For two men who love to talk about the character of the game of golf, it is hard to miss the parallels between golf and real life. Golf and Bethesda Health Clinic give the two friends another excuse to team up.

“I have a deep respect for the game,” says Ken Dance, “Just consider the fact that there are no referees. To watch professional athletes on TV give themselves a penalty; that’s amazing!”

Long-time friend, Dr. Dick Hurst agrees, adding that he only hears “gentlemanly language” on the course.

Claiming to be the “accidental” owner of Peachtree and Oakhurst Golf Courses in Bullard, Hurst says he only resorted to building the courses when the peach trees on his farm died.

“But there was a big need for public courses,” says Hurst.

For Dance writing a book, Ur Bst Golf,” which includes a final epilogue on life lessons from golf, was a natural byproduct of his love for, surprisingly, not golf, but his grandkids.

Hurst points out that Dance is uniquely qualified to write about golf, but that his friend has other passions as well and it’s nice when they all come together.

For instance, Dance has all along brought teams to play in the Chic-Fil-A Bethesda Health Clinic Golf Tournament which Oakhurst has hosted for nine years, but lately Dance’s team has included his grandsons.

“The last two years of Bethesda (Golf Classic), I’ve played with my sons and grandsons. It’s a team scramble. Being with people you love, doing what you love; that’s a double-double,” says Dance.

Dance loves to talk about experiences with his grandsons and about character-building. Referencing the early years of teaching one of his grandsons to play, Dance says that “Sure, we pulled out the rule book” but “we had the pep rally when he hit it straight.”

“The beauty of the game is that the very best players miss a putt or have a bad day and appear to be crying on TV in front of millions of people,” laughs Dance, explaining one reason why golf is the perfect game for bringing together the generations.

Sports teams brought Ken Dance and Dick Hurst together over thirty-five years ago. They first met on the sidelines of their kids’ flag football teams and before you know it, they were coaching Little League together, “in response to avid coaches,” laughs Dance, adding that their kids didn’t necessarily get picked for the more aggressive teams.

Hurst is quick to agree with Dance when it comes to praising the value of having generations involved in golf. After all, his son Dan Hurst is the Greens’ Keeper at the two golf courses and his grandson Hans Hurst is re-directing his college studies to follow in the older generations’ love of the game, too.

“Yeah, he’s in the recreation business,” laughs Dance, teasing his friend who is a practicing physician.

“The recreation business is a happy business where people are having fun,” agrees Hurst, adding “Bringing two loves together, seeing people’s needs met at the (Bethesda) clinic, seeing people avoid sporadic, episodic care at the emergency room AND getting to play golf, hard to beat,” referring to the way that the annual golf tournament contributes to the financial well-being of the clinic.

It is still team work that binds the two men together after all these years.

“Being a positive part of a wonderful organization that is doing good things for people” is one of the things Hurst enjoys about hosting the Bethesda event each year.

As a doctor himself, he appreciates the way Bethesda is making health care available for the working, uninsured of Smith County, a group of people who would normally be “priced out,” according to Hurst.

For Dance, being on the volunteer team at Bethesda allows him to “watch the doctors exercising their God-given calling” without the pressure induced by bottom-line time constraints because so many of the volunteers are retired.

“I hate that word ‘retired,’” laughs Dance, “How about ‘donating their experience, training, and the quality of what they did for years.’”

Once, his work schedule allowed it, Dance found he had two new passions, golf and Bethesda.

“Golf is a game you never play seriously until you’re retired,” he adds, “You sneak off to play golf.”

Dance is so enthusiastic about what the clinic is accomplishing in Smith County without any tax dollars that he believes it can be “done in other places, too,” citing a clinic in Memphis which gave the Bethesda team helpful wisdom when they began.

With golf becoming the fastest growing global sport, Dance and Hurst claim that it will soon compete with soccer as “the world sport.” Golf will be included in the next Olympics for the first time.

According to these two old friends, “wherever you go in the world, golf creates an instant bond.”

The ninth annual Chic-Fil- A Bethesda Golf Tournament is Friday, Oct. 2, at Oak Hurst Golf Course in Bullard. Tee times will be at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. For more information, contact Diane Thomason at (903) 596-8353 or go to www.bethesdaclinic.org.