OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bob Walls was getting set to tee off on the first hole at his home course last week when his partners interrupted his pre-shot routine.“Get back here, man,” James King said.“We’re playing blues today,” Dawn Dozier added.Walls wasn’t having it.“When you’re over 100, you can hit from anywhere you want,” he told them.Then, with a silky smooth swing from the forward white tees, he thwacked the ball down the right side of the fairway just short of the green on the 180-yard hole.Not bad for a 103-year-old. Actually, pretty incredible.A record 6.3 million Americans 65 and older played golf in 2025, the National Golf Foundation reported this month. The NGF does not track the number of centenarians, but there undoubtedly are few, if any, who play as well and as often as Walls.Walls is fit and trim and looks 30 years younger. He has survived a heart attack, has had multiple heart surgeries and overcame a transient ischemic attack (mini stroke). He credited good genes — both of his parents lived into their late 90s — for his longevity, along with staying active.
The notion that he’s a freak of nature doesn’t register with him.“I don’t feel 103. I don’t act 103,” he said. “To me it’s no big deal.”
