The test of time: Cape golf league enduring through three decades

The participants of the Tee Time Tuesday Evening Ladies Golf League gather recently for a photo before teeing off at the Cape Girardeau Jaycee Municipal Golf Course.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

Tiger Woods didn’t stay on top of his game of golf for three decades, but you can’t necessarily say the same about a group of 40 women, who gather each week at the Cape Girardeau Jaycee Municipal Golf Course.

The Tee Time Tuesday Evening Ladies Golf League tees off throughout the late afternoon at the course each Tuesday and is celebrating its 30th year of existence this season.

“It’s the people who you play with,” Golfer Cindy Schmoll said of what she loves about the league. “Everybody knows everybody. It’s a friendly competition.

“You may have a good day, or you may have a bad day, but nobody really cares.”

Schmoll has been a participant since the very beginning after her husband, John Schmoll, got her interested in the game.

“I went back to college late,” Schmoll explained, “and on the days where I wasn’t going to school, I’d come out here and play by myself.”

Schmoll isn’t alone on Tuesday’s, however. She is joined by longtime partner Carolyn Torbet, who also got hooked (sorry, bad word choice for a golf story) on the game by her husband, Mike Torbet.

“I love the camaraderie,” Torbet said of the league. “It’s a great way to meet people, get out and have a good social evening.

“Golf itself is a love-hate relationship. It is one of those things that keeps you coming back. This keeps us out, moving, and doing things. I love golf.”

The league, which has ages ranging from 28 to the mid-70s, consists of 40 twosomes after it began with half of that number in 1994. The league has become so popular that it now has a “waiting list” of women wanting to participate, according to Schmoll.

“It’s a challenge getting finished by dark now,” Torbet said of the 40 participants.

The league tees off in intervals between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and is played on a “points system,” which takes handicaps into account.

Despite the “camaraderie” and pleasantness of everyone, Schmoll did say that there is a strong desire by many to play well.

“There are competitive people in the group,” Schmoll said, “and there are some really good golfers. But mostly, it’s just a nice atmosphere to come out to every Tuesday.”