A lifetime of golf, a few minutes of perfection

SUN CITY – There is no such thing as perfection, life always reminds us. But the sport of golf occasionally offers an opportunity that comes about as close as one can get to that exalted status.

That’s when you, your club, and your swing team up to form a connection between your ball and a small hole you can’t even see.

A hole in one.

Brian Schroeder, a Sun City resident for five years, fell in love with golf decades ago, when he was 12. He has built his entire leisure life around the sport for all of the years since, planning his vacations around the game and playing an average of four times a week since he came to Del Webb in Huntley. No matter his score, the weather conditions, or all of life’s other variables, he kept playing, improving, and enjoying his game.

As he is every year, he was one of the first golfers out on Whisper Creek’s fairways and greens in March, even though the “spring” weather had warmed only into the 40s.

He opened the 2011 season in grand style on April 7, on the 97-yard 14th hole, during a round with friends David Sheets and Don Glasgow. Taking out a nine-iron and checking the wind carefully, he lofted his ball, watched it head straight for the flag, bounce a couple of times, and disappear.

“Watching your ball disappear near the hole can mean either disaster (into the rough or in a bunker), or it can mean it’s in the hole,” Schroeder said. “But I know this course pretty well, and I was pretty sure it was around the hole. When we got up there, I went straight to the hole, and there it was. That’s was an exciting moment for all of us. I’ve played for so long so many times, I felt a little like this was something that made it really special.”

It was the first ace on the course in 2011, but it won’t be the last. “We average about eight holes in one every season,” said one of the course managers. “That’s about average for a course like ours.” Schroeder and his buddies actually were out on the course before the maintenance crew had finished preparing it for the season. “We have been re-stocking the bunkers and traps with sand, spraying and raking the fescue on the fairways, cleaning up debris and tree branches, and trimming trees,” the manager said. “We had a fair amount of moisture this winter, so the course basically was in very good shape.”

Schroeder is a member of the Thursday League at Whisper Creek, which starts its 2011 schedule soon. “I was just out there with Dave and Don playing a round to get ready for the season,

Schroeder said. “I play four times a week on average. We returned not long ago from six weeks at The Villages in Florida, which has several courses. My wife (Jane) and I go down there largely because it’s a golfer’s paradise. I usually try to plan my vacations around golf. It’s just been a huge part of my life since I was 12 years old.”

He usually shoots in the 80s, and his best round was a 76 a few years ago, not at Whisper Creek. Schroeder actually is a general all-around athlete. He plays in the softball league and also bowls in one of the Sun City leagues that competes at Brunswick Bowl on Randall Road in Algonquin.

A native of Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin, he is a retired aircraft-loading supervisor for Delta Airlines. “I spent most of my working life at O’Hare Airport loading planes on the tarmac,” he said.

Like almost all golfers, Schroeder has his heroes in the sport. “I always liked Jack Nicklaus and I followed his career closely,” he said. “And I like Tiger Woods. His career has been amazing.”

He adds, “I also like the Cog Hill Golf Course in the Chicago area, which probably is the best-known course that I have played.”

All the tee times, courses, rounds, and tournaments. Now, he’s added an exciting memory of “perfection,” golf style.

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