Age Hardly a Hazard to This Golfer

When walking around a high school track got boring to Harley Potter, he went to a golf course.

He was 92 at the time and had never played before. Now he’s 103 and the sport is an obsession.

In one small concession to age, Potter now rides a golf cart during his weekly senior league tournament at the Heather Hills Golf Course.

He doesn’t hit the ball very far on most shots, always using a driver off the tee and a 4-wood in the fairway and up to the green.

“He’s not long, but he’s straight,” said 69-year-old Henry Cope, part of the foursome in a recent outing.

“If I could putt a little bit better, I’d have a much better score,” Potter says.

Long shots may not be his forte, but longevity runs in Potter’s family. His mother lived into her 80s and his father died at age 92.

Potter lived in St. Louis for about 60 years before moving to DeSoto, Mo., to live with his daughter. He decided to get his exercise by walking the local high school track. Walking in circles got boring and he went in search of a new place.

“They had a nine-hole golf course. I went down to the clubhouse, signed up for a membership in the golf club and started playing,” Potter said.

“Never took a lesson. I’d never had a golf club in my hand before,” he said. “I bought a driver, a 7-iron and a 7-wood and started out playing.”

When he moved to Winston-Salem in 1992, Potter headed to Heather Hills, five minutes from his daughter’s home.

“He wanted to know if we had a senior league. I told him we did and he wanted to know the age limit. I told him 55 to 80. He said ‘I’m 30 years past that. Can I play?”’ said Roger Ashley, who coordinates the weekly senior tourney. “He’s been playing ever since.”

Heather Hills is the perfect place for Potter. It is a 3,494-yard, par 62 course bordered by condominiums. There are no sand traps, and errant tee shots wind up in a creek.

Heather Hills has no par 5s, and nine of its holes measure 150 yards or less. The longest hole is the 325-yard par 4 third hole.

Every Wednesday, some of Winston-Salem’s seniors gather at the course for their weekly tournament. “Mr. Potter,” as everyone calls him, is always among the contestants.

After leaving the farm in Turney, Mo., at age 21, he spent his professional years as a clerk for the Missouri Pacific railroad, for the Army and later for a car dealership. He held the last job for 52 years, and says he missed 2 1/2 days of work in 52 years.

Most recently, Potter showcased his golf skills at the 1995 U.S. National Senior Sports Classic at San Antonio, Texas. Trying to shoot a score better than his age, Potter struggled in with a 340 over 36 holes at Tapatio Springs, a par-72, 6,500-yard course. He points to the 74 sand traps as part of his problem.

Despite the score, he captured the gold medal in his age class. Then again, Potter was the only one in his division.

When his golf day is done, Potter fills the bird feeder and cleans the house he shares with his daughter, Leta Duffin.

“I never was ever shocked at anything he would do, and he always enjoyed whatever his life was about,” Duffin said.

Duffin was glad to see her father take up the game, but she says she lost something in the process.

“I used to be Leta Duffin and her father was Harley Potter,” she says. “But now, I’m Harley Potter’s daughter. So I just lost my identity.”

Potter says he’s done about all there is to do in golf, except for one thing: “I would like to meet some of these folks like Greg Norman.”