Bob Harris didn't take up his rigorous exercise routine in order to be an 84-year-old golfer who expects to shoot below his age, according to a story in the New York Times.

The retired dentist did it in order to remain proficient at his day job.

Craig Dolch of the New York Times writes: "Harris didn't work out so fanatically because he was looking to become golf's Satchel Paige. He did the exercises because he spent 40 years bending over patients as a dentist."

Or, as his daughter Nancy Harris Blanchard explained: "My father has been doing these kinds of exercises forever, because dentists notoriously have bad backs from spending all day leaning over their patients. We had to change his routine as he got older so his body would do more rotating, which is the key to a good golf swing"

That he's shot his age, or below it, 893 times is a secondary benefit.

"My handicap is a 4, so I darn well better hit [my age] every time I play," Harris told the Times. "I was excited the first time I shot my age, but I'm used to it by now; I expect to. I'm more interested in lowering my handicap."

The story talks more about his regimen, and lists the hockey and golf accomplishments of the family. Harris was the captain of the 1950 Gophers hockey team. His son Rob played for the U's 1974 national championship hockey team and was a 1976 Olympian. His other children have an assortment of golf titles to their names. John Harris, the former Gophers golf coach, won the U.S. Amateur in 1993 and played for a while on the Champions Tour.

Last month, Harris was the oldest player to make the field for the Florida Senior Amateur Championship, where he failed to make the cut with rounds of 84 and 79. he was paired with the next oldest players in the field, who were 12 and 14 years younger.

You can read Dolch's entire story here.