Older Golfers accused of being ‘Leeches’

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The Old Duffers Guide! An article appeared in the British press a few days ago about senior citizens who spend their retirement playing golf and hogging the holes. The discussion was sparked by a publication called, “The Golf Club Secretary Newsletter“, which described elderly players as, “leeches” on their clubs. The newsletter has prompted Golf Clubs to consider banning elderly players at certain times and dropping concessionary rates.

Regular members, trying to balance work/family commitments are being held up at the weekends by the slow play of elderly club members and the courses are being cut up by the heavy traffic.

It seems to me that people have forgotten that, god willing, we will all be senior citizens at some point in our lives and that also many of these older members will have paid their course memberships throughout the years and are entitled to be there.

The irony is that by playing golf, life expectancy and fitness levels increase, so that older players are living longer and pissing other players off, even more. This is precisely one of the reasons that I took up the game; a sport I wasn’t too old to become good at, and also a pastime I could take with me into my old age and retirement. Anyway, haven’t they heard of the age old tradition of, “playing through.”

“Fair play to the ‘ol duffers,” I say and as one old ”leech” put it, ” Well, I will continue to have a coffee break at the fifth tee and a short nap at the ninth.”

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2 Responses to “Older Golfers accused of being ‘Leeches’”

Double Eagle on November 21st, 2007 2:35 pm

When I worked on a golf course during college, it seemed like the majority of the older golfers played in the morning during the week. Even now, I can’t say that I notice any that often on the weekends. I wonder if that’s a phenomenon unique to certain courses? I can say this: in my observation, of the slowest players on the course, age is not a factor.

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Paul on November 21st, 2007 3:55 pm

No, I agree Double Eagle - it’s a very gross generalization and senior citizens would appear to be an easy target. I would have thought that these were exactly the type of members that would keep a club ticking over during the week, when many others are at work.

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Older Golfers accused of being ‘Leeches’

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