Seniro golfer Bill Engel once commanded the White Sands Missile Range

It’s possible that nothing has ever been so good for Bill Engel’s golf game as learning a second language.

Engel, now 77, spent most of his 33-year career in the Army as a couple-times-a-month-player but for a short period in 1988 when he was assigned temporary duty to the Monterey Language Institute for refresher training in Spanish. The one-on-one classes lasted each day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., at which point Engel was free to spend the rest of the day as he pleased. Naturally, he chose the golf course.

“For 30 days, I committed to hitting 500 balls a day — not all those were full shots, some of them were around the green – but I really got my golf game in tip-top shape,” he said.

That intense practice sharpened Engel’s game to the point that he won the All Army Golf Championship that year, a 72-hole event with a field made up of players stationed all over the world. Engel still considers that title to be the most prestigious victory of his career.

Golf has been a constant in Engel’s life throughout what he calls a “pretty typical field artillery career.” It culminated with Engel’s 2001 assignment as the Commander of White Sands Proving Ground/Missile Range in New Mexico, the premier test facility in all of the Department of Defense. Upon retiring in 2003, golf returned to the forefront and Engel is spending his days playing national senior-circuit events – something he never envisioned for his retirement but a life that suits him regardless.

“My first rule is I won’t play golf on any day that doesn’t end in day,” he joked. “I’ll play anywhere or anytime. I’ve got a tremendous love for the game of golf.”

War stories, real and metaphorical, are a common currency in senior golf. Engel loves that part of the circuit – the part where competitors get together after a round, go out to dinner, trade stories and find connections. Playing national events, Engel has run across many men with whom he shares some of the same memories – like Dan Parkinson, a Utah resident who finished second to Engel at that 1988 All Army Championship, or John Osborne, with whom he played high school and college golf and now partners with in four-ball events.

Originally, Engel, a native of Virginia, set out only to play senior events on the “January Swing.” He was also competing frequently in Virginia State Golf Association events post-retirement and won two Super Senior stroke-play events and a Super Senior match-play title.

In 2012,…