\n John White, Ron Creese, Chris Digweed, and Dave Jones have been members at the Cowley club for a combined total of 237 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n During their estimated 80,580 rounds, they have collectively covered around 288,553 miles, equivalent to circumnavigating the earth twice and then travelling to the moon.\n<\/p>\n
\n The quartet, who first met in 1972, have achieved 19 holes in one between them, won several high-profile competitions, and played with golf legend Peter Dawson and the Duke of Marlborough.\n<\/p>\n
\n Chris Digweed, Dave Jones, John White, and Ron Creese (Image: Fortitude Communications) Mr White, 81, was the first to join the club in 1957 at the age of 13, when membership cost just one guinea per year.\n<\/p>\n
\n He grew up in Lye Valley and secured his first job as a trainee instrument maker at what is now Churchill Hospital, positioned yards from the 17th green.\n<\/p>\n
\n The former club president said: “I grew up right next to the 13th fairway.\n<\/p>\n
\n “So, I\u2019d leave home in the morning when working my first job and play holes 13 to 17, park my clubs at work, and play 18 onwards coming home.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It\u2019s remarkable to think I\u2019ve been a member here for almost 70 years.”\n<\/p>\n
\n At 90, Mr Creese is the oldest member of the group.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ron Creese (Image: Fortitude Communications) He joined in 1966 and was club captain in 1982, before becoming club president between 2010 and 2012.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “I had to have a new knee fitted in 2003 so like most people my age, my mobility is somewhat restricted.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Golf gets me out of the house, it helps me socialise with others, and we all have a great laugh playing.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Jones, another former club captain and president, has played at more than 1,200 courses in the UK.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 77-year-old praised the playing conditions at Oxford Golf Club as among the best.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cWithout doubt, the quality of the course is the biggest change over the years.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIn the summer of 1976, you wouldn\u2019t find a single blade of grass on the course. But even this summer with the unusually dry weather, the course is in fantastic condition.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I still believe it\u2019s one of the best parkland courses. It\u2019s a real challenge, with a good variety of interesting and demanding holes.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Digweed said the best advice he has received in 57 years of playing came from his first coach at the club.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “He said I would be okay as long as I hit my bad shots straight. That was great advice, and has stuck with me.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John White, Ron Creese, Chris Digweed, and Dave Jones have been members at the Cowley club for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-372801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115090489922020958","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}