Golfer’s heart for disabled community led to inspiring experience

For as long as she can remember, Andie Greenberg has been invested in giving back to her community. The Walt Whitman High School junior from Bethesda, Md., has been volunteering for various charities with her family since her elementary-school days, but Greenberg has recently been able to take her giving initiatives to a whole new level.

A life-long tennis player, Greenberg started playing golf as a middle-school student during the pandemic. She took to the game immediately, and has been practicing and playing ever since, with hopes of continuing to compete in college. But in addition to her busy golf schedule, Greenberg is also a staunch advocate for the disabled community — a seed that was planted during her grade-school years, volunteering alongside her mom, Michelle, for the Nora Project, a non-profit organization devoted to fostering disability inclusion, empathy and advocacy in Pre-K through 12th grade classrooms.

“At the end of the program, we made documentaries on our buddies and got to share it with the rest of the school on ‘Nora night,’” Greenberg told me recently. “And that’s really what sparked my interest in giving back to the disability community.”

As a high school freshman, Greenberg became a peer buddy with the Best Buddies program, which facilitates bi-weekly hang-outs for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Greenberg said she and her buddy, Alexa, Face-Time frequently between meet-ups and spend a lot of time talking about typical teenage topics. They also enjoy outings to Max’s Best Ice Cream in Bethesda, which partners with Best Buddies provide jobs to intellectually and/or developmentally disabled adults.

While researching ways to raise money for her bat mitzvah project, Greenberg discovered Daniel’s Music Foundation, a New York-based non-profit that provides free music programs to people with disabilities.

“It’s really cool,” Greenberg said. “It’s so inclusive, everyone’s so positive.”

Greenberg raised $2,000 for Daniel’s Music Foundation through the American Junior Golf Association’s Leadership Links program — a joint initiative founded by the USGA and AJGA to further develop junior golfers through volunteerism and philanthropy. In August, Greenberg was recognized for her fundraising efforts as the female recipient of the 2025 USGA-AJGA Presidents’ Leadership Award, which was established in 2005 to identify one male and one female junior golfer who demonstrate leadership, character and community service through their involvement with the Leadership Links program.

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While receiving the award was certainly humbling, Greenberg’s most inspirational moment of the summer happened weeks before the announcement of her honor. The 2025 U.S. Adaptive Open, the USGA’s national championship for golfers with disabilities, was held at Greenberg’s home club, Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. Greenberg intended to help with scoring, but a DM Australian competitor Lachlan Wood asked Greenberg to caddie for him instead. Wood ended up winning his division (Lower Limb Impairment) and tied for second place overall.

“It was so inspiring. It was really cool getting to see all different types of athletes,” Greenberg said. “And they all play golf better than I do. I learned so much from the whole experience, and it was probably one of the best sporting events I’ve ever been to.”

Greenberg says she hopes to continue her philanthropic effort well into her future.

“I don’t know if I have a full plan yet, but I definitely want to keep raising awareness and donating to these different charities that have helped out the community,” she said. “I just think it’s such a good cause and I still want to keep helping out.”

As for next summer? Once week is already booked. The U.S. Adaptive Open will be back at Woodmont in 2026, and Greenberg has already agreed to take up the bag for Wood once more.