Independence Township resident Richard Jorgensen, 80, has been playing golf since he was 11 years old and has spent 60 of those years playing at Glen Oaks Golf Course in Farmington Hills.
Jorgensen said he played his first game of golf after becoming the youngest caddy on the course. His friend was a caddy, and he wanted to become one too. The age requirement was 12, but an exception was made for Jorgensen, who was only one year younger.
‘Then I caught the golfing bug,? said Jorgensen.
Jorgensen started playing at Glen Oaks when he was 20 years old. He said he played at other golf courses, but he and his friends would always return to Glen Oaks. Since then, all of Jorgensen’s friends who golfed with him either moved away or passed away.
‘Nobody has been around as long as I have,? said Jorgensen.
When Jorgensen was 45, he joined a golf league at Glen Oaks, a league he still plays in today. He said his favorite memory was in 1989 when he made his first hole-in-one on the course.
Farmington Hills resident Andy Finn, who has played golf with Jorgensen for three years, said Jorgensen has been playing golf longer than anyone else on the league.
‘He’s a genuinely nice, nice guy,? said Finn. ‘I don’t feel as bad when he beats me.?
‘Everybody in this league has a lot of humor, and we laugh with each other and not at each other,” said Gary Junik of Farmington Hills, who has played in the league with Jorgensen for two years. “We all stay afterwards and have a social. That’s what’s nice about the league. I don’t think there’s a bad person on it,? said Junik.
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