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A state veterans' affairs organization supports a County Council member's proposal to make the Sligo Creek Golf Course in Silver Spring a source of therapy for war veterans, but some say the idea is unprecedented in Maryland and details must be worked out to determine its viability.

Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring proposed the idea in a letter to the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs and other county officials last week, suggesting the MDVA partner with the county to run the course specifically for injured veterans whose physical therapy could be supplemented with golf.

Ervin said she modeled her idea after the American Lake Veterans Golf Course in Washington State, which gives veterans and active-duty military and their families first priority on the course. Military hospital patients play for free.

The course is operated and maintained by an all-volunteer force of grounds crews, operating staff, and maintenance and management personnel. Costs are paid for with greens fee revenues, Ervin said.

"Why can't we use something like that at the Sligo Creek Golf Course?" she said in a phone interview last week. "It could stand on its own two feet and not have to be subsidized by the local government."

Wilbert Forbes, MDVA's deputy secretary, said the Department of Veterans Affairs does not have partnerships with local governments or recreational facilities as extensive as Ervin's proposal, but there is "no question" the MDVA would be interested in the proposal.

"It's not something we deal with on a day-to-day basis, but we are interested in anything that makes sense in terms of assisting our returning veterans," Forbes said.

To learn more about the potential benefits of Ervin's proposal, Forbes said MDVA has reached out to other organizations that provide sports to veterans, including Rockville-based Disabled Sports USA, which provides training in a number of sports, including golf, to veterans.

"Playing a round of golf out in the open air is therapeutic for the mind and body," said Julia Ray, the project manager for Disabled Sport USA's Wounded Warriors program, which began in 2003 and has served more than 1,500 war veterans with disabilities.

While Disabled Sports USA does not have partnerships to operate facilities, the nonprofit holds eight-week golf training programs at the Olney Golf Park and holds clinics at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville.

Many of the program costs and equipment are provided by private sponsors and sports organizations. The PGA of America and other private sponsors donate golf clubs, prosthetic attachments and riding carts for amputees from, Ray said.

Community residents have demanded Sligo Creek remain open to golf after Oct. 1, when the county's lease with the Montgomery County Revenue Authority ends. The Revenue Authority backed out of its lease to operate the course after an independent study earlier this year found the course was a financial drain on the county golf system.

The legal agreement between the county and the Revenue Authority prevents the county from operating the Silver Spring facility as a golf course to prevent competition with the Revenue Authority's other facilities.

Keith Miller, director of the Revenue Authority, said Monday he had not looked over Ervin's proposal and could not comment how his agency would be involved.

But Sonya Healy, a senior legislative aide to Ervin, said if the course were run as a nonprofit, the Revenue Authority – a self-sustaining, for-profit agency that does not rely on taxpayer funds – would likely be out of the equation.

"For the long-term solution we'd want to look for veterans affairs or a nonprofit to run the course and not the Revenue Authority," Healy said, adding that in the short term the Revenue Authority would likely operate the course until any deal with a nonprofit could be reached.

County Executive Isiah Leggett sent a proposal to the County Council July 22 asking for a $150,000 operating subsidy to keep the course open for up to two more years while establishing a task force to determine its long-term future. Healy said Ervin's new approach could be considered by the task force.

A new nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping the course open indefinitely is also in favor of Ervin's initial concept.

"We're very supportive of it, it makes sense," said Karen Howland, president of the newly formed Sligo Creek Golf Association Inc., a coalition of residents that will meet with County Council members to ensure they will appropriate the short-term funds to keep the course open. "Walter Reed is nearby; there are already a fair number of vets who play the course.