Alvamar Country Club women’s golf team, champions of the Inter-Club Team Play. Elaine Brady, Pat Paul, Kristi Butler, Susan DeVoe, Linda Randall, June Adams, Bobette Puderbaugh, Janet Magnuson, Linda Swan, Sherry Tiemeyer, Kathy Stuntz, Vicki Jewett, Jamie Keating, Kathy Coffman and Sheila Collier. In the foreground shooting the photo is head pro Eric Magnuson.

It’s not easy keeping a championship team together, even when the players go way back together, enjoy each other’s company and prove it with the way they play and revel in each other’s success. Life happens. Key members move on. Nothing lasts forever.

Bet you thought I was referencing the Kansas City Royals, didn’t you?

Wrong.

We’re talking the Alvamar women’s golf team that has earned four Inter-Club gross championships in the past five seasons in a league that has eight Kansas City-area clubs, plus Alvamar, which joined in 1987.

“They didn’t go outside the (Kansas City) limits, but some players came here for guest days, loved the course, and they said, ‘Hey, Alvamar’s only 40, 45 minutes away.’ So they let us in,” said Elaine Brady, team captain from the beginning until handing the reins to Kristi Butler five years ago. Elaine and husband, Virgil Brady, are moving to Southern California in July.

“At this age, life is family,” Elaine Brady said. “That’s where our grandkids are.”

Family comes first, then golf.

“Well, it’s right up there anyway,” Brady said of family.

Butler, who enjoys playing golf with husband John Butler, when she’s not playing with or against her teammates, took it a step beyond that.

“Golf is still No. 1,” Kristi Butler said. “John and I have a standing agreement: If something happens to one of us that we can’t play golf, automatic divorce, and go find someone who can.”

I think she was kidding. I’m not positive, but I think so. Or was she?

The teammates gathered to spend one more day together on the golf course during a sunny day last month to enjoy a farewell round with a beloved longtime teammate, local realtor Linda Randall. Linda and husband Ross Randall, former Kansas University golf coach, have spent recent winters in Florida, where they plan to move on a permanent basis in the coming weeks.

Five years or so ago, Linda watched me take one swing, off the No. 8 tee box at Alvamar Country Club in the member-guest, and said, “Anywhere, any time.”

I accepted the challenge, and we had a match at Alvamar public. I allowed for the possibility that the one advantage Linda might enjoy involved hitting the ball straighter, so I chose the course with wider fairways, “strategery” being one of my many mental golf strengths.

Needless to say, Linda crushed me and won 7&5. When I reported the result to a mutual friend, he asked, “When did you know you were overmatched?” Easiest question I ever had been asked. The answer: When Linda chipped in for a birdie on the first hole. She hit the ball straighter and farther, had a far superior short game and a stronger competitive streak. Other than that, it was a great match. I quickly was able to apply an ice pack to my bruised male ego: Her spouse is an extraordinary teacher of the game. Mine had never been on a golf course until watching the match that day. Plus, by the time Linda took up the game, I long since had hard-wired a number of bad golf habits. Advantage to the relative newcomer.

The team will miss Linda Randall and when she leaves Elaine Brady, but here are two early predictions: 1. Alvamar will retain the trophy in 2016; 2. I will win the rematch vs. Linda Randall.