Bishop, Calif, (Sept. 19, 2014) – August Hess plans to celebrate his 100th birthday Oct. 25 by playing in a local golf tournament at his club that has been held annually in his honor since the 1980s. The “Augie Hess Invitational” at Bishop (Calif.) Country Club is a celebration of the local living legend, who still shoots in the high 80s and plays from the white tees that measure 6,200 yards.
If he is slowing down, it’s hard to notice. He still stands 6 feet and weighs 200 pounds. He lives on his own and drives a 1937 Cord three miles to the club to play golf at least once a week. Two years ago, just one day shy of his 98th birthday, Hess made a hole-in-one on the175-yard fourth hole at Bishop Country Club. He used a 3-wood to ace the fourth hole on his way to shooting an 88. He had another hole-in-one a day after his 99th birthday on the eighth hole.
A broad-shouldered Native American, Hess has been playing golf for nearly 50 years, but doesn’t break 90 as often as he used to. Still, he plays well enough to sometimes win his once-a-week game with his friends. He’s already posted a couple of 86s this season. He’s never taken a single lesson and never practices his putting, yet he is a solid 24-handicapper on the par 71 course that he joined in 1964.
Hess has been shooting equal to or better than his age since he was 77 and he is likely the best golfer his age in the world. In comparison, 17-time PGA TOUR winner Harold “Jug” McSpaden is the oldest golfer to better his age in a Champions Tour event. He shot 81 at the age of 85 in 1994.
Among amateurs, Hess is taking aim at Arthur Thompson of Victoria, British Columbia, who, according to Golf Digest “Record Book,” is the oldest golfer to shoot his age, with a score of 103 in 1972.
When he first joined the club, Hess would make the 60-mile drive south from Lee Vining in his 1937 Cord. Now he lives much closer to the golf course, but he still drives the same maroon Cord with the “A HESS” license plate.
“When I hit my 90s, my drives started getting a bit shorter,” says Hess, who bats it down the fairway about 200 yards on average. “I used to be able to break 80, but now my aim is to keep it under 90,” says Hess, who has a low score of 71 and three holes-in-one.
Hess was born in 1911, the son of Native American and Swiss parents. He is proud of his bloodlines as a Paiute Indian, but his upbringing was more in keeping with his American surroundings. He was born in the Seattle area and was graduated from Bishop (Calif.) High School.
“I started in the horse-and-buggy era,” says Hess, who was born as the Ford Model-T was just hitting the streets. Teddy Roosevelt was President, Ty Cobb ruled the baseball world and the Titanic wouldn’t sink until 1912. The country wouldn’t get involved in the World War I for another six years.
He had a gift for athletics, including skiing, but he was a particularly good pitcher and baseball was his favorite sport. After high school, he attended Pasadena (Calif.) Junior college and later was offered a tryout in the Pacific Coast League.
“There were 123 players competing for three spots,” Hess said, his memory as good as ever. “I was pulled aside and told I could expect a call.”
He waited, but the call never came. And soon Hess found himself doing four years of army duty during World War II, starting in 1941 as an airline technician.
“My job was to make sure the planes were in good shape to fly. And none of my planes ever had a problem,” Hess says proudly.
His dream of playing professional baseball was gone, so when he came home in 1945 he used what he had learned in the service to start his career. He opened a gas station, and later added a second station. He sold gas, he remembers, for 18 cents a gallon. He loved cars, and he could fix them too. Then, he was introduced to the game of golf in a most unusual fashion.
“One day this fellow comes in to the station with no money, but asked if I would take his new set of McGregor irons for a full tank of gas. I said, ‘okay,’ but I didn’t know what I was going to do with the irons. I had never played golf.
“I found a sheep field next to Mono Lake and I started hitting balls. My neighbor gave me 100 used golf balls and I bought a shag bag. I’d mark off the field for the different distances and I’d hit 75 balls. Then, I’d go pick them up and start all over again. I would do that every chance I’d get, and I was getting pretty good. When you see the ball flying through the air, wow! It’s a great sight.”
Twice a widower, Hess has been blessed with good health, except for a time four years ago when he had an operation to fix some stomach trouble. Other than that, he can’t recall ever being in a hospital since being born.
But, as a sign of old age, he was told at 95 that his blood pressure and cholesterol levels were a bit high. “Now I have to take an aspirin a day,” says Hess.
Meanwhile, Hess sticks to his own special recipe for long life.
“I have a mush (oatmeal) for breakfast, a sandwich or some soup for lunch and have a couple of drinks from time to time,” he says. “I just keep going every day, but I’m losing distance on my drives with age.”
In his younger days, Hess was also a horse-riding cowboy who helped lead cattle drives through the mountains. And when he first learned to drive a car, at age nine, there were only winding mountain passes where he lived.
Hess traveled those mountain passes to Las Vegas again in the 1990s when he won his golf flight at the 1997 Showboat Invitational. He came back the following year and took second.
He has played golf in Alaska, Hawaii, Washington and Florida. But these days he stays close to home. He has two daughters and a step-daughter in the area and they check in on him. He also has a step-son and a several grandchildren, one of whom is an assistant golf professional in southern California.
“I’ve done most everything I wanted to do,” says Hess in a soft voice. “I just look forward to getting the chance to play golf each week. I hope I can play golf for at least a couple more years. You know, now that I’m going to be 100, it’s a lot easier to shoot my age.”
Contact:
Craig Smith at (484) 546-9145 or cmsith8742@gmail.com
David Keller at (707) 486-1883 or davekeller01@hotmail.com
