55+
golfing
Can’t Get Enough?
Steve Clark, 58, putting at the Cazenovia County Club.
For golf-aholics, it’s always time to hit the green By Aaron Gifford
O
ne of the advantages of being an older adult is you have more time to do things you enjoy. This could be due to retirement or because the kids are finally out of the house. Golf is one of those hobbies that some people can’t get enough of, and it easily ranks among the top warm-weather leisure activities for Central New Yorkers 55 and up. But the words leisure or fun should not imply that senior golfers here don’t take their game seriously. Whether they prefer to play in competitive tournaments, in mixed league or with friends and family, the most dedicated “golfaholics” describe their passion for the game almost as a religion. Some would play seven days a week if they could. Here are their stories:
Steve Clark, 58, Cazenovia Country Club ■ Addiction got to the point where he insisted on having clubs in his car at all times Clark grew up near the Lyndon course in Fayetteville. His father and uncle were avid golfers, and back then Arnold Palmer was among the most decorated sports heroes. When Clark was 10, he and his buddies used to
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55 PLUS - August / September 2011
scour the Lyndon course for nine-hole punch ground that had been littered on the grounds. Employees would honor the cards if the kids purchased a snack first. “I remember playing 63 holes in one day when we were about 11 years old,” said Clark, a retired concrete business owner. “I got home at 8:30 that night.” And after that marathon outing, Clark was hooked. His father, Donald, became an original member of the Cazenovia Country Club in 1965, and the family moved to that community three years later. Clark has played that course for 43 years now and remains a member, playing every day of the week at times. In the winter, he’ll play a few rounds in Pinehurst, N.C., and a few more at the Lexington Country Club with his dad, now 91. “He’s trying to shoot his age, and making a pretty good run at it,” Clark said. “I hope I’ll be able to do the same thing when I get older.” For now, Clark has a 6 handicap and usually shoots about 78 at the Cazenovia course, regularly enjoying several rounds under par. He got his ex-wife, Meg, a job at the country club after their divorce. Their son, Duane, also works there, and their daughter Cassie worked there in the past.
“Everybody’s there — my family and my golfing family,” Clark said. Clark played through high school. He didn’t play as frequently while attending college at SUNY Oswego because there was no one to play with. He managed to play once or twice a week during the early years of his marriage and after starting his concrete business, but he also played softball, which took him off the course at least one night a week. But he quit softball at 30 to join a golf league, and gradually increased his time on the course. Clark’s addiction got to the point where he insisted on having clubs in his car at all times. That decision was made about 25 years ago, after a co-worker asked Clark to join him on the course. Clark had to drive more than an hour round-trip to retrieve his clubs at home and missed a round of golf. “I still have nightmares about it,” he joked. Clark was interviewed by phone as he was vacationing in Maine. He still brought his clubs on the trip even though no golf outings were planned, “on the slim chance that someone might be up for a round later.” “Even if I don’t play,” he said, “I can hit some range balls into the ocean.”