Meyer ’ s Age-defying Feats
D ale Meyer said there ’ s one aspect of golf that gets easier as the years roll by : Shooting your age .
Your faithful scribbler wouldn ’ t know . Twelve-hole scores for those of us a gimme putt shy of age 70 don ’ t count . But Meyer knows . In the 16 years since he turned 70 , Meyer had done it 204 times as of early July . Wait . . . That ’ s not accurate . “ I passed him in the parking lot the other day ,” recalled Brian Liebler , former general manager at Broad Bay Country Club in Virginia Beach . “ I said , ‘ Congratulations on number 204 .’ He answered , ‘ Not anymore . I just hit 205 .’ He ’ s remarkable .”
Bill Smothers , president of the Men ’ s Golf Association at Broad Bay , where Meyer has accomplished the task all but about 15 times , said Meyer is amazing in that “ believe me , he can tell you about each one .”
He doesn ’ t have to say a thing . Meyer has the scorecards from every occasion , each attested to by his playing partners that day .
Dale Meyer has shot his age or better more than 200 times .
The odds of a golfer shooting his or her age on courses at least 6,000 yards long are . 00000089 percent . That ’ s less than nine per million . Much easier to make a hole-in-one .
Broad Bay falls a little shy of 6,000 yards . Some may say that “ cheapens ” what he ’ s achieved . Nonsense . He did , after all , beat his age in March at a 6,200-yard course outside of Tampa . And how many guys shoot their age or lower 16 times at age 84 ? Meyer did , in 2020 .
The acknowledged record for this feat belongs to T . Edison Smith . A former athlete , professor , coach and administrator at Minnesota State-Moorhead , Smith first hit that mark at 68 years of age . When he was called to that 19th hole in the sky in 2012 at age 95 , Smith ’ s tally had reached 3,359 .
The first PGA Tour player to shoot his age was Sam Snead . At age 67 , he carded a 66 in the final round of the 1979 Quad Cities Open . In 2018 , JoAnne Carner , 79 years young , shot her age in the first U . S . Senior Women ’ s Open .
Meyer began beating the age barrier on his 70th birthday , the day he moved from the back tees to the whites .
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The odds of a golfer shooting his or her age on courses at least 6,000 yards long are . 00000089 percent . That ’ s less than nine per million . Much easier to make a hole-in-one .”
“ I ’ d played the back tees all my life ,” he said , “ but that day I decided it was time to move up .”
He plays at Broad Bay three or four times a week , most often with members of the Men ’ s Golf Association , sometimes with his son .
“ I used to beat him regularly ,” he said , laughing . “ Now he shows up and I just hand him the money before we even get started . Well , it ’ s more like I buy him a beer after the round .”
When one of the Association ’ s beloved long-time members , Ray Barber , died from cancer in 2013 , the Association created the Ray Barber Cup , awarded to the member who earned the most points in a series of tournaments . Proudly , Meyer says that he captured the inaugural cup . “ It ’ s my only claim to fame ,” he said . He has a couple hundred scorecards that prove that isn ’ t true .
Meyer began playing golf at age 13 and continued as a student at a Dayton , Ohio , high school . But following graduation , he joined the Navy , eventually becoming a Naval aviator who spent 31 years serving his country . During most of that time , golf took a back seat .
“ When you ’ re floating around on a carrier , you don ’ t get much of a chance to ( play ),” he said . “ But there were years when I played quite a bit .”
It may appear that way , but Meyer said shooting his age is anything but automatic . Like golfers at all levels , he ’ s prone to experiencing an occasional slump .
He reached 199 in December 2021 at Broad Bay then played the course seven straight times without adding to it . After moving down to his second home in Florida at the start of 2022 , he didn ’ t beat his age again until March .
He ’ s been dealing with back issues for a few years , but he ’ s determined not to let it — or age — slow his pace of play .
“ Half a bottle of BioFreeze keeps me going ,” he said , chuckling . “ I go out there , put the tee in the ground and we go from there .”
COURTESY DALE MEYER
40 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2022
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