Whatcom Seniors Golf tournament manager Jim Macmillan. By Zoe Deal When Jim Macmillan moved back to the Pacific Northwest in 2001 after 30-plus years in the Midwest, golf wasn’t on the agenda.
He had taken one lesson but never played. His set of golf clubs remained dusty even after the move.
Yet by pure chance he ended up with a house in Birch Bay Village, a gated community that includes a nine-hole golf course. When a neighbor invited him out to play two days after moving in, he agreed.
“I got hooked on golf,” said Macmillan, 77. “It’s a great thing for retirement because it gives you something to do every day. So I started playing golf. I’m still terrible at it, but I don’t give up.”
Not long after, he became involved in Whatcom Seniors Golf as its Birch Bay Golf Club representative. Whatcom Seniors Golf is a club for people 55 and over that hosts bimonthly tournaments across Whatcom and Skagit counties.
The club was started in 1987 by longtime golfer and Mobil refinery worker Herm Stevens. In its early years, the club operated with around 20 members, but interest grew yearly, said board member Neal Holleman, who joined in 1999; by the late 2000s it wasn’t uncommon to have 170-180 members annually.
Today, the club has 143 members. Though the club is open to women, they don’t have any female members at the moment.
Whatcom Seniors has experienced a decline in membership recently, said Macmillan, as aging takes its toll. The club’s average age is around 75, though it’s not uncommon to see players in their nineties stepping up to the tee.
“We had a guy up until this year who is 97,” Macmillan said. “He was never competitive, but he enjoyed being out.”
Holleman, 74, said the club is looking for “younger blood” to join Whatcom Seniors.
“I want to get off the board, I’m getting burned out,” he said.
Tournaments occur every other Monday from the end of March to October 1, for a total of 14 tournaments, each one at a different course. Each course takes around five hours and per tournament costs vary. The six flights are organized by “GHIN” handicap score, so members play against others with similar skill.
“You’re always competing with people who are similar to you. When I set up a tournament, I pay some attention to that – to balance it out so people enjoy it,” said Macmillan, who has now been tournament manager for nearly a decade.
Bruce Kay said he’s noticed many serious players come in and loosen up.
“After about a year they are more relaxed and joke a lot,” Kay said. “It’s just a game.”
The group plays tournaments rain or shine. Winners get a few golf balls, which are purchased with the $40 annual membership fee. Holleman said he purchased 270 packs of balls for the club tournament prizes last year.
For Macmillan, it’s being outdoors and getting exercise that he finds most enjoyable. “Our whole intent is to have a good time, and it’s not a cutthroat type of situation,” Macmillan said.
Though Macmillan won’t share any stories on his unfortunate familiarity with bunkers, he has a lot to say about the fun he has with his golfing partner, Ron, specifically their tradition to wear hats either a white one labeled “champ” or a black hat labeled “chump” depending on the results of the last course.
“It’s all about the camaraderie for me,” Holleman said. He remembers fondly the days he and the other board members would fill out scorecards manually, sitting around a table at Herm’s house. Computers may have changed some things, but the Whatcom Seniors community remains strong.
Holleman said it gives him something to look forward to, especially since his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had to move into a home. “I wait for every tournament, even though I have to get up early to set up,” he said.
Local clubs in Whatcom and Skagit each have representatives from Whatcom Seniors. Whatcom Seniors Golf president Greg Cowan of Sudden Valley arranges meetings with these representatives.
Interested parties can become members anytime by reaching out to Jim Macmillan at 360/371-2933 or macmillan@uni.edu for an application. The club allows guests to join in one tournament per year. More information and the tournament schedule are available online at whatcomseniorsgolf.com.
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