Carlson: This 73-year-old man just hit seventh hole-in-one, but there's more to his story

YUKON — Tim Bench has lots of golf accolades to his name.

Played collegiately at Air Force. Won a couple club championships at Surrey Hills Golf Club. Once played seven rounds of golf in a day with one of his older brothers, then bested that by playing eight another day with his younger brother.

(That’s 144 holes in a day, by the way.)

And recently, the 73-year-old added his seventh hole-in-one. He’s had one in every decade since the 1960s.

But the most remarkable thing about Bench’s golf career is that it’s still going.

The Yukon resident has a condition called essential tremors. It causes shaking in his voice, his legs, his trunk, and yes, his arms and hands. That makes it difficult to address a golf ball, much less hit one.

“I don’t know how he hits it,” his wife, Cindy, said. “Even if you see him hit it, it’s like, ‘How does he even …’”

Bench said, “If I line up a club behind the ball, it shakes enough to where half the time I move it or I knock it off the tee.”

He shrugged.

“Everybody’s got something.”

This week the eyes of the golf world were focused on the world’s best golfers vying for the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, but you won’t find a more inspirational golfer than the retiree from Yukon playing most days in the afternoon men’s group at Surrey Hills.

Tim Bench is a golfing marvel.

“He downplays it, but it is truly remarkable that he is able to play to the level that he does,” said Scott Kedy, who played golf with Bench’s son, Ben, at Oklahoma City University and is a regular in the Surrey Hills’ men’s group. “I can’t imagine the will and determination to continue.”

Lots of people ask Bench how he does it.

But to him, how could he not?

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'A family deal'

To understand how much golf was part of Tim Bench’s upbringing, you only need to hear the story of his first hole-in-one.

He was playing with his mom and one of his brothers in a group behind his dad and his two other brothers. All of them saw 14-year-old Bench hit a wedge on the 130- or 140-yard par three for his first ace.

“It was kind of a family deal,” Bench said.

All four of the Bench boys played golf during their time at the Air Force Academy — their father was a general in the Air Force — and even as they got older, they still found time to play together.

Bench was actually on a golf course in Ohio playing with one of his brothers and a couple other guys when he first realized something wasn’t quite right. He remembers the details of the moment clearly almost four decades later.

It was the second hole.

He had a 20-foot putt.

“And I stood over it, and my hands were shaking a little,” Bench said. “I went, ‘Well, that’s new.’”

Bench was in his 30s, so he didn’t quite know what to make of the shaking. For several years, it was minor and didn’t affect him all that much.

But over time, it got worse.

Eventually, Bench was diagnosed with essential tremors. What causes the condition is unknown, but in many cases, the condition is passed from a parent to a child. Bench’s mom had essential tremors.

The condition presents much like Parkinson’s, but since it isn’t a disease, a person won’t die from essential tremors.

They must learn, however, how to live with them.

“When he was first diagnosed and was trying to figure it out, I kept telling him that not playing wasn’t an option,” Bench’s longtime friend Kent Bradford said.

Bradford’s son, Sam — yes, the former OU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner — and Bench’s son, Ben became friends playing football together in the fourth grade. They bonded, though, spending hours at a time on the golf course together.

Somewhere along the line, the Bradfords and the Benchs hatched a plan to all play Pebble Beach together one day.

“We actually did make that trip happen,” Bradford said.

He marvels at what Bench has done.

“Tim has been very inspirational to a whole lot of people,” Bradford said. “He’s gone through times when he wanted to give up the game.”

But Bench never did.

Electrodes implanted in his brain have helped him stay on the course.

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'Back to normal' or new normal?

Tim Bench first heard about deep brain stimulation in 2013.

Michael J. Fox, the actor who has lived with Parkinson’s for three decades, had the procedure to reduce tremors. When Bench realized he might be a candidate for the surgery, he jumped at the chance.

Two electrodes would be implanted in his brain with wires running to small pulse generators, which would be implanted in his chest. The pulse generators would have to be adjusted and would need new batteries every few years.

“I was hoping it would just make everything back to normal,” Bench said.

That didn't happened.

Bench still struggles to brush his teeth or shave his face. Tying shoe laces is almost impossible, but like he’s done on the golf course, he’s adapted in life. Now, he only wears shoes that don’t have to be tied, and if he orders a cup of coffee, he knows he shouldn’t be carrying it to his table.

“I’d have to get them to bring it to me because if I try walking it, there’d be puddles of coffee all over the place,” he said.

On the golf course, Bench knows he has to compensate for his tremors, too. But considering how much his club moves and shakes and twitches simply when he’s addressing the ball, how exactly does Bench make it all work?

His friend Scott Kedy jumped in to answer.

“Really good hand-eye coordination,” Kedy said.

Bench said, “Once I start swinging, it doesn’t really bother me. I do have some trouble hitting it solid, and I’ve found that if I concentrate on the club, where it is on the ball, I don’t do well. What I concentrate on is getting my hands back to exactly where they were when they started.”

Bench has the most trouble with short shots and short putts. Things that require more refined movements tend to be difficult for him.

Despite his condition and his insistence he’s a lousy golfer, Bench still carries a 13 handicap.

Lots of golfers would be quite all right with that number.

“He compares it to when he was young,” his wife said, “and that’s the thing I keep telling him, ‘You’re not young anymore. You’re old.’”

She smiled.

So did Bench.

“Don’t worry,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “As often as she tells me, my body tells me.”

Even though Tim Bench is getting an assist from modern medicine, the reason he’s still playing golf is the result of something his condition could never affect.

His personality.

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'I play golf because I want to'

Tim Bench loves to tell stories.

He will tell you how his parents used to live next door to Byron Nelson in Dallas. Or about the time Mickey Mantle autographed a photo to Bench’s wife. Or about getting his second hole-in-one at Preston Trails in Dallas while playing with his dad and his youngest brother.

Kevin, the youngest, was the best golfer in the family.

“And my dad always liked him best because he was the best,” Bench said.

The family had a joke about what happened after Bench got that hole-in-one at Preston Trails.

“We’re walking down to the green and my dad says to me, ‘Hey, when you get your ball out of the hole, make sure you don’t walk in Kevin’s line,’” Bench said.

He laughed.

“I don’t know if that’s true, but he was definitely thinking it.”

Bench’s last four aces have come at Surrey Hills. He had one on No. 13 in 1992, one on No. 6 in 2000, then his last two in 2017 and in April have been on No. 16.

Kedy mentioned Bench has a hole-in-one on every par three at Surrey Hills except for No. 2.

“I’ll work on it,” Bench said. “I’ll start trying.”

No doubt Bench’s humor and positivity have sustained him as his body has sometimes forsaken him.

Don’t misunderstand – he isn’t always sunshine and rainbows.

“He doesn’t have as good a sense of humor as he used to,” Cindy said.

“Hey,” Bench interjected, “you’re supposed to be helping.”

One thing Bench believes absolutely helps him?

Playing golf with friends most afternoons at Surrey Hills. Even though he has considered giving up the game a few times, he has never followed through. He hopes he never has to give it up because he loves being on the golf course with buddies.

“I play golf because I want to,” he said. “And wanting to means putting up with this.”

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma golfer refuses to let essential tremors keep him from golf