One of my greatest fears upon entering prison was that the world would move on and that I would be forgotten. Every day since my self-surrender, my loved ones have proven that I am not forgotten. The world has indeed moved on, but in one particular way, that is a very good thing. I was chasing a dream when my life was interrupted by incarceration. In my absence my friends and colleagues carried on and made that dream a reality for me and our community.
Canal Shores is a golf course and recreational green space embedded in the neighborhoods of north Evanston and southeast Wilmette, IL. It fell into severe disrepair and was on the verge of closing permanently when a group of neighbors took over its management. I began volunteering there 12 years ago because I believed that the course was special and had the potential to be unique in America. My involvement progressed to the point where I was serving on the community association board and organizing large work sessions to rehab various parts of the course.
The course gradually came back from the brink, gaining an enthusiastic base of players. I shared the turnaround story on my website GeekedOnGolf.com and my social media accounts, and I became a cult hero among golf geeks. The Golf Channel and other media outlets covered the story, sending reporters to play the course and work volunteer sessions. After helping us rebuild bunkers, Tony Dear from Links Magazine wrote of me:
“He won’t take the credit and will insist nothing could have happened without the Board’s efforts prior to his becoming involved, but it is safe to say that Jason Way has been the catalyst behind the restoration/renovation project currently going on at Canal Shores Golf Club, 15 miles north of Chicago.
Forty-four-year-old Way is a father of two boys and the remote manager of a small consumer goods business based in Phoenix, Ariz. He doesn’t have a lot of spare time, but what little he does get he uses to dig, cut, prune, mow, shovel, plant, clear and shape the 40 or so golfing acres of the nearly century-old golf course that opened in 1919.”
What the media did not know at the time was that shortly after I went all in on Canal Shores, my legal ordeal began. I shared my situation with my fellow dream chasers in the community, and instead of backing away, they allowed me to step up my service to our mission even more. The prosecutor might have been claiming that I was a drug kingpin with ties to Hezbollah, but my Canal Shores comrades chose to trust what they saw with their eyes. That support motivated me, as did the picture the government attempted to paint. They said I was a bad guy. I resolved to prove them wrong by doing more good. When they harassed me, I harassed the overgrown buckthorn. When they tried to tear me down, I rebuilt bunkers.
Looking back I firmly believe that those many hours of stress-releasing physical labor, coupled with the love I received from the community, saved my life. I attended my final volunteer session just days before I left to self-surrender to prison and my comrades vowed that they would finish the work we started.
Not only did they keep their word, but they kept me involved over the past four years. The golf course architect shared his plans with me and sought my feedback. The president of the community association board, along with other key players, wrote me letters updating me on progress. The corps of volunteers grew their ranks, branded themselves The Lumberjacks, and dramatically expanded the scope of their activities.
The final coup occurred when the golf course management company KemperSports signed on to manage the facility. Its principal then brought in the Western Golf Association, The First Tee, and the Wadsworth Foundation to fund a major portion of the course renovation. Community members also contributed financially to the campaign and ground was officially broken in 2023, realizing the dream I had been holding onto for more than a decade.
Construction moved along and my people continued to keep me connected. They sent photos and updates, lessening the sting I felt from missing out on seeing the project unfold firsthand. 12 holes of the course opened for preview play in August, 2024 and the reviews of the transformation have thus far been glowing. It warms my heart to know that players are once again out enjoying the game in that special place.
It gets better. As it turned out, others had similar dreams for the impact that Canal Shores can have in our community beyond recreation. The First Tee uses the game of golf as a platform to teach kids nine core values: honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy, and judgment. The programming is designed to build character and competence that extends beyond the golf course to the classroom. The Evans Scholars Foundation rewards caddies and other golf club employees, who are good students but might not otherwise be able to afford higher education, with college scholarships covering full tuition and housing. These two organizations are joining forces at Canal Shores to create what I call a course-to-college pipeline of youth programming and employment.
During my incarceration I have learned about the school-to-prison pipeline that the ACLU defines as “the policies and practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This pipeline reflects the prioritization of incarceration over education.” Educational attainment is the number one predictor of risk for both initial incarceration and recidivism. The Canal Shores course-to-college pipeline will literally be keeping kids out of prison–it will change lives.
When I started work at Canal Shores, my dream was to make a difference. Not only did my friends make that dream a reality, but they enlarged it considerably, keeping me tied to the process from afar. My gratitude to them is beyond words.
I have new dreams as I approach my homecoming. I’m looking forward to walking those regrown fairways with my sons and golf buddies for years to come. And equally important, I intend to throw my talents, experience, network, and energy into promoting the impact of the course-to-college pipeline in every way possible. I will pay forward the love and support that I received from the Canal Shores community, and then some.
