Age has no limits on course
Friendly competition is still going strong on the golf course for veteran Drouin golfers Phil Edwards and Rich Thomas. While the pair of 90-year-olds originally met with Rich driving Phil’s granddaughter to school as a bus driver, their love of golf drew them back together at the Drouin club about 25 years ago. “He has a car and still drives as if it is a bus,” Phil quipped. Rich’s golfing began in the 1940s on a nine-hole course with sand scrapes on a property in Poowong, where Rich farmed for 64 years. Stints at Korumburra and Lang Lang, where he won the C grade championship in 1977, followed before he wound up at Drouin, where he won the D grade championship in 2013. Phil also took up golf at a young age, with his first hit coming as a 13-year-old while staying with family in Euroa. Phil has been successful in his own right, playing pennant at both Warragul and Drouin and winning a B grade championship. Phil’s golfing career has included one hole-in-one, with perhaps his crowning achievement taking an open mixed competition win with Elma Pepperell in the 1960s with 72 off the stick. Both began their golf with a set of old clubs, in Phil’s case and old set of women’s clubs from a neighbour, while Rich’s first set was an old hickory shaft putter from his mother. “This is my 69th year of golf,” Phil said. “I became a member at Warragul in 1952 and then joined Drouin about a year after it started in 1957. “I held membership of both clubs until I got married in 1965 and decided to commit myself to the one club. “I’ve been at Drouin ever since. “I remember the first competition here. It was a nine-hole course on a ploughed field with sand scrapes. “The winning score was 120 and I reckon the worst score was 190. Many things have changed.” Phil, who still goes to the gym and works part time from home, said he relishes the challenge of getting out on the course each week. “You still have the competitive aspect. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you are always aiming to improve no matter what you’re doing.
“It keeps you physically and mentally active.” With the pair now the oldest members at the club, competition between the pair can often be fierce. “We do pick on one another a bit,” Phil said. “Yes, there is a bit of bulldust, isn’t there,” Rich added.
“You’ve got to be light hearted,” Phil said. “It’s a social outlet and you’re keeping contact with people of all ages.”
Despite possibly being the only member in Drouin club history to have his full set of clubs pinched after parking his cart near the road, Rich also values his time on the course.
“I came in for a cup of tea, went back out and they were gone,” Rich said.
“I am very lucky to still be out here. “Fortyfour years ago I had a big operation where I was told if they didn’t operate in two days, I would be dead.
“I was also told I would never play golf again after getting my kidney removed three years ago. And here I am back playing.”
Both thoroughly recommend the game to any competitor, with the introduction of carts helping many remain in the game for longer.
“Golf is a sport where all ages can play on equal footing,” Phil said.
“With golf you’re only playing against the course. The handicap system works the rest out and you compete against each other.
“Age is not a limitation.”