GALION – Golf suits Vee TyRee to a “tee.”

She’s been hitting the links for nearly 60 years now. A regular at Valley View Golf Course in Galion and at other area courses. Proud of her swing. Dedicated to the game. And, at 97 years old, still playing.

“It’s such a great pastime,” Vee said about her favorite sport. “I like the companionship of all the girls I’ve ever played with. They all are very encouraging. The girls that play in the 30s still let me play with them.
I think that’s what I like about golf.”

Vee is a mainstay in the Wednesday morning women’s league at Valley View and subs in a Thursday afternoon league there, too. But club manager Mike Stuckman, the former owner, said he didn’t even find out until a few years ago that she wasn’t just 70-something.

“She’s doing stuff all the time. She’s amazing,” said Stuckman, who during his lengthy tenure at Valley View knows of only one other older player – 98-year-old Paul Hunter of Mansfield. “There’s nobody else close to those two. She’s slowed down a little but not very much.”

Vee said she decided to take up the game shortly after the death of her first husband, Tom Noble, in 1965.

She was encouraged by her boss, Dr. Donald Smith at Family Eye Care in town, to give it a shot. “He said, ‘Vee, we gotta’ learn how to do something different now.’”

And she did.

“Doc,” his wife, Millie, and Vee picked up a few basic clubs and hit the 18-hole course at the former Galion Country Club. “It was a challenge like everything else you do,” Vee said. “After Tom died, you get out on the golf course and you concentrate on the ball. It helps you out that way when you’re grieving.”

Her first lesson was at the old Armory uptown because it was during the winter. Bob Clouse was her instructor. But over the years, Vee also took lessons from golf pros at the country club and gained valuable experience in a Friday morning traveling league that went to Mansfield, Ashland, Mt. Vernon, and other cities.

“We’d get up early, and one person would be the host. We had rolls and coffee first,” she recalled. “It was a lot of fun, and I had the chance to play a lot of different courses at the time.
It got you acquainted with different courses and how difficult the game could be.”

Linda Kidwell is often a member of Vee’s foursome at Valley View and marvels at her ability – and agility.
“She still wants to play really well,” said Kidwell, the 2022 league champion and winner three other years.
“It’s amazing when I see her bend over and pick up the ball. She doesn’t lose her balance at all.”

Vee and her bag of TaylorMade clubs even travel to Bluffton, S.C., where she plays on world-class courses at Berkeley Hall with her son, Scott Noble, and grandson, Ryan. They also supply her with dozens of Titleist balls – always white – for birthdays and special occasions.

Although she hasn’t experienced the thrill of sinking a hole-in-one like Scott, Ryan, and her granddaughter’s husband, Anthony Salvatore, she’s happy with her best score of 39.
“Driving isn’t my problem. It’s the shorter game that I have problems with now,” she admitted. “I don’t have the strength now, but I still love it.”

And Stuckman loves watching her tee off because he knows that “drive” keeps her going. “She just likes to stay active. She has a very positive attitude about everything,” he said.
“She’s constantly looking forward to the next day. She’s a good example for the rest of us, I think.”