Don Gendron, 93, plays in two golf leagues at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Bunnell.
Don Gendron puts on the 18th green on July 4 and Grand Reserve Golf Club. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Don Gendron tees off on the "super-forward tee" on the 17th hole on July 4 at Grand Reserve. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Don Gendron took up golf after he left the Air Force. That was 70 years ago. At 93, Gendron still golfs twice a week at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Bunnell.
“He regularly shoots in the high 80s, low 90s. He shot 81 a couple of months ago,” said Bruce Rock, who runs a league on Saturday mornings at Grand Reserve. Gendron also participates in the larger Grand Reserve Men’s Golf Association on Wednesdays.
One caveat on his scores: he plays on the “super forward tee” at the beginning of the fairways
“It’s for over 90-year-olds in our leagues,” Gendron said.
Gendron, who turned 93 on July 1, belonged to the Foxborough (Massachussets) Country Club, from 1956 to 1995, when he moved to Florida for the first time.
“I’d say I got to be an average every-day player with a 15 handicap,” Gendron said.
Hitting a hole-in-one wasn’t average, however. He did that in 1974.
Gendron joined the Air Force out of high school and was stationed in France during the Korean War. He married a French girl, Yvette, and brought her to the United States. They settled in Foxborough, where Gendron was the accounting manager at the Foxboro Company, an engineering firm.
Don and Yvette were married for 53 years before Yvette passed away in 2007, Gendron said.
They were living in Ocala at the time. The following year, he moved to Palm Coast, where he had friends.
“They used to visit me when she was not well,” Gendron said. “When she passed, they said, ‘Now you can visit us.’ I liked the area, so I sold my house and moved here.
He’s been playing golf at Grand Reserve since shortly after it opened in 2008.
He used to golf three days a week at Grand Reserve, but family members convinced him to cut back.
“I’m at an age where the heat gets to me,” he said. “I’m happy with two days.”
Rock said Gendron is not only an inspiration on the golf course, "he’s also a wonderful person."
