Somewhere on this site, a long ago poster (Paul) mentioned playing with Bob Little who had shot his age. Now accomplished 1000 times!
Meet the man who has shot his age more times than you can imagine
For most golfers, shooting your age is a monumental achievement, but for Brampton Golf Club member Bob Little, it is just another day on the course.
By
Dalton Finkbeiner
We all know the saying, “Age is just a number.”
But for some golfers, age isn’t just a number, it’s a target. Shooting your age is a badge of honour in golf and something most will never accomplish. For the few that do, it may only be once or twice. Unless you are Bob Little.
A member of Brampton Golf Club for 75 years, Little, now 89, accomplished the feat earlier this fall for the 1,000th time. That’s not a typo. One thousand.
“You never think of shooting your age, it just happens,” said Little. “In the last three or four years, I have only missed it two or three times. I don’t think about it, it just happens now. I always say if I shoot 89, I’m quitting.”
Little first shot his age in 2003 at the age of 69. His best score during the other 999 times he’s done so is 66. He beat his age by 17 strokes earlier this year, which tied his personal record.
On top of being an avid recreational player, Little is an accomplished competitive golfer. He is an Ontario Senior Men’s champion (1992), an Ontario Super Senior Men’s champion (2007) and a two-time Ontario Senior Men’s Better Ball champion (1989, 1993). Little was part of the Canadian Senior Golf Association’s team for 22 years, which gave him the opportunity to travel and compete all around the world. He has teed it up at Royal Liverpool, Royal County Down, and Pine Valley, to name a few. The competition has helped keep him going.
“It’s the challenge. It’s one of the only sports I can think of that you do on your own,” he said. “You can win a Stanley Cup, but you may not be a great player, but if your team is good you win. In golf, if you don’t play well you don’t win.”
Little worked for Bell until he was 60 and coached multiple hockey teams in the Brampton area for most of his life.
“I got married, had children, golf kind of fit in, and I never quit,” said Little. “But with time and priorities, golf was never the focus. That was until I retired, so I had more free time. You never think of shooting your age, it just happens. But now I think of shooting my age, it’s like getting a hole-in-one, you don’t think it’s ever going to happen again.”
Like shooting his age, his first career hole-in-one came later in life. He went 65 years without recording an ace, to the point where it was becoming a bit of a joke among members around the club.
“It got to the point, where there is a hole-in-one club, and we have a banquet every year. I got more famous for not having a hole-in-one. People would go up and say, ‘I can’t believe I have a hole-in-one, and Bob Little doesn’t have one.’” Little put an end to the jokes, and now has four aces in his life, two of them coming in 2022.
Little is still a very active player, teeing it up four days a week and tries to get out to practise when he can. He is a staple at Brampton GC, a place he holds very dear to his heart.
“It’s the best there is. We just had the World Junior (Girls Championship) here, and we have hosted a bunch of events. People always say they didn’t realize how good it was after they’ve played it.”
While Little does have his usual playing partners, one of his favourite things about the game is playing with those outside his circle.
“You meet a lot of interesting people,” he explained. “It doesn’t matter what you do or what you did, as long as you can play golf, that’s all that matters.”
Meet the man who has shot his age more times than you can imagine
For most golfers, shooting your age is a monumental achievement, but for Brampton Golf Club member Bob Little, it is just another day on the course.
By
Dalton Finkbeiner
We all know the saying, “Age is just a number.”
But for some golfers, age isn’t just a number, it’s a target. Shooting your age is a badge of honour in golf and something most will never accomplish. For the few that do, it may only be once or twice. Unless you are Bob Little.
A member of Brampton Golf Club for 75 years, Little, now 89, accomplished the feat earlier this fall for the 1,000th time. That’s not a typo. One thousand.
“You never think of shooting your age, it just happens,” said Little. “In the last three or four years, I have only missed it two or three times. I don’t think about it, it just happens now. I always say if I shoot 89, I’m quitting.”
Little first shot his age in 2003 at the age of 69. His best score during the other 999 times he’s done so is 66. He beat his age by 17 strokes earlier this year, which tied his personal record.
On top of being an avid recreational player, Little is an accomplished competitive golfer. He is an Ontario Senior Men’s champion (1992), an Ontario Super Senior Men’s champion (2007) and a two-time Ontario Senior Men’s Better Ball champion (1989, 1993). Little was part of the Canadian Senior Golf Association’s team for 22 years, which gave him the opportunity to travel and compete all around the world. He has teed it up at Royal Liverpool, Royal County Down, and Pine Valley, to name a few. The competition has helped keep him going.
“It’s the challenge. It’s one of the only sports I can think of that you do on your own,” he said. “You can win a Stanley Cup, but you may not be a great player, but if your team is good you win. In golf, if you don’t play well you don’t win.”
Little worked for Bell until he was 60 and coached multiple hockey teams in the Brampton area for most of his life.
“I got married, had children, golf kind of fit in, and I never quit,” said Little. “But with time and priorities, golf was never the focus. That was until I retired, so I had more free time. You never think of shooting your age, it just happens. But now I think of shooting my age, it’s like getting a hole-in-one, you don’t think it’s ever going to happen again.”
Like shooting his age, his first career hole-in-one came later in life. He went 65 years without recording an ace, to the point where it was becoming a bit of a joke among members around the club.
“It got to the point, where there is a hole-in-one club, and we have a banquet every year. I got more famous for not having a hole-in-one. People would go up and say, ‘I can’t believe I have a hole-in-one, and Bob Little doesn’t have one.’” Little put an end to the jokes, and now has four aces in his life, two of them coming in 2022.
Little is still a very active player, teeing it up four days a week and tries to get out to practise when he can. He is a staple at Brampton GC, a place he holds very dear to his heart.
“It’s the best there is. We just had the World Junior (Girls Championship) here, and we have hosted a bunch of events. People always say they didn’t realize how good it was after they’ve played it.”
While Little does have his usual playing partners, one of his favourite things about the game is playing with those outside his circle.
“You meet a lot of interesting people,” he explained. “It doesn’t matter what you do or what you did, as long as you can play golf, that’s all that matters.”
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