Lynn Larsen was in the Navy for 25 years, and spent another 10 running shipyards around the world. By the time she retired, she had logged two million miles with Delta alone.
She knew how to arrive somewhere new, but now she wanted somewhere to stay.
“I know how it can be uncomfortable when you don't know anybody,” she says.
After retiring, Lynn moved to Florida ready to slow down and finally plant her feet somewhere. Staying active was huge. Golf mattered most.
“The absolute biggest draw for me is the golf course. At the end of the day, it's all about golf. I'm very passionate about it."
After a full life of travel and service, Lynn ended her search at Bent Pine Golf Club.
Almost four years ago, Lynn landed in Florida and started looking for the right club right away, visiting clubs up and down the Vero Beach area. She spent a year at another club, and kept measuring one against another.
"I just wasn't happy with the condition of the course I was at,” she explains.
Then, she visited Bent Pine.
She wandered in on a Monday after season—reduced hours, though she didn't know it—and said, "Hey, what's a girl got to do to look at the course?"
Our Membership Director, Stephanie Nunes, happened to be on her way out the door. She turned right around, showed Lynn everything, and had someone drive her around the course.
“Then, I went and played it that next week and said, 'Okay, I'm ready to join,'" Lynn says.
For someone who had spent decades arriving in new places, something about this one felt different.
“That's finding a home. That's like going to the happiest place on earth."
It was always going to come down to the course. Lynn wanted to play golf, and she wanted a course that could hold up to that every single day.
"It's that old-world feel style golf course. It's a part of the land and there's nature," she shares.
That's not a small thing to Lynn. She has played courses all over the world and done reciprocals at clubs across the area. She knows what she's comparing it to.
And now she's out there as much as she can be.
“Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday afternoon, Thursday afternoon, Friday — I'll play golf. And Saturday I'll play golf. I am out there probably five, six days a week. Or I'll go hit balls,” she says.
Lynn found her footing quickly here.
“From the day I went to have a practice round and they set me up with the club champ and another girl, they put me at ease that moment,” she says.
From there, the Social Chair found her, introduced her around, and made sure she had people to play with through the summer. One of the things Lynn noticed early was a comment made during her membership interview, something a fellow member said that stuck with her.
"He said, 'Listen, we're all very successful business people, or we wouldn't be here. But here, we're freshmen in high school. It's all new and it's exciting.' I'm like, that is so true."
It reframed what she was walking into. This wasn’t a place to prove anything, this was her place to enjoy everything.
“At the other club, I would just go play golf. I wouldn't do any of the events. But here, the golfers and the social members actually do things together. I’m busy, but it's with things I want to do,” she says.
Lynn came to Florida to slow down. In the best way, she has found herself busier than ever.
"I came to Florida to slow down but stay active, but not be pushed, not be rushed. And the added bonus is the staff, the condition of the course, and the new clubhouse. But that staff really sets it apart. They are the nicest people," she says.
These days her week runs on her own terms. Workouts, golf most afternoons, dinner at the club, and a season so full she can't get to everything.
Lynn's search ended the week she played Bent Pine. Yours might too.