The guys in GARS love their pars.

GARS is the acronym for Golf Association of Rowan Seniors, a thriving 13-year-old organization that was organized in 1988 for county residents age 55 and over.

“We’ve got 121 members,” said president Bob Wofford. “We’ve just been out recruiting. We’ve got a lot of people getting old, so they want to join.”

Charter members Walter Adams, Harry Brown, V.S. Casper, Everett Frye, Harry “Doc” Graham, Reid Grimes, Robert Harrell, Jake Holt, W.A. Kepley Sr., Bill Kernodle, Bill Kirchin, John Kirchin, Pete Ladd, John Rader, Ransom Shuping, Charles Simone and C.E. Spires are still members of the organization.

Adams, now 79, was instrumental in starting the organization and he’s not surprised at how successful it’s been.

“That’s because I have worked and planned and got help from different people, especially Rick Eldridge, the director of Rufty-Holmes Senior Center,” said Adams.

Adams, who retired from Liberty Life Insurance Co. in 1988, says playing golf with the other seniors is just as much fun now as it was in the beginning.

“If it wasn’t, I would just throw my clubs away,” quipped Adams.

The golfers range in age from the late 50s to the 80s.

“The prime age is late 50s and early 60s for new membership,” said Adams, pointing out that golfers who have just turned 55 often don’t think they’re quite ready for the senior group.

There is a wide range in ability, with golfers shooting anywhere from the high 70s to more than 100.

“We break our membership down into A (low handicap), B, C and D players. We’re sort of heavy on the D side,” said Wofford. Players in the D category have handicaps of 20 or higher, meaning they shoot in the 90-to-100 range.

“We have some players who will play in the high 70s consistently,” he added.

A love for golf is the common ingredient.

“It’s an opportunity for our peers to get together and just join in the fellowship of golf,” said Wofford. “All of us are golf enthusiasts. It gives us a chance to play different courses, with the exception of the first Monday of every month. That’s when we have our monthly meeting (at the Rufty-Holmes Senior Center) and a captain’s-choice tournament at Foxwood.”

GARS plays 52 times a year, weather permitting. The seniors aren’t bothered by cold weather but don’t play in rain. If a holiday falls on a Monday, tournaments are played on Tuesday.

Wofford says the weekly participation averages 50 to 60 golfers.

“The dues are $25 a year. With that $25, we have at least one breakfast during the year, a cookout during the summer months and a Christmas party. It all comes out of the dues,” he pointed out.

Wofford estimates that the group plays “12 or so” different courses during the year.

“Some of them we will play two or three times during the year. We try to keep the play within 50 miles of Salisbury,” he said.

Members usually set up their own foursomes and carpool to play area courses like Fox Den in Troutman, Asheboro Country Club, Lexington Municipal, Brushy Mountain in Taylorsville, Rock Barn in Conover, Mallard Head in Mooresville and Blair Park in High Point.

Local and area courses offer GARS a discount rate.

“We have also had beach trips, overnighters with fairly good participation. We’ve been to the mountains on special occasions,” said Wofford.

The group’s president played golf when he was in the Air Force, but gave it up when he retired in 1968. He moved to Salisbury five years later, retired fromIsenhour Brick & Tile in 1995, then decided to join GARS.

“It’s one fine bunch of people,” he said.