The Ageless Sport of Golf

There is an underground competitive sports league happening right in the middle of St. Louis. This unofficial men’s golf “league” takes place in Forest Park, and is an invitation-only competition. At the Forest Park golf links in the early mornings of Monday through Fridays, you can find the men preparing for long nine holes of golf. Yesterday, I was blessed with the invitation to swing the irons with these men. Upon arrival I found that these athletes ranged from the ages of 75-85 years old. My grandfather, a regular, reached out and let me see what this therapeutic experience was all about.

My grandfather is a lifelong golfer. Everything my extremely in shape, 75 year old grandfather does in life involves golf. As a boy growing up in Indiana he caddied, throughout high school he won state championships in golf, he played in the competitive Pro-AM’s and in his 22-year retirement he hasn’t stopped caddying and playing as much as he possibly could. Six out of seven days a week, my grandfather is caddying, officiating or playing on a course. Some people pay counselors for therapy to keep sane, my grandfather takes to the links. Seventy-five years young, and sticking to his old-school roots, I’m proud to say that he refuses to ride a cart and carries his bags of clubs all of 18 holes, the entire time looking for stray golf balls; and yesterday was no exception.

This 8:30 am tee time at Forest Park has always been a tradition for these men. They put their names in a hat and pick out the foursomes they will be playing with for the day. Names like Skinny George, Wild Bill and Slick Willy left me intrigued to see if the name’s held up to their personalities. These old-timers were as full as life as any college frat kid, cracking jokes and roasting each other throughout the morning. When meeting Skinny George for the first time he asked, “You ready to play with the L-D’s.”

“Sure,” I said unfamiliar with the phrase.

“You know L-D’s stand for right? Us, Limp Dicks.”

Immediately, I knew I was in for a fun morning.

Now, I’m the first to admit that I am not the best golfer, and really just play for the fun of it. Hands down these L-D’s were taking me to school on the golf course. Though, they couldn’t drive the ball as they used to when they were younger, they could hit the ball far enough and always hit their fairways, (the two foursomes, ended up -1 and Even for the day). Though they didn’t move as fast as they once could, you would have never guessed their age by their golf game. It was refreshing to play with guys that were older and were full of life. They would give me some much needed tips on my golf game and a new outlook on life.

Golf is a weird sport like that. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can be a great golfer at age 7 or 87. What is the most popular hobby to take up in retirement? Golf. It’s one of the unique sports in which you can go out with friends, relax and take in the most beautiful views you’ve ever seen. It doesn’t matter if you are a terrible golfer or not, golf is a fun sport for all ages, male or female. As the old saying goes, “A bad day of golf sure beats any day at work.”

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience playing with the guys yesterday. And I got the sense that the guys were excited to have some young blood in their presence as well, by the way they were telling me all kinds of great stories. So, next time you see the grumpy old men going out to play a round of golf, don’t take them lightly. Those guys may have been three times as old as me, but their golf score was at least three times better than mine.