Super Senior: Dave Pash

RANDOLPH, Vt. (WCAX) – A foreboding forecast keeps the golfers away at Montague Country Club in Randolph.

But the action on this morning is in the clubhouse, where Dave Pash holds court with golfers and workers over coffee, sharing memories of growing up in Manchester.

“He hasn’t changed a bit,” said course superintendent Tim Stanwood, Dave’s boss.

Pash married his high school sweetheart, Rita. “I think we’re working on 67 or 68 years now,” Pash said. “She’s the one that keeps me grounded, I tell you.”

Other highlights include a 30-year career in the Air Force. “I received the Bronze Star when I came back from Vietnam,” Pash said.

Clearing skies finally lure the golfers and bring Pash outside to his job as the longtime groundskeeper at Montague. “Want to look at some nice bunkers?” he asks. “What I do is drive a cart right into the bunker.”

The 88-year-old is affectionately known as “Bunker Dave.” Five days a week he’s out on the course. Some of his co-workers could be his grandchildren.

“An incredible man,” Stanwood said. “An 88-year-old man doing physical work that he is doing — I’ve never seen it before, to be honest.”

“I never thought I would work on a golf course for 30 years after I retired from a 30-year career in the Air Force,” Pash said. “I never, never thought that would happen.”

He may be out of the war zone but the bunker can be a different kind of dangerous

Reporter Joe Carroll: Have you ever been hit by a golf ball?

Dave Pash: Yes. It hurts… He sure knew I was mad.

Pash is drawing a line in the sand — he has no intention of retiring anytime soon. “And from all indications, it’s going to continue for another five years at least,” he said. “I’m going to stay down here as long as I can.”

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