Quite A Golfing Statement — Bill Darrin Has Teed Off In All 50 States

By Andy Hutchison

Fifty states up — 50 states down.

The effort started back in 1957 when Bill Darrin, then 12 years old, first picked up a golf club during a family vacation in Maine. The idea began to take form almost 40 years later — in 1995 — when Darrin and his Army buddies got together for a golf trip to Tennessee. Darrin started to think about all of the states he had teed off in during work-related trips and vacations throughout the years. The number, at that time, was 20-something.

By 2010, Darrin had managed to golf in 44 states mostly by chance, thanks to those trips, so he became determined to achieve the previously loose goal of playing in all 50. On July 10, the 66-year-old Newtown resident finished his countrywide driving, chipping, and putting mission, doing so with family in a special trip to Alaska.

“It’s really a cool feeling,” said Darrin, quick to add that he had some misgivings about his goal in life being an activity that was self-indulgent.

Darrin points out that he’s not the first person to accomplish this impressive feat, but claims light-heartedly that his efforts may have taken the longest, and perhaps least expensive — at least personally — among those who have golfed in each state.

Darrin, who has lived in Newtown since 2002, is the director of dispute resolution for Milford-based Subway Restaurants. He has gotten to play all over the country as the job has dictated he travel for disputes, litigations, and arbitrations, he said.

A year ago, Darrin knew retirement was not far away and saw his chances of getting to the remaining six states fading if he didn’t go out of his way to make it happen.

“I began to get a little nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to get it done,” Darrin recalled. So, accompanied by his cousin and golf partner of 40 years, Art Spaulding, Darrin made a five-day, five-state, 1,800-mile drive after flight trip through parts of Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Montana, and Utah.

That left Alaska.

Darrin was joined by his two sons, Trip and Phil, along with Spaulding and they played at Moose Run Golf Club in Anchorage to cap the memorable journey. He has scorecards from each course, not to mention plenty of fond memories.

Darrin has also golfed outside of the country. He has been to Australia, the British Isles, Southeast Asia, Canada, Scotland, and Ireland.

Perhaps most impressive is the list of people with whom Darrin has golfed. He played with former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton during a charity tourney, the George Bush-Cape Arundel Classic, at Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport, Maine, and got a presidential golf ball as a souvenir. At Webhannet Golf Club in Kennebunk, Bush awarded Darrin another presidential golf ball for a closest-to-the-pin shot, he said. Darrin has also hit the courses with PGA Pros Raymond Floyd and Stan Utley.

Conditions have varied, as has the scenery, from course to course. It snowed on the back nine during Darrin’s play at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y., he recalls. Darrin said Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula in California is among the most beautiful courses he played.

Darrin currently has a 13 handicap, and had a 9 handicap for the better part of the previous three decades.

He plays roughly 50 rounds of golf per year and estimates that he’s pulled out the clubs at 300 to 400 courses. Despite planning to enter into retirement this fall, “My golf frequency’s not going to change,” he said. A dog lover, Darrin expects to spend some of his time in retirement volunteering with the Newtown Pound.

Golf has always been an enjoyable hobby for Darrin. “You know what I like best about golf is just the experience,” he explains. “A golf course is just a gorgeous, gorgeous setting.”

Darrin began caddying at age 15 and one of the men he carried clubs for, Page Cornwell, became his stepfather. Decades ago, Cornwell taught Darrin a trick to avoid having a “flying elbow,” in which a golfer practices holding a wallet in his armpit, forcing him to keep the elbow in and, thus, avoiding a big slice with every swing. “I still swing this way to this day,” Darrin said.

Darrin played golf at the collegiate level, at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. He recalls earning the high school golf championship when he went to prep school in New York State. A golf fan, Darrin has attended the Masters, US Open, and Ryder Cup, among other big competitions.

In addition to his two children, Darrin has five grandchildren. Darrin, a veteran of Vietnam, and his significant other, Vicky Taloni, have two dogs, Riley and Wyatt.