63-year-old college student is 'getting to live the dream' by playing on golf team

At 62 years old, Debbie Blount decided it was time to pick her clubs back up and join the women's golf team at Reinhardt University.

That was a year ago, and now Blount is 63, a sophomore, and a vital member of the team — this fall, she played in the TWU Fall Invitational, and was one of three Reinhardt golfers who made all-tournament. "I'm getting to live the dream," she told CNN. "I look around here and I can't believe I get to do it."

Blount first started playing golf at 33, a sport her husband Ben enjoyed as well. He was her caddy in 2011 at the U.S. Senior Am, and always one of her biggest supporters. When he died a few years ago, Blount lost her passion for golf, and felt adrift. After finding an old yearbook from Reinhardt and meeting a young caddy who attended the school, Blount decided these were signs it was time for her to enroll so she could not only become the first person in her family to go to college, but also start playing golf again.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

She joined the Reinhardt team as a walk-on, and player Lauren Welte told CNN Blount has been "incredible" and "hits it the straightest out of all of us." Blount, an interdisciplinary studies major, plans on playing at least one more year, which her team is happy about — she brings "good energy," Coach Evans Nichols said, and is proof that "golf is a lifelong sport."