Ted Brandt…Making 90 Look Easy!

Breaking 80 is a feat that less than 5% of all golfers accomplish, according to USGA statistics. According to those same statistics, the percentage of golfers who “shoot their age” is a mere .0000089%, or less than 9 per million.

However, there is a way to “trick the stats” if you are trying to shoot your age, and that is to live long enough to be outside of the sub-80 realm, remain healthy, and play a lot of golf.   That description pretty much fits our own Ted Brandt to a tee!

On May 30^th, Ted turned 90 years old, and celebrated with friends and family with an evening of libation and fun.  Ted was joined by a number of his Shadow Hills Senior Tour friends, where there was more than one story of Ted’s golf prowess, and close calls with disaster being told.

A Shadow Hills member, since 1980, along with his wife Arlyn, Ted has been a familiar face on the course and at social gathers for almost 40 years. As the former owner of Eugene Tile and Marble for more than 55 years, you can find Ted’s handiwork in countless Eugene locations including several Eugene hospitals, State, Federal and City buildings, and shopping malls.

But has he shot his age? 

The answer is YES…regularly! This includes three rounds of 90 or less in the past month alone.  Ted makes it look easy.

Those who play regularly with Ted, often end up handing Ted their quarters for the round (the favorite casual betting ducats of the regular senior golfers).  But it is not just his great attitude, easy smile, or golf prowess that is most memorable.  It is Ted’s penchant for skirting disaster while powering ahead after his ball, while others are still shooting behind him.

This fact was memorialized with a gift from his senior friends of a personalized hard hat, and padded target for his back. If he won’t change his ways (and nobody really expects him to), at least he will likely survive an errant shot from a friend.

Lou Hanavan presents Ted with a hard hat and Back Target

As Lou Hanavan described to Ted, the reason for the target was actually a “Safety Device.”  As Lou explained to those gathered, “Ted is usually 150 yards down the fairway before the rest of us finish teeing off. And as you know, the chances of any of us hitting a target at 150 yards, is next to none, so aiming at the target is actually a safe bet.  But, we are giving him this hard hat just in case.”

In addition to the hard hat and target, Ted was presented with 90 personalized golf balls, another gift from his regular “Tues-Thurs” senior friends.

With calves like those of a mountain Sherpa…and the grip of someone who made a living with his hands, nobody is betting that Ted’s “golfing his age” days will end anytime soon.

Happy Birthday Ted! From all of your friends and “family” at Shadow Hills!  You are an amazing inspiration to all of us!