Golf junkie

With help from Mother Nature, Bill Wall of Ellsworth has managed to make 2012 his year for the most golfing yet. As of Thursday, Wall had played 1,025 nine-hole rounds of golf this year, 867 at the Ellsworth Country Club and 158 on other courses. He played golf on 231 days from March 15 (an unusually warm late spring) to Nov. 8, including 171 consecutive days. Describing himself as a "golf junkie," he said, "I've played the Ellsworth Country Club at least once in every month of the year." He shot a personal best score of 30 on Sept. 16 and has recorded six holes-in-one. He's played 199 different golf courses, including Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill in California, Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill in Orlando and Princeville in Hawaii. The retired teacher took up the sport when the local golf course opened in 1966. Last week's play was "probably it for this year unless I head south," he said. -- Photo by Bill Kirk