Recently a local course was closed and is now in the process of being turned into a subdivision.  I was trying to recall the most recent time I had played there.  I think it was with my former golf buddy, Dave, just prior to his moving out of state.  Neither of us realized it but that round was the last time, the last time we would be at that course and the last time we would play golf together.  Over the course of one’s golf life, there are going to be a number of “last times” somewhere or with someone and unfortunately, too often we don’t fully appreciate the moment.

I don’t recall when I last played Riverview Country Club (Appleton, WI).  It was sometime in 1962, prior to our family moving to Massachusetts.  I had always thought it might be fun to take a summer trip to central Wisconsin and give the 9 holes at Riverview a go.  As kids, we would typically only play holes 1, 2 and 9.  Hole #3 involved a heroic carry, at least for a 10 year old, over a ravine.  So we would play the two outward holes and then slip on to #9, the homeward finishing hole.  2016 looked to be the perfect time to plan such a trip and I was casually checking on how Riverview had fared over the past 50+ years.  Turns out the membership sold the facility in 2012 to a local non-profit and it now is a park/bike trail as well as a job training facility.

For a time my parents belonged to a fairly well regarded Donald Ross-designed course in Massachusetts.  When I visited them we typically played a couple rounds together at the club.  The last time I played Weston Country Club was 06/15/1988.  I broke “90” for the only time at the course and I still have the scorecard with the scores written in my mother’s handwriting.  I suspect if my travels ever have me returning to the Boston area I will check with the club to see if they will allow me to play it again.  As time passes, the likelihood of this happening becomes less & less.  I have no family or close friends in the area.  Maybe for my 50^th high school reunion in 2021?  Nope, not going to happen.

Once my father retired, my parents moved to Sarasota, Florida, and joined the TPC at Prestancia.  For a time in the late 80’s and early 90’s the course hosted a Champion’s Tour version of the Ryder Cup.  The event pitted the USA against everyone else.  Arnold Palmer was the original playing captain and Gary Player did the honors for the “World” team.  I got to play Prestancia many times and it was the second course on which I “broke 80”. 

On February 1, 2004, I played Prestancia with my parents.  They were planning to move into a condo at a new continuing care retirement community (CCRC).  While they were both healthy, they anticipated they would need assistance & health care down the road and a CCRC made sense.  At the time I did not really consider that the round might possibly be the last time I would play golf with either of them.  I understood that once they moved out of their home at Prestancia they would probably terminate their membership but I didn’t consider that this might be it as far as golf.  Neither had been avid golfers and they only really played with any regularity after they were 60.  It was more a social thing for them although my father won the Member/Guest with yours truly and recorded a hole-in-one.  My mother actually had 3 aces.

Once they moved into the CCRC and resigned from the club, I suspect they considered their “golf phase” as done.  My father played once or twice with some buddies from his former club after the move but various physical ailments and lack of practice made the outings unsatisfying.  My mother never touched her sticks again.  After 2004 the clubs were placed in the storage bin and locked away for good.

It might be fun to play Prestancia again some time, but with both my parents gone, it would probably seem odd.  Playing with members who never knew my parents and don’t know me might take the shine off the memories.  Maybe it would be best to just leave that chapter closed.

So when is my last round going to occur?  Now that I am in my 60’s, the possibility is becoming more real.  I fully intend to play the game as long as I can hold a club and swing. While I am healthy now, who knows what lurks around the corner.