OCEAN CITY GOLF PRO READY FOR QUIET FACTORY RETIREMENT

By Octavia Byline  |  BwB News Beat Reporter

OCEAN CITY, MD — After 43 years of grueling mornings on the pristine greens of Ocean Bay Dunes Golf Club, beloved local golf pro Curtis “Chip” Talbot is officially retiring — and eagerly transitioning to the calming monotony of industrial labor.

Talbot, 67, says he’s been dreaming of a simpler life - one with punch clocks, name tags, and a supervisor named Ron.

“The stress of waking up, watching the sunrise over the bay, sipping complimentary coffee and working with cheerful retirees… it breaks you down,” Talbot said. “I just want a break from all the joy and fresh air.”

Talbot says one of the biggest emotional hurdles has been preparing to sell his deeply burdensome five-bedroom, three-bath waterfront home with two-car garage and private dock on Assawoman Bay.

“It’s too comfortable,” he said. “You lose touch with reality waking up to that view every morning. It’s not healthy.”

He and his wife, Myrtle, have been looking at a modest second-floor garden apartment in Scranton featuring a partially working elevator, windows that rattle when the wind blows, a charming lack of insulation, and an authentic industrial-town smell.

“We need something grounding,” Myrtle said. “Something that lets us feel the seasons inside the house.”
Chip nodded, “And the rent includes water—that’s the dream.”

Talbot says he looks forward to wearing work boots instead of soft-soled golf shoes, hearing machine pistons instead of seagulls,  and drinking vending-machine coffee instead of “that pretentious artisanal brew they serve at the clubhouse.  What a dream to be grumbling with coworkers about overtime instead of discussing 9-irons and wind direction."

Talbot begins his formal retraining next month, where he’ll learn essential new skills like:
• Standing in one spot for 6 hours
• Repetitive motion fatigue
• How to argue with middle-management
• Clock-out-by-the-decimal precision
• Eyeing retirement for real this time around age 88
“It’s just exciting to finally have someone yelling at me instead of for me,” Talbot said. “I crave workplace hierarchy. I want to feel the thrill of a foreman’s disappointment.”

Club regulars say Talbot will be missed.

“Chip brought joy, wisdom, humor, and patience to every lesson,” said longtime member Frank DeMarino. “But if he wants to abandon an oceanfront golf paradise to manually stack pallets in Scranton… I respect that.”

For his part, Talbot says he may still pick up a club once every five to seven years, depending on factors such as
how his back feels, whether he still has any fingers, or if he’s not too exhausted from his shift.

“I’ve had too much sunshine in my life,” he said. “I’m ready for fluorescent. “I just want to blend in with a hardhat and name tag that says ‘Chip T.’ No more country-club small talk. Just the sweet hum of industrial machinery.”

The American dream.