill
Cameraderie
What We Do
"18 Holes" changes the lives of security forces veterans through a proven 6-month golf program that restores self-confidence, builds a supportive community, and brings back a sense of normalcy.
Over half a year of learning and perseverance in the open air, participants learn to navigate both success and setback. They build inner strength and redefine their place in society, not merely as survivors carrying the weight of trauma, but as capable, empowered golfers.
Our Mission
"18 Holes" strives to lead a new global standard for resilience and recovery, where the golf course serves as a bridge between the battlefield and civilian life.
We envision a thriving community of veterans who transform trauma into athletic excellence, replace isolation with an empowering brotherhood of peers, and find mental clarity in the quiet of the green.
The Program: A Proven 3-Phase Approach
My Story.
The Background.
My name is Matan. Since the age of 18, I served in the Oketz unit, within a team specializing in the recovery of the fallen.
A few months after the war started, I found myself in a place I never expected to be. On paper, my life looked stable: a Product Manager and tech entrepreneur with a decade of experience in the government sector. At home, I am a husband and a father.
But inside, after years as a team commander in both active and reserve duty, something broke. The images from the Kibbutzim, the civilians, the children - they stayed with me long after the battles ended. My family and I have since embarked on a long, quiet journey of personal and familial healing.
A few months after the war started, I found myself in a place I never expected to be. On paper, my life looked stable: a Product Manager and tech entrepreneur with a decade of experience in the government sector. At home, I am a husband and a father.
But inside, after years as a team commander in both active and reserve duty, something broke. The images from the Kibbutzim, the civilians, the children - they stayed with me long after the battles ended. My family and I have since embarked on a long, quiet journey of personal and familial healing.
Finding Golf.
Golf entered my life almost by accident, a random Instagram ad I could easily have ignored. I showed up to the course with zero expectations and a lot of noise in my head.
What I found surprised me: for a few hours, all I could do was focus on one small white ball. The open air, the rhythm of walking, the constant dance between failure and small, satisfying wins, and the feeling of gradually belonging to a new world, it all created a kind of normalcy I hadn’t felt in years.
Golf didn’t erase anything, but it gave my nervous system a different script.
What I found surprised me: for a few hours, all I could do was focus on one small white ball. The open air, the rhythm of walking, the constant dance between failure and small, satisfying wins, and the feeling of gradually belonging to a new world, it all created a kind of normalcy I hadn’t felt in years.
Golf didn’t erase anything, but it gave my nervous system a different script.
The Power of Golf.
At first I thought this was just my personal escape.
Then I started reading and discovered programs like PGA HOPE and veteran golf initiatives in the VA system. There were clinical precedents for exactly what I was feeling: structured, skill based sports, especially golf, were being used around the world to help veterans regulate, reconnect, and rebuild their identity.
What I had stumbled into by chance was, in fact, a recognized therapeutic pathway.
Then I started reading and discovered programs like PGA HOPE and veteran golf initiatives in the VA system. There were clinical precedents for exactly what I was feeling: structured, skill based sports, especially golf, were being used around the world to help veterans regulate, reconnect, and rebuild their identity.
What I had stumbled into by chance was, in fact, a recognized therapeutic pathway.
Paying It Forward.
That’s where the idea of paying it forward stopped being a thought and became a personal challenge.
I’ve spent most of my adult life behind the scenes, supporting leaders, building products, enabling others to stand at the front. This time, the work demanded something different: stepping forward myself.
The driving motivation is simple: if golf helped me as a combat veteran in the middle of rehabilitation, it can help others like me. I don’t want to keep this to myself.
I’ve spent most of my adult life behind the scenes, supporting leaders, building products, enabling others to stand at the front. This time, the work demanded something different: stepping forward myself.
The driving motivation is simple: if golf helped me as a combat veteran in the middle of rehabilitation, it can help others like me. I don’t want to keep this to myself.
Why Start a Foundation?
Golf as a Home for Veterans.
That is why I built the 18 Holes Foundation.
It is designed around the values I believe in: discipline without aggression, camaraderie without hierarchy, vulnerability without loss of dignity, and execution without ego.
A place where combat veterans can show up as they are, learn a demanding new skill, fail safely, improve slowly, and discover that there is a version of themselves beyond the trauma, on the course and far beyond it.
It is designed around the values I believe in: discipline without aggression, camaraderie without hierarchy, vulnerability without loss of dignity, and execution without ego.
A place where combat veterans can show up as they are, learn a demanding new skill, fail safely, improve slowly, and discover that there is a version of themselves beyond the trauma, on the course and far beyond it.
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The Team
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Product strategist and serial entrepreneur mentoring veterans in civilian careers. IDF Special Forces Commander. 10+ years of execution in startups and government.
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Venture capital professional at Cardumen Capital (€250M AUM). IDF intelligence officer. Combines investment expertise with deep understanding of veteran needs.
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Technology leader with 20+ years building enterprise systems. Led innovation at the Prime Minister’s Office. Founder and CEO of Munch.
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Commercial lawyer with 12+ years experience. Partner at Tel-Zur & Co Law Offices. Specializes in corporate law, contract negotiation, and complex legal proceedings.
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Serial entrepreneur and Angel investor at heart. 20+ years building category-defining software products across advertising, finance, AI and healthcare.
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