Retiring golf club president gives fellow golfers an opportunity to defeat links standout.
A GLEEFUL GROUP OF GALLANT GOLFERS garbed in "I Beat Charlie Johnson" T-shirts greets the retiring past president of Rolling Hills Country Club as he gamely approaches the final green. Charlie's gross score of 37, which soared to a 52 due to "penalty" strokes, proved that the only way to beat Charlie is with a pencil.
From the July 31, 1968 edition of the Sun and Flare.
It was a sad event last Friday morning on the Rolling Hills Country Club links as Charles A. Johnson, past club president, trudged the final nine holes of his desert golf career in an effort to defeat some 55 fellow golfers and friends.
The spectacle was lightened somewhat by the sigh of special caddies engaged to provide Johnson with shade under a beach umbrella and to keep him cool with a palm frond fan.
The event got underway at 5 a.m. when Johnson approached the first tee with head high and stomach sagging. Selecting a wood, he stroked the ball in his familiar lunging fashion and watched unbelievingly as the ball exploded in mid-flight, leaving a trail of green smoke in its wake, finally settling to the ground under the fluttering of the Stars and Stripes.
For playing a second ball, he incurred a two-stroke penalty. And that' the way his round went -- a penalty for putting out of turn, a penalty for making derogatory remarks about his opponents, for climbing a tee box while the foursome ahead was still on the next green.
He was also penalized for delay of play while his picture was being taken, for playing a shot over after one of the gallery inadvertently moved his ball, and for an infrequently called rule violation covering improper dress.
As he approached the ninth and final green, he was received by a cheering crowd, most of whom were wearing their trophy of the day - a white T-shirt with big block letters spelling out: "I BEAT CHARLIE JOHNSON."
And indeed they had.
— The Arabian Sun: July 31, 2023