Golf beckons him back one last time at age 93

Bobby Pogue plays what likely is his last game. But he could be talked into another round, he says.

By PATRICK COOPER

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Bobby Pogue's tee shot has landed in a creek that traverses Twin Brooks municipal golf course, and his friends look a little worried. They stop fiddling with their clubs and watch.

Pogue is 93 years old and playing golf for the first time in eight months. His hands and grip are still steady and he can see the hole just fine, but the shoulders fly forward on every swing, trying to make up for lost arm strength.

He tees off again. The clear sky is getting brighter and the grass is beginning to dry and between the blue and the green Bobby Pogue can do little wrong.

His friends whoop as the ball lays up easy, feet from the hole.

Much has been said and written about the pastoral quality of golf and of the reverence the game deserves, but Bobby Pogue's round Wednesday morning, likely his last ever, didn't fit the mold. His rounds never have.

For years Pogue and his friends have played a game they don't revere so much as enjoy. The mulligans are easy and the gimmes are gracious. Let the good times roll.

The latest 7 a.m. round was no exception to that tradition.

After depositing his shot on the third green, Pogue deadpanned: "I'm holding back."

His four friends -- Bob Kimball, 68, Bill Manley, 73, Pat McNelis, 65, and Mike Scholl, 80 -- roared with laughter.

"It's a nice thing when you play together with a group of people," Scholl said.

Pogue, who worked in welding and farming before he retired, began playing golf in his early 30s in Troy, Ohio. He started playing regularly after he and his late wife, Lucille, moved to St. Petersburg about 20 years ago.

Twin Brooks, at 3800 22nd Ave. S, has been his course of choice, he said Thursday in an interview at his home in the Jungle Terrace neighborhood. "I usually see somebody (I know) every time down there." And they certainly recognize him.

"You'll have a hard time finding a more easygoing guy at 93," Kimball said.

After the first hole, greenskeeper Jim Sanders greeted Pogue warmly -- the first of several hellos.

"It's unbelievable," Sanders said as Pogue shuffled away. "I've been watching him for the past two years. He never got tired or anything."

But Bobby Pogue isn't Superman. Wednesday's round was his first since June -- a consequence of the summer heat and his weary legs.

Twin Brooks officials decided to let Pogue use a cart for this one round. Other than employees, no one uses a cart at Twin Brooks because the course has no cart paths.

But not many nonagenarians can play golf like Bobby Pogue. When Manley and Scholl wanted to give him one more shot at the course, course officials gave him a chance.

Pogue said Thursday that he wasn't sure how well he would do. Walking up to the first tee, he thought he might hit the ball halfway to the hole. But, surprising himself, he hit just left of the green, maybe even a little long.

"I hit the ball well all day," he said. "I generally hold my own pretty good, especially for my age."

He felt good back on the course. "I think it's wonderful," he said.

His play on Wednesday was amazing, said Charlie Paler, who runs the course and is a member of the Professional Golfers Association.

About 800 to 1,000 golfers visit the course and its driving range each month. Out of those people, "I would say he's the oldest one," Paler said. "It takes a special person to be out here at 93."

Pogue said he keeps active, often going out to eat. He recently gave up driving but said it was a good decision and safer for him. If he wants to go somewhere, his personal assistant can give him a lift. Or one of his friends.

The camaraderie usually shines through on the "19th hole," every golfers' place off the course to meet for drinks after a round. The 19th hole for this group is dry, but there are jokes, insults, innocent flirtations with female passers-by. During a break in the conversation, Pogue breaks the silence: "What are we gonna do, another nine now?"

Laughter again. But as they load their clubs into their cars, he mentions playing again next week, this time seriously.

His friends remind him that he couldn't use a cart if he did another round.

Maybe he could try walking it and then just stop if it was too much, Pogue says. "You could talk me into it pretty easy."

Wednesday's round could have been the spark, even at 93, to get back into the game.

So, maybe. He'll decide this weekend whether to play again Monday morning.

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