For the past three years, the Longneckers have been fixtures at the Breezy Point Resort golf courses. Not as players but as husband-and-wife managers of the resort's Whitebirch Golf Course on County Road 11. They added the Traditional course to their duties this year when Jim Harmon, the regular manager, became ill.

"We couldn't wait to get to the North Woods and the lakes when retirement day came, " says Doris Longnecker. "We packed our bags and arrived in Breezy Point the next day."

Too young to rest on their laurels, the Longneckers' retirement plan was rooted in industry and wanderlust: work the summers at something we love to do, see the world the rest of the time.

Last winter - at the seven-year itch in the plan - they took in New Zealand and visited one of their sons in San Diego. The plan is working.

But not without their annual stint at Breezy Point Resort, which began in 1990 as part-timers at Breezy's Traditional Course and more recently the sunup-to-sundown management job at Whitebirch. But the job has its perks:

First, managing a golf course runs parallel with the Longneckers' lifelong interests in the natural world. "A golf course is the prettiest park in the country, " Doris says. "There's not a better place to go for a walk, and our job is to keep it that way.

"When you see animal foraging for berries in the woods along the fairways, you know you're doing something important," she says.

Second, course managers meet more people than you can shake a stick at, something the Longneckers are especially good at.

John sharpened his people skills as a school teacher, student counselor and building principal - covering a 33 year career - in the Marshalltown public school district.

Doris pioneered the development and growth of RACOM, Inc., a Marshalltown communications manufacturer, with its co-founders, Gregg and Sally miller. The company grew into a giant before her retirement.

"We've made some great friends among the players and employees of the golf courses, " John says. "When we moved here, we knew no one. Now these people are our family. "

"Some fantastic people come to Breezy Point to have a good time, " Doris adds. "They keep coming back year after year and we have come to know them as well as we know our neighbors."

If people-meeting is one of the criteria of a great job, the Longneckers have ample opportunity: As part of Breezy's course management team, they have overseen a steady rise in rounds-played since the course opened in 1993. More than fifty thousand rounds will be played this year, 10 percent more than last season.

"The Longneckers are great ambassadors for golf in general and the resort's courses in particular," says Robert Spizzo, the resort's owner. "We hope they keep coming back to help run our golf programs for a long time to come."

The managing couple also surrounds themselves with others who speak the same language, bringing students, teachers and school administrators onto their Whitebirch staff by the dozens.

"We are proud to be part of the growth of a young course that gets better each year," John says. "Breezy has a long golfing tradition. It's one of the things that brought us back to this area to live."

But fishing, hiking, exploring, and canoeing are what brought the Longneckers up north in the first place. As a child Doris came to the lake country each summer with her parents for fishing vacations. And John explored the area's lakes and streams, first as a teenager on vacations and later as a counselor at Camp Lincoln on Lake Hubert during his college years.

A match made in heaven, the Longneckers met in church at Marshalltown, a family tradition that continues. They are active members of Grace United Methodist of Pequot Lakes, pitching "pastie" sales in their spare time for the church's building fund.

The couple bought land on Star Lake during a vacation in 1982, building a garage apartment that served their yen to fish for a month each year. The main house was built the first summer of their retirement, crafted from their own plans drawn on a sheet of typing paper.

What's next for the popular couple? "Get invited back to Breezy," Doris predicts. "And staying married."