I’ve been playing golf for 77 years. My dad gave me my first lesson when I was nine-years old. I remember that day because he was hit by a golf ball as we walked down the first fairway by an impatient golfer on the tee behind us. Wow, I didn’t realize this was going to be such a hazardous sport.

During my golfing years, I can’t remember a period when I didn’t play with some regularity, except perhaps during college. While in college, I made up for those missed four-hour rounds during the school year by playing frequently during the summer. My normal golfing schedule is twice a week. Not counting golf outings, golf tournaments, and golf trips, I would guess I have spent at least twenty thousand hours tromping around golf courses.

So, you might think I would have become pretty good at the game. Ah ha. Not bad perhaps, but I never seriously took golf lessons or spent long hours on a practice range honing my skills. I enjoyed a number of years in my 40s and 50s enjoying a single digit handicap, but that is single digit as an 8 and 9.

Scoring your age or better in a golf score gets some acknowledged praise and to date I have done that 127 times. But I confess, it becomes easier once you surpass the 80th-year birthday. I first scored a 70 at age 70. Oh, boy, I thought, I’m on a roll now. Unfortunately, at 71 the best I could do was a 72, and at 72 my best was a 73. Hey, come on now!

In my 80s I moved up to the forward tees (since I was hitting drives 200 yards or less) and the scores improved. One time I even scored a 69, my lowest round ever. I’ve had one hole-in-one during all those years.

What a great game it is. Memories of playing in Member/Guest Tournaments with my father or my favorite uncle, Uncle Paul, are treasures. I don’t recall ever winning THEIR tournaments, but the year I invited my dad to my Country Club in Lafayette, Indiana for my Member/Guest we won our flight. It took a 15-foot putt on the final hole to clinch the match, but I made it. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Winners Lafayette Country Club, Dad far left

Laughs on the golf course were frequent. For example, one morning I had driven out to the course from my office to set up for a company golf outing later that day. I wanted to drop off coolers of beer and soft drinks at some mid-course locations. The pro said it would be alright to drive my station wagon on the cart paths to drop off the coolers. I was still in my coat and tie from the office. Passing four women on one of the greens, I stopped, rolled down my window and asked, “Excuse me ladies. Can you tell me how to get to Interstate 65?”

“Oh sir,” they replied. “You are so lost. You’re on a golf course.”

One member of our regular Saturday foursome had a terrible temper. Whenever he had a bad shot, he would scream and cuss loudly. We three others had learned to just ignore Bob during his tantrums. One day following his slice out of bounds, Bob tossed his driver several yards into tall weeds. We all quietly shuffled off to help look for the thrown golf club. Searching unsuccessfully for several minutes, one of our guys broke the silence by asking, “Hey Bob. What were you hitting?”

My boss, Jim Risk, is a golfer–a very good golfer. Thanks to Jim’s connections and influence I’ve had a chance to play on six of what Golf Magazine considers the 100 best golf courses in America. Three of those courses were ranked in the top ten: Pine Valley, Cypress Point, and Pebble Beach. The other three were TPC Sawgrass, Murfield Village, and Harbor Town.

During the years Michele and I spent our winters in Florida, my friend Bob Irvine and I used to volunteer as Standard Bearers at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Tournament in Orlando. We had the opportunity to get close and personal with a number of outstanding professional golfers.

Posed picture at the Arnold Palmer Golf Invitational

For the last 20 years I have played with a group of 30 or 40 golfers who used to play exclusively at the Indiana University Golf Course. Three years ago, IU redesigned its course and it is now very challenging. Most of the Indiana group are seniors and rather than accept the added 10 to 12 strokes the new IU course demands, have chosen to play at other more forgiving links. I have done that and as mentioned before, by moving up to forward tees (Less than 5,000 yards) can match or beat my age (86) during most of my rounds.

Annually, I bring all the former IU golfers together for what I call a Rider Cup Tournament. This year, 2024, was the 14th year for the Rider Cup matches. The event is spelled “Rider” and not “Ryder” like the official tournament because all our guys RIDE golf carts. I match the players into two-man teams, a low handicapper with a high. The format is to play six holes as net best ball, six holes as a scramble, and six holes as an alternate shot. The alternate shot phase requires the high handicapper to hit a tee shot 150 yards over a water hazard on the 17th hole. Many contending teams have lost their lead on that hole. The Rider Cup tournament is a popular event and is not always won by the team with the lowest handicapped player.

What a great game.