Golfer, 89, still swinging
CENTER TWP — Her kids had grown up and moved out of state.
Her husband was coaching football.
At age 50, it was time for Center Township resident Jane Williams to find an activity to call her own.
“My husband was always a really nice golfer,” Williams said. “He coached gymnastics along with football. We have three daughters and had 50 acres in North Washington where we had show horses. Our girls were cheerleaders and majorettes in high school. They were into showing the horses too, I carted them around all over the place.”
Now it was her time. Her husband, Charles “Bud” Williams, knew it.
“He told me it was about time I learned to play golf,” Williams said.
A longtime dancer, Williams recalled her first golf lesson with Pete McDonald.
“He took one look at me swinging the club and recognized I was a dancer,” she said. “He said we had to turn that dance swing into a golf swing.”Now age 89 and married 72 years, she is still playing golf. Williams joined the Tuesday morning Sunrise League at Stoughton Acres Golf Course and has remained a member for 39 years.She joined the Wednesday A.M. Ladies League at Lake Arthur Golf Club and has been a member of that circuit for 37 years.“With her family out of the area, golf has become a part of her family,” said Janet Gray, one of the presidents of the Wednesday A.M. Lake Arthur Ladies League.“They put up with me,” Williams said, laughing. “There's a lot of good golfers out there. I hold everybody up. But I keep moving.”Which, she says, is the key to good living.Besides golfing twice a week, Williams volunteers at the Butler Memorial Hospital once a month. She helps out with the sales of uniforms, shoes, jewelry, and candy to help raise money for equipment at the medical facility.“It's good to help out,” she said. “I'll assist anybody any way I can.”
Williams has never considered herself a high-caliber golfer. She does, however, have a hole-in-one to her credit.That occurred on a course in Florida when she was in her early 60s.“I don't remember much about it, except it was on a par-3 and there was water just to the side of the green,” she recalled. “I walked right by an alligator as I stepped onto the green. A man came running down from his nearby back patio, exclaiming he had never seen a hole-in-one before and that I made his day.”And golf has made her golden years.“Golf keeps me active. That's why I do it. And all of the girls are just a bundle of fun. They all treat me so well ... If anybody hates me in that group, I'll never know it,” Williams added. “We're like a family. We enjoy each other's company.”Her husband, 92, gave up golfing a year ago. As Williams has continued to play through the years, her family has grown.She has four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. One daughter is deceased, one lives in Chicago, the other in California. All three daughters wound up becoming golfers themselves.“I'm amazed by her,” Gray said. “When I'm Jane's age, I want to be her. I want to be able to play golf, to be able to volunteer. She's a big part of her community.”Williams has no idea how far she hits the ball off the tee. Nor does she care.“I hit some good drives, I hit some bad ones,” she said. “I suppose putting is what I do best. When I do hit a good shot, I'm happy as a lark.”
Williams used to travel to Clarion Oaks, courses in Ohio and up north to play golf with a ladies group known as “The Esquire Club.” Now she sticks to playing in her two morning leagues.“I work at home and keep busy too,” she said. “It's a crazy world. I've had both knees replaced since 2004. I fell and broke my arm this summer, but kept coming to golf. I could still chip and putt.”Gray and Williams were teammates during a scramble that ended their 2018 league season.“I enjoyed that day tremendously,” Gray said. “Jane is so upbeat. In a scramble, she's our putter. She putted so well that day. Two weeks later, I received a thank you card in the mail from her. She took the time to thank me for making our last day of golf such a good one. She's such a sweet lady.”Williams doesn't know when her actual last day of golf will arrive.“Every year, I tell myself it's my last year,” she said. “But as long as I'm physically able, I won't stop playing. It'd be like giving up a friend.”
