CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Golf is a game for a lifetime. Richard Engel is proof.

Engel made his first round of 2012 a memorable one Thursday by making the first hole in one of his life at Manakiki Golf Course in Willoughby Hills, with playing partner Harry Zeid as a witness.

There may have been other aces recorded that day by area golfers. But this one was special, an effort that went beyond mention on The Plain Dealer's Super Shooters list.

Engel will turn 90 next month. A spry, sharp-as-a-tack 90 years old. The Beachwood resident estimates he has been playing golf for 75 years. Last year, in a great display of optimism, he bought a new set of clubs.

Is this a great game, or what?

"I've never been a real good player," said the self-taught Engel, who recently began reading tips on the Internet. "But I'm playing better now than I ever have before. I have a new putter. I like it a lot."

Engel did not need his putter on Manakiki's 131-yard seventh hole.

"It took until last year for me to get it through my thick skull that the best thing you can do is not try to kill the ball," said Engel, a retired dentist. "That's the most important lesson of all."

Engel, a native of Bloomfield, N.J., who relocated to Cleveland 73 years ago to attend Western Reserve University, used a 3-wood for his shot. But, like many ace-makers, he never saw the ball go in the hole.

"I saw it bounce on the front edge of the green, but I never saw where it bounced to," he said. "We looked around. Harry found it in the cup."

Engel, who retired eight years ago, said he was lucky in more ways than one. He escaped the tradition of buying many post-round drinks.

"It was just Harry and me," he said. "I'm lucky because our league starts next week. I'm glad I got it out of the way or else I would have had to buy for all those other guys."

As you might have guessed, Engel is not a typical soon-to-be nonagenarian. In addition to playing golf at least once a week and frequenting the Internet, he plays tennis four times a week at the Cleveland Racquet Club and conducts an exercise class once a week for residents of his apartment complex. He also writes poetry and has a great sense of humor.

"You should be talking to Harry," he said of his playing partner. "He's going to be 97 in July. I'm just a youngster."

On Twitter: @TimRogersPD