Health & Fitness: Young at Heart: Golf Digest Magazine

Young at Heart

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These venerable golfers prove that this really is a game for life. How'd they do it?

ED ERVASTI / 93 LONDON, ONTARIO

Photo By Jensen Larson

The 1978 and '83 North & South Senior Amateur champion bettered his age by 21 strokes in July, when he shot a 72 at the Old Course at Sunningdale Golf & Country Club in his hometown of London, Ontario. The 21-shot differential between strokes and age is recognized by Golf Digest as a record.

"I've played competitive golf my whole life. I was the low amateur two years in a row at the Western Open in St. Louis [1952 and '53]. Lloyd Mangrum won the tournament and Bobby Locke was second, but I was the low amateur. I also played in two U.S. Opens -- in 1949 at Medinah and 1956 at Oak Hill. On one hole, they tracked the length of drives for The Chicago Tribune. I had the second-shortest drive, but the shortest drive was hit by Bobby Locke. I outhit only one guy, but a pretty good guy.

"I had a hip operation several years ago, but this past summer I felt all right and thought, I don't see why I can't shoot a par round. I've had 74s and 75s, so why not 72? So I'm playing the Old Course at Sunningdale in July. It got up to 96 degrees that day, which was tough for me. I had to drink a lot of water so I wouldn't pass out. "The second hole is a par 4, and I had about 138 yards to the green for my second shot, so I hit a 6-iron. As I walked to the back of the green I saw a ball on the fringe. But one of the guys playing with me walked across the green and said, 'There's a ball in the hole.' It was mine. Then I birdied the seventh hole, and went out in 33. That's when I thought, Geez, if I keep this up I'll shoot par or better. Of course, right when you start thinking about your score is when you choke. I wasn't going to let the other guys in my group give me any putts. They tried to knock my ball back to me several times, but I said, 'No, no, let me putt out.'

"By the time I get to the par-5 18th, I'm even par for the round. After two woods, I have 115 yards with water on the right and a bunker on the left. It's a big green, but the pin was right in the front, the worst spot. I gagged it -- I really choked. I hit it near the bunker on the left. The only shot I had was a flop shot, and I put it about three feet from the pin. I managed to make it for 72. The next week I played in a senior tournament and shot 75, so I was playing pretty good for a week or two.

"At my age the secret to longevity is, you've got to exercise. I go to a doctor who says, 'You don't look 90, you look 70. What's the secret?' It's exercise. If you ever bottled exercise, it'd be the most popular medicine in the world.

"I walk every morning for about two to three miles. I have for 20-30 years. I walk as fast as I can and keep trying to take a longer step.

"When people ask me, 'Did you shoot your age today?' I always say: 'If I ever play that badly, I'll quit.' "

The Race Is Long: Oldest living male: Tomoji Tanabe, Japan. Born 1895, 112 years old on Sept. 18
Oldest living female: Edna Parker, Shelbyville, Ala. Born 1893, 114 years old
Oldest ever male: Shigechiyo Izumi, Japan. Born 1865, died 1986, 120 years and 237 days old
Oldest ever female: Jean Louise Calment, France. Born 1875, died 1997, 122 years and 164 days old
Number of U.S. golfers over 70: 3.1 million (10.8 percent of total U.S. golfers)
Number of U.S. centenarians (100 or over): 71,000
Percentage of these who are female: 80
Projected number of U.S. centenarians in 2020: 241,000
Life expectancy in the U.S.: 77.3
Average number of years by which women outlive men in America: 5.4
Estimated number of people age 110 or more worldwide: 300-450
Country with highest life expectancy: Japan (81.9)
Country with lowest life expectancy: Swaziland (33.0)
What Poland's oldest resident, Benedykta Mackiello, told the press on her 113th birthday in May 2006: "I'm most worried that I will never die." [She died in January.]