Tim Gaestel
In 2003, while driving through a dangerous area south of Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded as Gaestel’s Humvee was passing. Two pieces of shrapnel went through his lower individual body armor and into his back. Gaestel remained in Iraq for eight months, and in April 2004, he returned from deployment. He received the Purple Heart for his injuries during that attack.
Gaestel was accepted to Texas State University in 2008 and he credits golf with pulling him out of a dark place in his life. He graduated in May 2011 and moved to San Angelo, Texas to work for Bentwood Country Club as head coach of the junior high school golf program. Previously, Gaestel was an assistant golf coach and teacher of U.S. History at Central High School and during the fall of 2015 accepted a Head Golf Coach job in Cedar Park, Texas at Vista Ridge High School.