FAYETTEVILLE -- When the Golf Channel celebrates a centennial, expect a fabled course or long deceased champion to be its subject.
Not this time.
Ellen Smith of Fayetteville celebrates her 100th birthday today, and the Golf Channel celebrates it nationally in January.
A Golf Channel crew filmed her golfing at Fayetteville Country Club. They shivered in the December chill, but not Ellen.
No surprise, club pro Bill Agler surmised.
"There will be miserable weather and she's out there," Agler said.
Out there again obliviously shaming others to play.
"They would be huddled inside saying, 'It's too bad to play today,' " Agler said. "Then they would see Ellen get out of her cart and they'd get their clubs."
Agler counts himself among the shamed.
"She called me for a lesson one day," Agler said. "I said, 'Ellen, it's pretty chilly and windy.' She said, 'Can we still do a lesson?' I said, 'Yes ma'am. Give me 30 minutes.' She shows up in 15 ready to go."
Agler recalled a recent lesson during which Ellen noticed improvement.
"I said, 'Well, we've worked on this since you were 90," Agler said. "How many times can you say that?"
Ellen Smith's passion for golf is such that Golf Channel host Lisa Cornwell, who "grew up golfing at Fayetteville Country Club" and won four state amateur championships, pitched the feature idea to the Golf Channel brass.
It was an instant hit.
"Her unfailing dedication and love for the game certainly proves that golf is a game for lifetime," Cornwell said.
It also garners admiration from an all-time great, Gary Player, the retired golfer from South Africa who won nine majors during his career.
"Lisa took a selfie with Ellen and she tweeted it out," Agler said. "Gary Player responded. That's special. That got everybody's attention."
Has golf helped Ellen reach 100?
"I think maybe so," Smith said "Along with a life of exercise. I like to hike and have always done a bunch of exercise. I think it's exercising and eating well and living a joyful life. I am a nature lover. I think that's what appeals to me about golf."
Ellen and her late husband, Jim, golfed often. But she golfed most with Feriba McNair until her passing.
"Feriba and I played for dimes," Smith said. "We had a dime on birdies, a dime on putts and a dime on gross, and a nickel a hole besides that. You could win or lose about 40 cents, and we paid up right away."
Now Smith plays with Margaret Barron, whose late parents, J.F. and Alberta Robinson, were longtime friends of the Smiths.
Until recently Smith golfed often with Phil Prescott, now in California. Phil and his late wife, Wilma, and the Smiths were longtime friends.
"After Jim died and Wilma died he has been a wonderful companion in our later years," Ellen said. "He had his 100th on Thanksgiving Day. He is 10 days older, so he claims he likes younger women."
None could meet one of any age with a younger outlook.
"She is an incredible woman," Agler said.
Sports on 12/06/2014