by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
When Mike Dawes retired from the law firm of McGuire Woods earlier this year, he figured his already-good golf game would get better.
“Didn’t work out that way,” he said. “I started playing awful golf.”
The year’s biggest tournament was coming up and his game had gone south, but he decided to enter, anyway. Only he entered the older category in the Gate Senior at the Ponte Vedra Resort and Club.
“I had won the regular division (ages 50-64) three times and, even though I had turned 65 to be a Super Senior, I wanted to play with the better players,” he said. “When the entry form came, I was playing so poorly that I changed my mind. I knew my regular game players would give me grief, but I didn’t see doing anything with the younger guys.”
It turned out that Dawes was wrong. His golf game came back and he was a runaway winner in the Gate’s Super Senior division.
“I really played well,” he said, holding the large glass trophy he had just received from Gate Petroleum Owner Herb Peyton. “My game all came back. I probably wouldn’t have won the Regular division, but I played well enough to place in the top 10 or so.”
By winning the Super Senior, Dawes became the first man to win both divisions.
Dawes has been a top city player for decades and arguably is the best attorney golfer in the area.
“I never was a long hitter and I’ve lost a little of that over the years,” he said, “so the Super Senior and the short tees suited me very well. I’d guess the 50-64 boys played the courses about 250 yards longer than we did. Maybe it’s time to recognize where I am and concede that I’m 65 years old.”
Next year at the Gate Senior?
“When the entry form comes, I’ll give it a lot of thought,” he said. “I just might go back to the 50-64 category then.”