I arrive at Cal's ground floor flat, where he lives alone. The front door is open but I give it a gentle knock anyway. 'Come on in!', he shouts, 'straight down the hall and turn right.' I close the door behind me and walk to the living room where Cal is sitting and smiling in his armchair, ready for the interview to begin. We have a quick general catch up on news from our golf club and I explain that I'm interviewing him for my blog. Aware of the brief and with obvious enthusiasm, Cal begins to speak..
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Cal (furthest on right) during World War 2
1945, Verona, Italy. |
'I've always been a keen sportsman and ultra competitive, I've never been pleased with mediocrity', he says. I end up being disappointed with myself a lot! I get annoyed with myself when I play badly, but I try not to let my frustration affect others.
Before the war I was into cycling and after it, tennis. I didn't cycle competitively, I met my wife (to be) through the cycling club. We bought a tandem and we would cycle on it together, setting the pace for the people in the club who were preparing for competitions.
I've always played to win, and nowadays when I play golf, bridge and bowls it's for the same reason.'
He continued, 'My wife and I once made it to the semi-finals of the Cambridge mixed doubles tennis competition, she was an extremely good tennis player.'
In his late thirties, Cal took up golf. Two years later, his wife followed suit.
'She was a bloody good golfer' he says. '
She went from a 36 handicap to 15 in two years. We won many mixed events together at the golf club.'
'Once I placed a fake golf ball (soap based) on the first tee for my wife to play, unbeknownst to her of course. I didn't realise a crowd had gathered on the tee behind us. Anyway, she hit this ball and it dissolved into thin air. I was up the creek for a long time after that!'
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Cal in his 'heyday'. Aged 60
and playing off 9. |
Cal disappears from the room for a moment and comes back with a few photographs. 'This is me in my golfing heyday', he says. 'I was 60 years old and I'd got down to a 9 handicap.'
As I gaze at the photo, I begin to wonder what my handicap will be if I'm fortunate enough to reach 60, let alone 93.
'I used to be able to hit it 230 yards off the tee, now I'm lucky if I hit it 150 yards. It's soul destroying', he says. As he utters these words, I look him in the eyes and I can see he's hurting. He wants to be out there competing with the long hitting whippersnappers.
I tell him that for 93 years of age, he's doing extremely well. I quietly wonder if it sounds patronising. He nods and smirks. And once again I sense that the young man inside him is frustrated by the physical limitations that come to all of us in time.
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| Cal posing with two of his many trophies. I'm jealous. |
'The thing about golf is, well - you're always learning, no matter what age you are or what your level of skill is. It's a true challenge.'
I ask if he's had any golf coaching over the years.
'
Oh yes', he says. '
And you know, the best lesson I ever had was with a lady golf coach called Miss Anonymous' (For privacy reasons I won't mention the lady in question by name. As soon as Cal mentioned her name I realised he must have had this particular lesson in the past 5 years. The coach he spoke of had only been in the area for that amount of time.)
'
Ah yes, I know her, I've heard good things. So this was a recent lesson then Cal?, I subtly enquired in amazement.
'
Yes', he replies. '
I must have been 88 or so at the time, she sorted my swing out for me and helped me enjoy the game again.'
'What an inspiration', I thought to myself, realising that Cal was still searching for the Holy Grail of golf, just like the rest of us. And why shouldn't he? Seeking that one quick 'fix' or 'tweak' to get an extra few yards from a drive or get the ball closer to and into the hole.
'Years ago, I went through a phase where I was having trouble with short chips around the green', he says. So I bought a chipping club, you know - one that looks like a putter with a bit of loft.'
I nodded
.
It worked wonders for me, so much so that my playing partners christened the new stick 'Bloody Nora!'
'Bloody Nora!' they would say, 'he's only gone and holed another one!'
The room fills with laughter and as it subsides I ask a question - '
If you could give one tip to someone starting out in the game today Cal, what would it be?'
He doesn't hesitate in his reply.
'
It's alright saying 'keep your head still, get your stance right, grip the club properly and so on', he says
, but all of this requires concentration. You lose that when you get older. It makes the game much harder. But I still try hard to concentrate and I think that's what anybody who wants to be good at golf needs to do. They need to be able to focus and concentrate on setting up the shot but at the same time not have too many thoughts floating around in there when they're playing the shot. It's a delicate balance.'
Wise words from a man who's been playing the great game for over 30 years. Both of his sons are in their 60's now, one playing off 6 and the other off 9. One can only assume what other pearls Cal could share with me if we had the time.
Perhaps I'll ask him to have a look at my swing sometime.
Speaking of swings, here's a clip of the man himself in action!
Chapter 2: The Oldest Bandit in the Club
Cal is a multi major winner at our club, but his biggest win came in 2008 at the healthy age of 89 years young.
He won the Captains Day event, with a score of 47 points, playing off 28. The course is par 69, to save you the maths he played to 15, beating his nearest rival who was half his age and 6 points behind on score.
'They cut me by 5 shots and I deserved it', he said. 'Everything went right for me that day. After 9 holes, my playing partners knew I had a great score going and they geed me up - 'Keep it going, keep it going Cal!', they would say.'
'I got some stick from my playing partners at the club after that win. They got a caricature of me drawn up (pictured left). 'The Oldest Bandit in the Club!'.
I'd planned on taking no more than an hour of Cal's time, but we ended up chatting for two. We concluded the interview, shook hands and exchanged goodbyes. With a notebook full of scribbles and a head full of thoughts and images, I walked to my car.
The voice in my head said; 'When I grow up, I want to be just like him'.
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Thanks so much for reading, see you around!
Steve
(P.S I'm currently planning an interview with another local golfing great. He's 78 and plays off 9. Every time I've approached him with a swing problem he has solved it. If you enjoyed reading about Cal, I'm sure you'll enjoy reading about 'The Fixer'. But that's for another time, another place.
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Thanks Cal. All hail a King amongst Bleeders.
