Heaven's golfing fraternity has picked up a new player.

Not only will Arman Fletcher beat the socks out of his new competition most of the time, he will teach them a lesson or two about the game that was his life's passion.

Fletcher, who recently said he'd won more than 300 amateur tournaments spanning eight decades, died Tuesday at his Roanoke home. He was 84. His wife of 53 years, Shirley, was at his bedside when he died of complications from metastatic melanoma, from which he had been suffering since July.

Dr. Jack Allara, a Roanoke dentist, said Fletcher was his friend and his first golf teacher when he first arrived in Roanoke in 1986.

Allara said Thursday that Fletcher told him this past summer that his days were running short.

"Arman was a great player for a long, long time," Allara said. "The fact that he started winning in the 1930s and that he won over so many decades was what he was most proud of.

"That said, he was always willing to help people with their game, maybe more than they wanted him to help them," noted Allara, chuckling about a man who could talk golf with any listener until the cows came home.

"I'm sure if anyone up there is having trouble," said Allara, snickering, "that he'll be very quick to get them on the right plane."

Fletcher, a native of Mercer County, W.Va., compiled a list of accomplishments that stretched from tee to green. His greatest triumph arguably was the 1994 North & South super senior title in Pinehurst, N.C. He won a record 13 National Elks Club titles in Southern Pines, N.C.

Fletcher, a short-game wizard who could chip and putt like few anywhere, captured the Roanoke City-County Championship in 1973 and '75 and won the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame senior title in 1988, 1991 and 1992. Fletcher won the 1987 VSGA Senior championship, a triumph that led to him being named the VSGA's Golfer of the Year. He was inducted into the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame in 1989.

Fletcher, who said years ago that he had never taken an actual lesson from a professional, did things his way. His swing wasn't textbook. But, boy, could he get the ball in the hole. The gangly 6-foot-4 string bean never seemed to be up to par physically, but he never let it keep him from excelling in his game.

"Ol' Aches and Pains, that's what people used to call him," said Shirley Fletcher, laughing Thursday at her home. "He always walked around like this - all humped over - and his bad leg bandaged up all the time. I think a lot of people thought that was just kind of an act.

"Arman, of course, liked to brag, too."

Well, with as many wins as Fletcher had, it wasn't really bragging. The guy just loved to talk. She said her husband kept his quick wit until the very end.

"He never really had a meltdown about his condition, and had gone through five sessions of chemotherapy, had 15 sessions of radiation, he had lost a lot of weight but never really lost his zip," Shirley Fletcher said. "Actually, when two of the ladies from the hospice came last Friday, they went into the bedroom and introduced themselves and said: 'We're here to see about your long-term care.'

"And Arman says: 'What do you mean long-term care? I'm not going to be around for about a couple days. I'm in the real world, ladies.' And sure enough, he lasted a little more than that."

Fletcher, who retired in 1987 after 43 years of service with Norfolk Southern, also was quite a ballroom dancer. He and Shirley whirled and twirled all over the Roanoke Valley.

"His favorite dance was the fox trot. We fox-trotted a lot around this area," Shirley said.

Funeral services will held Sunday, Jan. 29 at Calvary Baptist Church at 608 Campbell Ave. S.W. Visitation will be at Oakey's Roanoke Chapel from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28.

In lieu of flowers, Shirley is asking for donations that will go toward a golf scholarship fund in her husband's name at Concord University in Athens, W.Va.

The reason for the delay in the services is that Fletcher's closest friend, Catawba's J.D. Sisson, is currently on a Caribbean cruise with his wife, Fay.

"I knew that Arman would not want to be buried without J.D. being here," Shirley said. "They worked at the railroad together all these years and they've been golfing friends. ... They're like brothers. Arman loved J.D.

"Somehow we were able to get the message to the ship they're on and Fay called me last night, and I said: 'We're not having the service until J.D. is here.'"