Kris Blanks taking a different 'track' for charity

The PGA Tour and its members are no strangers when it comes to thinking of others who are less fortunate, before thinking of themselves.

Each year, the PGA Tour and it's players, donate millions of dollars as well as their time and effort to charities, that have positive effects to thousands, if not millions of people around the globe.

One such charity that hits home to so many, is Birdies for the Brave.

Birdies for the Brave is a military outreach initiative proudly supported by the PGA Tour that is dedicated to supporting the brave men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.

Since 2005, the Tour has joined with PGA Tour players and corporate partners to raise millions of dollars for military home front groups that provide critical programs and services to meet the specialized needs of wounded warriors and military families, through fundraising events at TPC clubs nationwide.

This season, PGA Tour player Kris Blanks, is taking a different 'track', to raise money for Birdies for the Brave.

The Warner Robbins, Georgia native will be hosting a charity Radio Controlled (RC) Car race, the Tuesday before the Honda Classic in Palm Beach, Florida.

Blanks, a very active twitter user on the PGA Tour, posts pictures all the time of he and his sons racing around their RC cars at their home in Florida.

Having recently spoke with Kris about his upcoming charity event, he offered insight to how the event came to fruition and what it means to him.

I asked Kris how he thought to do something so different than the normal meet and greet, dinner charity fund raisers.

"All the guys out here on tour, we all have our cool cars, we all like everything that goes fast. My sons and I trash our cul-de-sac daily with them. It's always fun, I thought we could put something together and see how it goes."

"I talked to some of the guys out here, and most of the guys have them, so the idea came from there."

Blanks' father was a member of the United States Air Force and we spoke a little about his life, growing up and playing golf as a military kid.

"Obviously growing up in the military, we had a very tight knit family. Always moving around from state to state and even overseas. My dad was a great golfer and was always playing with the commanders all the time and had a lot of fun with it."

"We moved around quite a bit the middle part of my youth and got to visit a lot of neat places."

Kris continued to say, "We obviously owe a lot of our freedom to the military. Growing up in the military, I think I have a great appreciation for everything they do as many others do as well."

"The event is going to benefit, Birdies for the Brave. It's a great organization the Tour has established a relationship over the last couple of years. It's a great organization helping out military servicemen and their families."

When asked if he had always planned to have it connected with the military, without hesitation Blanks responded.

"I definitely did. Anything I had planned to do with this, I wanted it to be military wise. Anything that I put my name on, I was going to make sure it had some sort of military connection."

"Players do what is close and dear to them, where some players have had family and friends battling cancer. They do work for that cause because it is close to them."

"I've been very fortunate not to have anything like that effect my family. But being a military family, I really wanted to keep it with a military attachment."

I asked Kris about the event itself. Would it be light hearted, serious or just everyone having a good time for a great cause.

"We're going to keep the event light hearted and fun."

"There will be some fun stuff going on. We're getting trophies made up for the worst and best drivers and who breaks their car first."

"We're going to have a military race, letting the active duty servicemen get some time on the track, as well as a kids race."

As you can see, Blanks has very strong ties to the military throughout his life, and is working hard to promote the Birdies for the Brave organization with a little different twist at their event.

The event will be held Tuesday February 28th, at Basher's RC Raceway in Palm Beach, Florida.

We wish Kris all the best at his event, and congratulate him on giving his time and effort to the men and women of our military.