“Golf is a good walk spoiled.”

The quote is oft attributed to Mark Twain but may or may not have actually been said by the famed American author.

Whoever said it, “either he didn’t practice or he didn’t play here,” said Mike Byrum, president of the Suffolk Golf Association.

The association is housed at Suffolk Golf Course, which Byrum considers a jewel. He has reason to say nice things about the course.

“It’s friendly to me,” he explained. Byrum’s first round of golf, best round of golf and only hole-in-one have come on the course. So he loves it, even though he’s played more well-known courses like Pebble Beach and Pinehurst.

He’s been a member of the Suffolk Golf Association since he turned 18, the minimum age. Only a few years before, he had been golfing in his backyard with Wiffle balls and sawed-off broomsticks. He started playing real golf at 15.

Since then, Byrum has moved up in the golf world, having run the Tidewater Golf Association and having started a tournament at Nansemond River Golf Course.

“I had a lot of success organizing that,” he said.

In his other life as a planning manager at the Newport News shipyard, Byrum has nailed down what it takes to plan stuff much more complicated than a round of golf. He plans to bring that to his work as president of the golf association.

“It’s not that I’ve got some magic formula,” he said. “It’s just attention to detail, communication, managed planning and promoting it.”

About a hundred or so people are members of the golf association, which costs $125 a year. They’re all men — the ladies have a separate association. It’s not that they don’t want to play with the women, Byrum said; it’s just that the scores wouldn’t be comparable in tournaments.

The association draws people from all walks of life but tends to be trending older, Byrum said. That’s part of his charge as president: to get more younger people involved.

He’s doing fairly well with his own offspring. His sons, ages 24 and 32, are both members. He’s got a 2-year-old grandson who is a future member.

“That’s my ultimate foursome,” Byrum said.

They also run the gamut in terms of how seriously they take their game, Byrum said.

“Some take it really serious, like every tournament is the U.S. Open,” he said. “Some just want to have fun and have a beer.”

Byrum has made that transition in his own life. He used to be very competitive until about eight years ago, when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“It changes your focus,” he said.

Remarkably, the day he finished his last chemotherapy treatment, he celebrated with a round of golf at Suffolk Golf Course — and that was the day he shot his best round ever, which included his only hole-in-one.

“Now, I go out to have fun and enjoy my family and friends and enjoy the scenery I didn’t take time to notice before,” he said.

Byrum is charged with looking after all kinds of golfers: old and young, competitive and just-for-fun, good and not-so-good.

“I feel like I’ve got a pretty good eye for what people want,” he said.

Traditions at the Suffolk Golf Association include tournaments, which are held roughly every month from March through October.

“I’ve never won the club championship,” Byrum said, bemoaning his many second-place finishes. “That seems to be a tradition unlike any other.”

The association now has a website to help it reach out to the younger golfers: sgagolfer.com.