Paul Long may be 71 years old, but he still considers himself a “youngster” when it comes to his golfing buddies in the Vista Valencia Senior Men’s Golf Club.
“A lot of the golfers I play with in this group, they’re just amazing,” said Long, the president of the club. “They’re in their 80s and they can outdrive me any day. It’s an amazing group of people.”
The Vista Valencia club is the only public senior men’s golf club in the area. The club has been around for 28 years and is actively searching for new members.
The group, which currently consists of 85 members age 55 to 89, meets once a month for tournaments in various locations. The tournaments feature cash prizes for winners as well a closet-to-the-pin award and skins.
“It’s a lot of fun and every tournament,” Long said. “No matter how old you are, people can be competitive and we have lots of prizes, prize money that we give out at the tournament.”
In addition to tournaments, Vista Valencia Senior Men’s Golf Club hosts Tuesday blind bogeys that are open to the public and potential club members as well as scrambles, which allow randomly paired foursomes to compete against each other.
There’s also inter-club competition between Vista Valencia, Knollwood, El Cariso and De Bell in the form of six different tournaments per year.
VVSMGC is taking on members of all abilities and experience.
“We have people that are just starting the game and we have people that are very low handicaps that are really good golfers,” Long said. “Fortunately (we have) a handicap system that evens out the play.”
The year culminates with a morning scramble, business meeting and catered banquet in November.
Yearly dues are $70 and there is an additional fee of $40 per tournament.
Golfers interested in joining Vista Valencia Senior Men’s Golf Club can visit the club’s website, vvsmgc.com, for more information or contact Gary Hallden by email at [email protected] or by phone at 661-993-0521.
