THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 2, 1995 TAG: 9508010101
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 139 lines
THEY CRAVE THE competition and companionship. They have no complaints with the heat, wind or rain.
In fact, even when the game deposits balls into creeks, sand traps and trees, a sense of humor surfaces and carries them through.
That's the game of golf for the over-55 crowd in Western Tidewater.
``It takes a lot of practice and a good frame of mind,'' says Ed Jenkins, 57, of Carrollton. ``You have to have patience with yourself because you control everything in the game - your swing, the direction of the ball . . . ''
Jenkins, one of 42 members of the South of the James Seniors Golf Club, takes his best shot every Wednesday with other members who travel with him to various golf courses across Hampton Roads.
On this particular Wednesday, 32 members - eight groups of four - teed off at Suffolk Golf Course off Holland Road.
The group got its start last December, when Smithfield golfers Dan McLaughlin and Lewis Chapman decided they wanted to play closer to home. They had played with a Virginia Beach seniors club for nine seasons, on 14 or 15 courses.
The avid golfers were tired of commuting that far to play and decided to hold a membership drive at Smithfield Downs Golf Course.
The only membership requirements were that players be older than 55 and have handicaps of up to 34.
A handicap, McLaughlin explains, is figured on how many swings at the ball you take over par for the course, and par is usually 72. So, if your handicap is 34 and your score is 106, you're playing par golf.
The drive netted 30 members, and 12 more have joined since then. In fact, membership is closed until the end of the year, McLaughlin says.
``We have several members in their 70s, and one member is 80 years old. Golf is one of those things you never retire from.''
Suffolk resident and former Virginian-Pilot sports writer Jack Harris, 77, is living proof. He's been playing for 69 years.
``I've never gotten a hole-in-one,'' Harris says. ``But I've come close a few times. In my younger days, I used to play an 11 handicap. Now I'm a 30 - and growing.''
On this particular day, Harris was hitting with Jenkins, Pete Kleiber, 57, of Portsmouth, and Harry Dashiell, 70, of Smithfield.
The group was on the second green, and sweat was already starting to pour when three of the four tried to make short putts that failed.
Jenkins let out an exclamation as he putted toward the hole and watched the ball do a dance.
``That hole's got a lid on it,'' Dashiell said. ``Somebody steal that hole. There's got to be a little ridge around it that keeps the balls from going in.''
One link ahead, Smithfield residents Gene Berres, 65; J.J. Jones, 68; Eryk Szajnar, 72; and Harold Hoffstaetter, 57, were trying their luck on the third hole.
But luck wasn't in everyone's corner.
Szajnar took his second shot, hoping to clear some branches, but the ball jumped and then dropped, hitting a cluster of trees.
Szajnar shook his head in disgust. ``I wanted to get underneath those branches. But hey, that's the game!''
``One of the nice things about this group is that everyone is a good sport,'' Berres said. ``No one gets upset. There's no club throwing. No cussing. We just have a good time.''
Finally, that sweet whack of a successful drive was heard across the course, when Jones hit off the fourth tee.
``That man knows how to hit a ball off the tee,'' Hoffstaetter said.
``Hey,'' Jones added, ``I'm just thankful to be out here.''
Jones watched as the ball made a glorious arc through the air and flew toward the green.
Two weeks before this match, the group played at Seven Springs in Chesapeake, and Hoffstaetter saw two neighborhood boys steal his ball off the course.
``I saw them go into a house with my ball. So I drove my cart up to the house, knocked and said, `Do you have two sons? They took my golf ball, and I want it back.' ''
The ball was returned.
``I got eight kids, and they all play golf,'' said Hoffstaetter, retired from the Navy. ``I can beat seven of my kids. My youngest boy I can't beat. He's gotten two holes in one, and I can't get one. I'm playing to beat him.''
For the women of Smithfield Downs Ladies Golf Association, the challenge is to beat your last score.
The group has a ringer board that allows members to record their best scores on every hole. Each time a score is improved, they erase the old score and record the better one.
``If you do worse, you don't touch it,'' said Diane ``Unpredictable'' Brown, 51, of Smithfield. ``At the end of the season, you hope to par the course.''
On the second hole at Smithfield Downs, Brown hit a shot that hugged the ground and flew toward another player in her group.
``Fore!'' she yelled.
``That's why they call me `Unpredictable Brown.' There's never a dull moment.''
Jean Granger, tournament director for the ladies group, explained their golf objective: ``On par 5's you should shoot a 3, on par 4's shoot a 2, and on all par 3's shoot a hole-in-one.''
Tough game.
But Granger, 70, of Newport News, keeps trying.
And every Thursday morning, 12 other women join her.
Helen Love, 77, the oldest member and one of the group's two original members, has been playing 25 years.
``I started too late,'' she said. ``You need to start when your muscles are in good shape.''
Coming up on a par-3 hole, Love said, ``And now we get to play the greenie game. That means you try to get the ball on the green on the first shot. The one closest to the pin gets 10 cents from the other players.''
This is serious stuff, and all talk stops when these ladies go to bat.
``Women are much more serious about their golf game then men,'' Granger said. ``Men will cheat. They cheat all the time. If they hit it in the rough, they'll move the ball. Just ask 'em. Women follow the rules.''
Membership in the ladies' group is open now because membership has dwindled over the years. Several members have died.
``Once you get hooked on golf,'' Granger said, ``you just play till you drop dead.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Helen Love waits for Diane Scott, left, and Barbara Bryant to record
their scores at Smithfield Downs.[color cover photo]
Diane ``Unpredictable'' Brown watches her putt.
Ed Jenkins, 57, of Carrollton lifts the pin during a game.
Ann Whitley drives the ball at Smithfield Downs.
The starting lineup for the South of the James Seniors Golf Group.
One-armed Jack Harris has not let his handicap deter him. Besides
taking swings singlehandedly, he has a special device on one of his
clubs to pick up golf balls.
Pete Kleiber, 57, of Portsmouth, plays with the South of the James
Seniors Golf Club.
by CNB