Meet The 100-Year-Old Golfer Who Credits Her Long Life To The 'Four Gs'

When Margaret Montgomery stepped onto the first tee at Hexham Golf Club in Northumberland to mark her 100th birthday, she wasn’t just celebrating a remarkable personal milestone, she was proving that golf is so much more than a game.

Surrounded by a cheering crowd of around 50 fellow members, Margaret pulled out a very special ball: the exact same one she used to score a hole-in-one on Hexham’s 4th hole 35 years ago.

“I had made an idle boast when I was 98 that if I lived to 100, I would hit a ball off the 1st tee, so of course I was held to it!” Margaret laughs. "I felt quite at home, really. It was nice to be back on the tee. I just hit the one shot. It didn’t go very far, but it was straight. I can't do a full swing now, it’s more like a hockey shot. I used my rescue club to make sure I didn’t muff it. That’s the only club I kept; when I stopped I gave the rest to the pro shop for beginners."

Her modest assessment of a hockey shot at 100 years old is classic Margaret. She genuinely doesn't seem to realise just how incredible she is. While most of us would be thrilled to make solid contact at any age, here she is at a century old, stepping up in front of 50 people and launching a straight drive down the fairway with total composure.

Margaret’s path to the tee was anything but ordinary. Growing up in Scotland, her local course was reclaimed during World War II. It wasn’t until her late 20s, while working for the Colonial Service as a PA in Nigeria, where she also met her Scottish husband at a party on New Year's morning, that she took up golf simply because she was “no good at tennis,” the sport most of the other European women played.

"In Nigeria, we putted on 'browns' - small, oiled sand greens, and played with schoolboy caddies who used their toes to give your ball a little nudge out of the rough! There were no rules or handicaps" she recalls. "I even played in the club championship while six months pregnant. My bump stopped me from over-swinging, and I got all the way to the final!"

After returning to the UK in 1964 and raising two sons, Margaret’s golf took off in earnest when she retired in 1986. She immersed herself in club life at Hexham, serving on the committee as Competition Secretary for seven years, Lady Secretary, and eventually Lady President.

Throughout her playing days, Margaret reached a 19 handicap, though she modestly points out she never quite made it down into the silver category, confessing that she could just never read greens! Still, she played well into her nineties, winning her last 9-hole club competition at age 96.

Beyond the silverware and her hole-in-one, which she credits as her favourite achievement, especially because she actually saw the ball drop into the hole, it is the profound human connections that defined her decades on the fairways.

When her husband Roy passed away, it was her son Graeme who took her straight out to play a few holes the very next day, knowing that if she didn't return immediately, she might never go back. The course became her sanctuary, and the members her extended family. "When I made guest lists for my 100th birthday party, the longest list was the one headed Golf," Margaret says. "It’s a wonderful game for making real, lasting friends."

When I asked her how club life has changed over the last 40 years, Margaret noted a big shift in tone and culture. "When I first went to play at Hexham, there was very much a hierarchy, and you sort of had to mind your p’s and q’s with the older ladies," she says. "And back then, when women got to 70, they stopped playing golf and played bridge instead. I never succumbed to that!" Her secret to staying so sharp, active, and inspiring? Margaret puts it down to her trusted formula: "I tell people it’s down to four Gs - Genes, Golf, Gardening, and God!"

Her advice for anyone considering picking up a club? "Just keep playing, no matter what your standard is. If you start and you enjoy it, that’s it for life. I think this is the great thing about the sport. With the handicap system, you can play against anyone, and you can just go on playing provided you're reasonably fit. Especially now with the buggies, you can keep playing for so much longer."

Every so often, an interview comes along that stays with you. It was a privilege to chat with such an inspirational woman and hear about her career and the sheer joy golf has brought to her life. Having only given up driving her car locally at the age of 99, Margaret joked after her birthday drive that the single tee shot almost made her want to rejoin as a playing member. If she could still drive herself to the course, I wouldn't put it past her for a second!