PGA golfer and Air Force spouse Vincent Kabaso tees off at Tama Hills, an Air Force-operated course in western Tokyo, Oct. 21, 2025. (Marc Castaneda/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — It’s been an unlikely journey for professional golfer Vincent Kabaso, from an African mining town to the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo.
Zambia’s first member of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America arrived at Yokota last year with his wife, Air Force Maj. Hannah Kabaso, director of operations for the 374th Force Support Squadron.
In Japan, the long-hitting linksman competes in area professional tournaments and gives golf lessons to airmen and civilians at Yokota’s par-3 course and driving range.
One golfer Vincent Kabaso helped this year is Vietnam veteran Preston Lofton, a member of the Air Force’s Tama Hills Golf Course in Tokyo since 1987.
“I try to point other people in his direction to improve their golf,” Lofton said Tuesday morning as the pair stood on Tama’s practice putting green.
PGA golfer and Air Force spouse Vincent Kabaso, left, speaks with Vietnam veteran Preston Lofton at Tama Hills, an Air Force-run course in western Tokyo, Oct. 21, 2025. (Marc Castaneda/Stars and Stripes)
PGA golfer and Air Force spouse Vincent Kabaso practices putting at Tama Hills, an Air Force-operated course in western Tokyo, Oct. 21, 2025. (Marc Castaneda/Stars and Stripes)
Kabaso chronicled his path from Zambia to American pro golf in his 2020 autobiography, “Raised by the World.”
His journey began in the copper mining town of Luanshya, where he grew up with seven siblings in a two-bedroom house without running water or electricity.
“Most kids hunted mice with slingshots or played barefoot soccer for fun,” he recalled Tuesday while sitting in Tama’s clubhouse.
When his father, a mine security guard, introduced him to golf at age 10 on the company course, Kabaso was hooked. The self-taught sportsman became a scratch player with a set of just seven clubs and won the junior national championship at age 15.
Kabaso’s passion for the game took him to Scotland and then the United States.
During a stint as an assistant at New Haven Country Club in Connecticut, he became an Air Force spouse, which led him to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, where he qualified for his PGA certificate in 2018.
At Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, Kabaso got involved with First Tee, a program that teaches golf and life lessons to younger people.
“During one event, we had 500 kids come and receive a golf clinic and mentorship in a day,” he said.
When he’s not smashing drives more than 300 yards, Kabaso gives motivational speeches and produces his own podcast, “Relentless,” which is available on YouTube and his website, vincentkabaso.com.
