Golf guys having fun keeping ‘sorta’ fit
By SANDRA KELLY

   Last year, Butch Blessard won a trophy in the Roanoke Valley Senior Golf Tour and was finally able to give granddaughters Maddie, 8, and Caitlin, 3, the right answer.
“They kept asking if I had won a trophy yet. When I got the Champion trophy at our last tournament, I was relieved to show it to them,” Blessard said. “They thought it was ‘awesome.’”
Blessard won the trophy for having the low score in a tournament in 2006. He won it in the final tournament at Ashley Plantation in Botetourt County. Being part of the Senior Golf Tour has more rewards than trophies, though, he said.
   “The tour has provided me the opportunity to play a variety of golf courses and build new friendships. In addition to comparing our golf scores and golfing equipment, we also compare and talk about our related aches and pains.
   ‘It’s a win-win for us and our wives. We enjoy it and our wives like for us to ‘get away’ for a day,” he said. “My wife Sandy even asked if we could add a couple of new tournaments!”
   The tournaments provide both mental and physical exercise for the guys, Blessard said.
   “You'd be surprised at how much exercise you get by hunting for your ball in the woods! The Senior Golf Tour is part of my overall exercise program that I incorporate with workouts at the Botetourt Athletic Club. My goal is not to be 21 again, but to maintain what I have left. Every time I go to the gym, I recall what Mickey Mantle said: "If I had known I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself when I was younger."
   The tour has grown in membership each year. In 2006, there were nine tournaments – members plan their vacations around the tournament dates – and at the season’s end, 99 players were registered. The Senior Tour started its 2007 season in March with a tournament was held at Hanging Rock Golf Club. Every month, through November, the group plays a different golf course in and within a 50-mile radius of Roanoke.
   “This is our largest tour group in five years, with a membership of 120,” said tour organizer Tommy Firebaugh. “We expect to have between 90 and 100 players participating.”
   To be a member, a player must be at least 55 years of age. The group’s oldest member is 87.
“We've even had one player who will be 83 in October score his age or better more than one time,” Firebaugh said. “We are doing our part to keep a bunch of old men off the streets, out of traffic, out of the wife's kitchen, and off their computers.”
   The Senior Tour plays May 12 at Countryside in Roanoke, June 12 at Draper Valley, July 19 at Botetourt Country Club, Aug. 14 at Auburn Hills, Sept. 4 at Blue Hills, Oct. 9 at Vista Links, and Nov. 1 at Ashley Plantation.
   For information on participation in the 2007 Senior Tour tournaments, contact Tommy Firebaugh at fotonut3@cox.net or 540-977-4686 or Joe Sailor at jsailor20@cox.net or 540-977-0167.

What the golfers say about fitness

Joe Sailor, tour organizer:
   “Fortunately, golf is not a sport that requires fitness such as many other activities. This is a major reason there are so many seniors still playing the game. Mainly arm and leg strength coupled with endurance to get one through the round and the day are major factors. Of course, being able to stay focused is truly another.
   “Golf for seniors requires being able to adjust for many limitations, many brought about by arthritis as we age. The fortunate thing, or perhaps unfortunate depending upon your outlook, is the idea that we can still do the same things we could when we were years younger.
   “So to keep fit? This is really a question for most of us, just how to survive the course and game one round at a time. All the exercise of stretching and being mobile is the main physical key to me. I honestly wouldn’t know what to think if I were able to play a round and leave the course feeling physically good and without pain. Pain and golf to me are synonymous and, because I know that to live one must keep going, are a prime motivator. I hate having to use the blue handicap flag but the purpose of this is just as much for other golfers’ benefit as my own; in that I am able to play with reasonable speed and not hold up those with me or playing behind me.
   “Simply put, golf is a mental as well as physical challenge. There is no gym or fitness center anywhere that can teach a senior golfer how to be fit for his game. We are beyond this, and even with all the uncertainty and physical problems, we love the challenge of the game and the friends we make along the way.
   “I am 67 and would like to believe I am still 40!”

Jim Saul:
   “I have to work out three to four times a week (I’ve been a member of the Botetourt Athletic Club for five years) just to keep up at my age of 63,” said Jim ‘Tick’ Saul. “On days when I do not play golf I am up early for one and a half hour workout on the Stairmaster, treadmill or weight machines. It gives me stamina for a sore back and other pains I have starting getting since turning 60. Also, workouts make you feel better about yourself, and that carries over to the golf course.

Dave Davis
   “Although my playing doesn't reflect it, I bike 16 miles every other day, alternating with treadmill (60 minutes). For upper body, I do 110 pushups every other or every third day.


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