The year was 1964.
Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House. The nationwide average for gasoline was 30 cents a gallon. The Beatles "invaded" America, and their hit single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" topped the Billboard chart. My Fair Lady won an Academy Award for Best Picture, and Julie Andrews took home an Oscar for her performance in "Mary Poppins."
And Frank Dobie was just starting as the new general manager and superintendent at The Sharon Golf Club in Ohio.
Dobie's career at Sharon lasted more than a half-century, making him, upon his retirement in 2020, the country's longest-tenured superintendent. Dobie, 81, points to a long line of positive lifestyle choices for helping provide a long and healthy career and life.
For the past 60 years, Dobie has been devoted to a lifestyle that includes organic foods, vitamins and mineral supplements.
"When life choices and opportunities presented themselves, I made positive life choices," said Dobie. "I feel a lot younger than I am."
Although he can attribute some of his longevity to diet and supplements, some also is just the luck of the draw, Dobie said.
When life choices and opportunities presented themselves, I made positive life choices. I feel a lot younger than I am.
"Genes also have a lot to do with it," he said. "My dad lived until he was 95. I had an uncle who lived until he was 90 and an aunt until she was 93. There is a lot of longevity there."
Healthy life choices have led to a long life off the golf course and a lengthy career on it. Dobie, who studied under Joe Duich and Burt Musser at Penn State, and prepped under Bob Williams at Bob O'Link in Chicago, lasted 56 years at Sharon by equally healthy circumstances - like not having to deal with committees.
Dobie was the superintendent at Fairlawn Country Club in Akron when one of the members asked him to put together a superintendent's wish list for a new course in the area that was under construction.
That man happened to be Jerry O'Neil, then the president of General Tire, and the "list" was a ruse to offer Dobie a job.
"When I got to the meeting, he told me 'I don't care about the list. What we brought you here for was to offer you a job," Dobie said. "I told him I already had a job, but Jerry O'Neil was not used to hearing 'no'."
O'Neil then dropped the other shoe by offering Dobie the job of general manager, as well.
He told me no one would tell me what to do but him. No boards. No committees. I told him I would think about it.
"He told me no one would tell me what to do but him. No boards. No committees," Dobie said. "I told him I would think about it."
Eventually, he said yes to O'Neil, and that was the right decision. O'Neil was Sharon's only president from its opening until his death in 2009.
"The key to my longevity at Sharon was that I showed respect to the members at all times, and Jerry O'Neil demanded that they respect me. It's why I loved my job," Dobie said. "I think the fact that I loved going to work every day had a lot to do with my health."
Although O'Neil was a one-man committee at Sharon, he never micro-managed Dobie or other employees.
O'Neil didn't believe in budgets, but rather income and expense "estimates".
"From the day the club opened, we had 54 consecutive years of an operating profit. We never had a deficit, and we never assessed the members for anything," Dobie said. "O'Neil's directive was never spend more money than you have in the bank.
"We always had a full membership, and I think that the fiscal restraints had a lot to do with that. O'Neil always said that we don't need a lot of frills to keep up with the Joneses, because we were the Joneses."
One thing Dobie learned from O'Neil was the importance of semantics. "He told me don't call it a 'budget', call it a 'cost estimate'," Dobie said. "If it's a cost estimate, and something costs more, then it costs more. And if something costs less, it costs less."
Not only did Dobie operate safely within his financial constraints, he managed to do so while also being an innovator.
I think the fact that I loved going to work every day had a lot to do with my health.
Dobie developed the first bunker liner system in 1967 designed to eliminate contamination from the surrounding soil. All the bunkers at Sharon were installed with this system and no bunker sand has ever been replaced due to contamination. Even after his retirement, Dobie is willing to share his bunker construction method with anyone who is interested.
Dobie had plenty of opportunities to move on from Sharon, but never found a better deal than what he already had. He was even invited to interview for the job at Augusta National and declined. In the end, the culture at Sharon was as beneficial to his mental health as the organic food and supplements have been to his physical health.
"Jerry O'Neil's two main tenets were, don't spend money you don't have and show respect to all those you work for and all those who work for you," Dobie said.
Dobie has a few career guide bullet points of his own: don't work more than 50 hours a week in season or more than 40 hours a week offseason, don't be married to your job and have a partner who is supportive.
"When it came to life choices," he said. "I always trusted my gut."
