‘An amazing man’: At age 102, Foremost’s Charles Luca still takes to the golf course

Making it for his daily 1 p.m. tee time with a small group of three to six others he regularly plays the course with.

He drives his golf cart that is styled like a Ford Mustang over from his nearby home, a cart he purchased while down in the United States.

Born in 1921, Luca is set to turn 103 in December.

“I’m born on the farm north of Foremost here. My parents came from Belgium, and I go there to visit quite often,” Luca said.

“In fact, this is the first year I haven’t gone down there. It’s on the coast of Ostend, and that’s a touristy place, and it’s hard to get a room there for a whole month, so I didn’t go this year.”

With his annual September trip to Belgium not happening this year, he’ll be enjoying his home course a little longer.

Luca who spends his winters south of the border plans to once again head to Southern California.

“I go south to California to El Centro. It’s a nice RV park there, a golf course with the RVs all the way around. It’s about a mile around, and I go there from November to April and play golf,” Luca said.

He’s still got his drivers licence and makes the annual almost 2,400-kilometre drive to El Centro for the winter, where he has a modular home.

Luca utilizes his golf cart at Foremost, but will still walk the par-three course in California.

Rudy Ormann, who’s 77-years-old himself is one of a small group of locals that will golf with Luca regularly.

He says Luca is lots of fun to golf with, with lots of laughs during a round.

“I hope I am still mobile when I am that old,” Ormann said.

“He’s an amazing man. I mean not just athletically, but mind and everything, all his faculties and it’s just amazing. It’s seriously is,” he added.

“People just can’t believe he’s that age.”

Luca also has a passion for amateur radio, with his tower visible from the Foremost Golf Club.

Luca didn’t start golfing until his 50s, buying a clearance set from the local hardware store.

He became more of a regular in his 60s after retiring from his career as a farmer, and his time spent abroad in Africa working as a volunteer.

Luca consistently will hit the golf ball about 150 yards right down the middle of the fairway.

He also will regularly put in a decent score on the par 34 course in Foremost.

“On nine holes here, I’m on average about 54, but that can go from 52 to 60,” Luca said.

“Some days things don’t work right. Probably the weather. I’m sure it’s not me,” he added with a chuckle.

The thing he enjoys most about golf is being active outside in nice weather.

A bachelor his entire life, Luca has a nephew in Foremost that he visits with.

He’s the last remaining cousin on both of his parents sides of the family, and regularly visits younger relatives in Belgium when he travels there.

Luca credits his health to never having more than two drinks of alcohol in a day, and never really inhaling when he has smoked.

He hopes to keep golfing as long as his health will allow.

by Jesse Gill

‘An amazing man’: At age 102, Foremost’s Charles Luca still takes to the golf course

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