The oldest of the Campagne golf course in Nîmes plays three times a week and in club competition. Portrait of a player like no other.
A Swedish study says with the utmost seriousness that golf saves five years of life. At the “Campagne à Nîmes” club, we adopt this antiphon since there are about thirty licensees over 80 years old. Among them, the dean, Michèle Lazare, 90, who leaves the clubs three more times a week “for parties with girlfriends, we play rosé, we have lunch and the day is over.” Especially since after the greens, she stays at the club for another green carpet that of the bridge. “It is very comparable at the intellectual level for the strategy”, explains the one who was a lawyer by profession in Paris.
All her friends are golfing
If she spends entire days in the White House – the club house’s name for its resemblance to that of American presidents in Washington – it is because conviviality is present there. “Besides, almost all my friends are there. When I arrived in Nîmes, I didn’t know anyone and all my connections were through golf. I am happy to belong to this club ”, does not hide Michèle who was even part of the management committee for ten years.
A handicap from 14 to 73 years old!
“We had a house in Vers-Pont-du-Gard, we didn’t even know there was a golf course in Nîmes. Then when we started playing, we came to Campagne (the only course in the Gard capital at the time) and we came across a pro Tito Lassalle who had played rugby with my husband. I integrated very quickly, I was even captain of the teams. We are currently about fifty but, at the time, it was difficult to find three girls to play with me, ”she recalls. Especially since it was necessary to have a handicap of 28 to play on the Gard course.
She started hitting the ball at 57
Proof of rapid progress for someone who hit his first balls at 57, in Paris, at the Stade Français. “I played a lot of tennis but I had back pain. I have found golf to be an interesting sport. “To the point of devoting a lot of time to it and obtaining a handicap from 14 to 73 years old! Her level has inevitably dropped, “when I put two strokes to go to the green, now it’s three when it’s not four”, but she still obtains results in club competitions. “In the last one, out of 16 girls, I finished 7th. Now my favorite shot is the approaches and the putts, before it was the long strokes. I collect points thanks to this. “
From tee to green, from tea to rosé, grandma Michèle’s recipe for longevity.
