Mt. Lebanon Senior Men’s Golf Club celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and while so much has changed since the club was founded, the spirit of the members remains alive as ever.

While still a bargain at $25, in 1964, $4 bought you a season’s worth of golf. Men 55 and up are invited to tee time from 7 a.m. to noon every Wednesday from early April to early October at Mt. Lebanon Golf Course. The club waived the original residency requirement, but most members do live here. The club also hosts an away event each month, giving members the opportunities to play 18 holes instead of the nine at their home course. Sprinkled throughout the season are other events like a kickoff at Topgolf and an awards dinner to elect new leadership.

Current president and Upper St. Clair resident Don Baumann recognizes the significance of having access to a public course like this as a “real treasure to the community.”

“The club itself is great because it gives people the opportunity to meet folks and have fun,” Baumann said.

The president and other board members organize a variety of challenges and special events aimed at integrating players. Longest putt, closest to the pin and two-man team events are just a few recent competitions the club hosted.

“With 142 people, it’s hard to know everyone,” Baumann said. “Mixing it up a little, you get exposed to new people and get a chance to play with everyone.”

Registration is up 10 percent from a decade ago. One possible explanation for the increase in membership, Baumann believes, is COVID-19. Last term’s president, Bruce Davis of Old Farm Road, agrees.

“There’s no doubt that COVID gave everybody an opportunity, if they so choose, to get out in an outdoor environment,” Davis said. For Davis, COVID did more than just encourage people to spend time outside, as it “changed the workforce as we know it.

“Some people had more time on their hands or retired and were looking for new things to do,” Davis said. “It’s also given people going forward the chance to do something, on a weekly and periodic basis, now that they’ve entered a new phase of their life. It lent itself very well to what we were all experiencing over the course of several years.”

For other members like Chuck Horan of Washington Road, the club is integral to their Mt. Lebanon experience. Horan has been a Lebo resident for 60 years, a member of the golf club for 28 of those years and served one term as president in 2000. Now, Horan even gets to play with his two local sons every Wednesday, except for when they split the members by age group. About two years ago, Horan signed up to play with the 85- to 90-year-olds.

“At the end of the day, I won my age division,” Horan said. “I won because I was the only one signed up.”