Grannies on the Green

Five grandmothers united by their love of golf.

by Ben Bagley

Just a few hours past dawn on a damp February day at the Raspberry Ridge golf course in Everson, Washington, five golden gals greet each other in the parking lot before their scheduled tee time.

Three times a week, year-round and weather permitting, this quintet of grandmas gather here to engage in their favorite hobby: golf. Although the traditional image of a grandmother is a little old lady that enjoys cooking, sewing and gardening, these retirees prefer swinging iron clubs across the green for miles on end.

The group has been playing golf together over the last 10 years and is made up of Edith Burke, 67, Judy Andreas, 75, Bonnie Goodland, 77, Donna Miller, 81, and Gert Douma, 82.

For these women, golf is not just a sport, but the way they connect with friends. The course is all but empty near dawn on weekdays, and so the sound of their laughter and glee echoes across the fairways in the crisp-morning air. The greens are a sacred place for the group, tucked neatly into their backyards.

Judy, Bonnie and Edie live in the neighborhood intertwined with the course, while Donna and Gert commute from other parts of Whatcom County. As members of the $10 club, meaning every round only costs a Hamilton, they bring 130 years of combined golfing experience to the course.

“I started because we lived in a rural neighborhood … the guys were golfing and my girlfriend and I decided that they were having too much fun,” Bonnie said with a twinkle in her eye. “They needed us, so we started golfing too.”

While golf can be a frustrating and physically demanding activity, the grannies serve a round with contagious laughter and unconcerned confidence.

They don’t worry about their score or the result, but simply enjoy being outside socializing. They each tee off to words of encouragement from the posse, chase down their ball and swing again until everybody makes it to the hole. They play with tempo but not in a hurry, letting faster groups behind them pass if need be.

Everybody makes sure to clap when the last ball finds the hole, and then they approach the next tee box to rinse and repeat. At any given moment, nestled amongst the towering evergreens on the sandy golf course, a bystander can hear the chirp of the birds, the rumbling of the cars passing, and then…

*Ping*

“Nice shot, Donna!”

“Thank you!”

“I like being outside and I like walking the lawn,” Judy said. “It’s a good way to socialize and still be active and get in fresh air.”

Morning tee time with the ladies is a fast-paced, full-body workout. This is not just social hour, it’s their main form of daily exercise.

“A round of golf for us is nine holes,” Donna said. “That gives me two miles of walking, pushing my cart and swinging my club twice as many times as anybody I’m golfing with.”

The women play what they call “ready golf,” where they follow their ball as soon as it is hit, grab their next club on the way, and swing almost immediately upon finding it.

Three of the women — Judy, Edie and Donna — load their bags of clubs onto push carts and walk the entirety of the course. They take pride in their ability to walk the course, but those who can’t are still able to ride in style. This week, Gert rode passenger in Bonnie’s personal custom-red golf cart.

The women value the exercise they get from their hobby, but with time comes age and with age comes additional challenges.

“I’m waiting on a hip replacement,” Bonnie said. “I had my other hip replaced, too, but that improved, and this is going to get better, too. I’ll be able to get out there and walk again.”

Gert is also hindered by issues in her back, but she has no intentions to stop playing.

“I play because my therapist said it wouldn’t hurt me any more than I already am,” she said. “My body doesn’t quite want to walk the course anymore, but I’m hoping I can get back to that. But I’ll just be carting it because I like being out here with my friends.”

Despite the aches and pains of old bones, the women are, in fact, excellent golfers. When asked, they each laugh and say they’re terrible, but the results on the course disagree. The days of swinging with maximum power for a 200-yard drive are gone, but the fundamentals still ring true in their game.

While telling each other about the latest adventures their grandchildren have gone on or talking about John Doe’s latest Facebook post, the women play for two and a half hours during their tri-weekly nine holes.

With every ball, each golfer chooses their club, approaches slowly, and delivers a slow, fluid stroke. It’s not about swinging with power for them, but just making proper contact. If all goes well, the ball bounces straight, and they follow it to swing again. A ping of the club to the ball signs contact, bringing a small chorus of cheers from their friends.

“Getting older makes me just more appreciative of being out on the golf course,” Donna said. “I’ve never been a good golfer, so just the idea that I’m out here hitting the ball, keeping up, and being with my friends makes me happy.”

In the United States, approximately one-third of persons age 65 or older lead a sedentary lifestyle, and women aged 75 or older only engage in an average of 12 minutes of recreational exercise per day.

The ensemble of elderly golfers actively work to defy those numbers, because “it’s the old adage, a body in motion stays in motion,” Edie said.

Additionally, female golfers make up about 25% of the total golf population, but that number is a result of a nearly 6% increase in 2021. Despite being in the minority in terms of age and gender, the early-morning weekday tee time is a safe place for these women to play. Younger people and tournaments rage on during the weekend, but their demographic tends to be the only ones on the course at 8 a.m.

“I know they’re always there and it gets me up and going in the morning,” Edie said. “It’s a beautiful place to live, the course is almost always in really good shape, and it’s a good activity.”

Golf has a reputation of being an incredibly frustrating sport, but their age and combined experience has made each golfer much less worried about the on-course results.

“I’ve definitely learned patience,” Bonnie said. “You have a bad game, but there’s another day. You have a bad hole, and there’s another hole right after. The older I get, the more I forget that bad hold and I just move on.”

“I’ve learned to be humble,” Donna said. “And I’ve learned to never give up.”

Above all else, the companions simply enjoy spending time together on the golf course. The group plans to golf for as long as they are physically able to. For fun, to socialize and to exercise, the hobby has formed a special bond between these women.

At the end of the day, Bonnie said, “I just like following that little white ball around.”

Click here to watch Bagley’s video on golfing grannies.