Keen Wagga golfer Bert Adams is living proof that age is only a number.
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Adams hit the fairways of Wagga City Golf Club on Monday, this time skipping his weekly 8am veterans tee time for a round of nine holes with his son, Bill.
It was a special occasion after all, with Adams having celebrated his 96th birthday on Sunday.
The popular City Club member plays twice a week in the veterans competition and is still enjoying his golf as much as ever.
"I think it's just the challenge to do the best you can," Adams explained.
"Most of us do like that. We know we're not going to break any records at our age, us veterans."
He might not be breaking any records, but there would be few golfers around that can rival the efforts of Adams.
Up until the last couple of years, Adams still walked his round of nine holes.
"A few times last year I got out of the cart and walked the course," he said.
"Particularly, getting towards Anzac Day because I marched last year. I was the only one from World War II marching in Wagga so I did a bit of walking here to practice. I might do the same this year."
Adams has certainly lost little of his touch on the course. He considers a return of 44 as a good score for nine holes and has managed two birdies over the last two weeks.
"I think my last three rounds have been 43, 46 and 45," he said.
"And I've had two birdies the last two Thursdays. One each Thursday."
Adams was introduced to golf at a young age and has been playing for close to 90 years.
"I joined a club in '47, so I've been playing club golf since '47," he said.
"When we were kids at Birriwa a teacher came along in 1929, who was on four handicap and next year they built a nine hole course, which was right at the back of our house.
"Us kids started playing when we were seven or eight. I would have actually played a couple of rounds before I went to high school.
"I didn't play again until 1946, I was at Sydney Uni and had an afternoon off and I used to play at Marrickville on Wednesday afternoons. The next year I went to Mendooran and joined a Golf Club. I've been playing ever since."
Adams has been in Wagga since 1965. While he has never mastered the game, he's had a lot of fun trying to.
"The best round I've ever had out here was four years after I retired and I'd been playing three times a week when I retired to try and get my handicap down," he recalled.
"I got it down from 12 to 11 in four years. Then there was a weekend tournament and on the Saturday I blew up and had 49 on the back nine and 45 on the front nine and went I got home, my wife said you will never get down to single figures, you ought not to bother coming back tomorrow.
"So I went back the next day and had 35 on the back nine and put it with a 41 on the front nine so I went to nine and it was the lowest I've ever been."
A World War II veteran, Adams is a recipient of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour for his contribution to the liberation of France from Nazi Germany, as a navigator on Lancaster bombers.
He thoroughly enjoyed his 96th birthday.
"It was great, especially with Bill and his wife down. We had a barbeque, knocked over two bottles of champagne for lunch and blew out the candles," he said.
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