Bob Bolduc is an example of how keeping fit can help a golfer to play respectably.

He lifts weights and takes lengthy walks, which is one of the reasons that at age 88, he hit a 7-iron 130 yards into the eighth-hole cup for an ace Aug. 2 at Fairlawn, where he has been a member for almost 50 years. The hole-in-one was his fourth, all of them at Fairlawn.

The beauty of his Aug. 2 ace was that he was playing in a senior group shamble with Glenn Downs, Paul Cote and Rick Gardner. The shamble format is that all four players hit tee shots, and they play their own ball from what they determine to be the best drive. Obviously, the Bolduc tee shot on the eighth hole was that team’s best drive and it got them 12 points in the shamble, which they won with 113 points.

“I didn’t see the ball roll into the hole,” Bolduc said, “but Rick (Gardner) did, and he said he followed its roll and suddenly it disappeared.”

At his age with a handicap of 24, Bolduc hits off the Fairlawn front tees. The rule at Fairlawn is if the player’s age and handicap add up to 100, the front tees are recommended, so Bolduc is more than qualified.

Bolduc’s first hole-in-one was in 1975 on Fairlawn’s 11th hole, which was 130 yards with a 7-iron. Then in a Fairlawn ABCD Tournament in 1994, on the eighth hole from the back tee with a 4-iron, he got his second ace. The third one was on opening day in 2013 when he hit his 180-yard tee shot into the cup on the second hole with a 5-wood.

Bolduc does not, however, consider the aces to be the highlight of his Fairlawn playing career. To him, the best parts of his Fairlawn days are the annual member-guest tournament in which he has played many times with his three sons — John, Tom and Bill. He fondly recalls shooting a 73 with them in the 2003 member-guest.

In his early Fairlawn days, he played to an eight handicap from the back tees. Now on the front tees, his index is 24.

It could be said that Bolduc has gotten his money’s worth from his Fairlawn membership. And that is true, but he also has given back to the club, serving for 10 years as secretary of the Fairlawn Membership Golf Association. Also, with Norm Bilodeau for 12 years, they ran the Fairlawn Wednesday senior tournaments.

Professionally, Bolduc worked 33 years for what used to be known as the New England Telephone & Telegraph Co., starting as a lineman and working his way up to the repair department, from which he retired in 1991.

Bolduc does take pride in the fact that he has maintained his golf fitness over the years, but he also gives credit to his wife, Mickey, stating: “I’m well-fed by my beloved wife.”

Well-said by a very wise man.

*****

Also on Aug. 2 at Fairlawn, Dale Brown recorded a two on the par-5 seventh hole. Remember, this was a shamble, so his teammate, Norm Ford, hit a tee shot off the front tee, leaving Brown a 180-yard approach shot, which he buried.

Brown, who has a nine handicap, is a mere 83.

*****

The Maine State Golf Association will conduct men’s play days Aug. 11 at the Bethel Inn and Aug. 13-14 at Sugarloaf. There will be no women’s play days because they will be participating  in the Janet Drouin Memorial Tournament Aug. 10 at Natanis Arrowhead.

Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his ninth season as Sun Journal golf columnist. 

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