Still Swinging

The first time Bobbie Rose picked up a golf club, she was 32. Her son, Mike, was just born, and when she swung, something just clicked.

Now, a 103-year-old grandmother and great-grandmother, the Meadowbrook resident is still swinging.

“That was really the start of something,” said Bobbie, who plays at Philmont Country Club. “I didn’t know how to play, but I just knew that this would be a game I’d play forever. I still have the urge to play. It’s never left me.”

A Temple University graduate, she taught physical education in her home school district of Cheltenham. Bobbie was always an athlete from playing multiple sports in high school, to later playing hockey, baseball and even swimming, to becoming a Philadelphia badminton champion, and playing tennis until she was 81.

By 90, she’d won dozens of tournaments with her champion player children, Bonnie and Mike, and became an honorary member of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia. At 92, she beat out 65-year-olds for class champ at a senior event and shot under her age five times. By 98, she was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

“Mom’s a great athlete,” said Bobbie’s son, Mike Rose of GREAT GOLF Magazine and 97.5 The Fanatic. “She’s a quick study. There’s not a sport she didn’t play. I wish I could’ve seen her play when she was younger.”

But, luckily, he still gets to see her play now. “The nice thing is that we get to enjoy it as a family,” Bobbie said. “That’s the most important thing, keeping the family together, even from afar. We’re growing up together. How many are fortunate enough to grow up with their children?”

Mike joked, “Mom’s growing younger, I’m growing older, and we meet in the middle.”

An avid hiker, Bobbie said she just loves walking the course, being outside on the range, and maybe even still giving a pointer or two. She also still hosts and helps prepare holiday meals at her home, which is filled with her own original artwork from welding, wood and clay, to copper and stone.

“Who knew I’d live to be 103!” Bobbie said. “Nobody knows the answer to that question. I have no secrets other than being physically active my whole life and loving every minute of it. I constantly challenge myself. If I can’t do it, I try to find a way to work to get better. That’s my mental aspect. But, I don’t think about age in anything I do. It doesn’t define me. They’re just numbers.”