100-year old golfer much more than his low handicap

Bob Erfurth’s story is almost like a golf fable in these parts — “did you hear that there’s a 100-year old golfer in San Antonio that regularly shoots lower than his age?” — and that’s a wonderful tale on its own.

But if that’s all you’ve heard about the affable Erfurth, you’re not getting the whole narrative. Erfurth is a survivor, his life set for daring and adventure as a young man fighting for his country in World War II, and a veteran that’s still as sharp in his mind as he is on the golf course.

Erfurth, a native of the Alamo City, took up golf some 80 years ago, following in the footsteps of his older brother Bill despite the fact Bob thought golf was a bit of a “sissy” sport.

He was always an athlete, play¬ing football and running track while at Brackenridge High School and even logging some time on the gridiron while chasing his accounting degree from Trinity University in the 1940s after coming home from Europe and World War II.

“After I got out of the service my brother had gotten to be a very good golfer. After watching him play and everything, I thought, well, maybe golf’s not such a sissy game,” Erfurth said. “Maybe I’ll try it. The bone bit me. I’ve been playing golf ever since.”

 Erfurth once played to a 3 handicap — he’s a solid 13 now, which is quite amazing for a golfer who turned 100 years old on June 1. He shot a 78 at SilverHorn Golf Club in 2020 when he was 95 and can get a little testy these days if he doesn’t break 90 for his round.

Flying high as a teenager

Erfurth was barely out of high school when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was sent to Europe as a nose gunner aboard a B-24 bomber, becoming part of a crew that was stationed in England and ran raids over France and Germany. “I enlisted rather than letting them draft me,” he said, “and it was probably one of the smartest things I’ve ever done in my life. That way I could fly.” Erfurth dodged a bullet — actu¬ally a bomb — on one of his raids over enemy territory. “I’m flying along there in the front of the plane and a 1,000 pound bomb falls right in front of my turret,” Erfurth remembers. “It looked to me like it was just a matter of two or three feet in front of where I was sitting. I didn’t hear an airplane getting knocked out beneath me, but how lucky can you be?”

In the typical fashion of those warriors from America’s Greatest Generation, Erfurth gives all the credit to the team of men he served beside while in the fuselage of that B-24.

“There were a few times where things went haywire and your anxiety level would go up, but most of the time, I was concentrating on doing the job. You don’t have time to think about being afraid.”

“Everything that we did while we were in the airplane, they depended upon me, and I depended upon them. So it’s almost as if one guy is doing 10 things. We were a good bunch of guys that did a great job at what we were trained to do.” Asked if he stayed in touch with his crew from the war through the years, a glistening came to Erfurth’s eyes for the first time during our chat. “I did as long as they were alive,” he said. “There’s not a one of them left, other than me. They’re all gone, and that makes me sad. Makes me sad. But I’ll be here as long as the good Lord lets me keep waking up.” Erfurth spent his working years first as an accountant and auditor, and then as a rank and file project overseer for the military in the bases around San Antonio. “Those guys never wanted to see me coming,” he joked. Erfurth is a golf outlier It’s been said that golf is a sport that can be played at any age, but the level of proficiency at which Erfurth plays is what makes him an outlier. New Braunfels-based golf instructor Tim Harford has known Erfurth for almost a decade after selling him a set of golf clubs.

“I wanted to know how he liked the clubs, so I called him up, and he said, ‘they’re the best clubs I’ve ever owned,’” Harford explained. “I said, ‘really? What’d you shoot?’ And he goes, ‘well, I shot 78’ and then it hit me, he was 95 years old. On my first encounter with Bob, he was 91 years old. That day, he shot a 71. A 71!”

“I’m shaking my head. It is hard to get your head around Bob’s golf achievements even now, because if you watch how well he plays, it’s inconceivable to know that he turned 100 years old on June 1. I don’t think there’s anybody else  his driver at 75 miles an hour swing speed,” Caldwell said. “When he strikes the ball with his driver, it’s amazing. And his follow through, his flexibility, his ability to walk and pick up golf balls that I can’t — he’s incredible.”

Erfurth’s best round was a 68 and he’s had four hole in ones, the most recent when he was 85.

“My first hole in one was out at Riverside (in San Antonio),” he remembers, though not exactly what year it was. “I hit the ball flat, and it skipped off the pond and rolled up on the green and into the hole. I tell people it was just the way I planned it.” Erfurth admits that there’s been some concession to his age over the years. “I play from the short tees — up there where the old men hit from,” he said with a giggle. I usually play in a large group of golfers and I beat them all about 80 or 85 percent of the time. “My ability to play this well at 100 is an anomaly that I can’t explain. I guess I just have a natural affinity for the game, which has helped me despite my age. Regard¬less of whether I shoot 81 or whether I shoot 99 I always enjoy being on the golf course just because I’m 100 years old, that’s good enough.”

No slowing down Erfurth doesn’t appear to be slowing down. His sense of humor is on pointe and usually self-effacing, and he stays active with his time on the golf course and kicking up his heels on the dance floor. “I’m okay as long as I get my nap,” he chides.

Erfurth is a living hero, but he shrugs off that label in an “aw-shucks” manner and a matter of fact stare. Maybe it’s playing golf — the hardest of all sports to master — that’s influenced his attitude and fortified his humility when he is actually a giant among men.

“I’ve always thought that if you were part of a generation that was called to sup¬port or to defend your country, you’d do it,” he explained. “Most of what I did while I was in combat, I was 19 years old. “I wondered for a good while whether I was a 19-year old boy or whether I was a 19-year old man. Well, I finally decided I must have been a 19-year old man based upon what I did.”