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FAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
When two avid golfers passed away several years ago, relatives felt a fitting memorial would be to spread their ashes on the fairway at the Hillcrest Sports Centre. Everyone knows how passionate golfers can be and these two golfers from Moose Jaw were no exception - both were long-standing members and one a former employee. While it was an unusual request since the club encourages memorial plaques for benches, Hillcrest approved the memorial for the two members.
The practice of spreading the ashes of a loved one somewhere is not illegal, said Al Dwyer who administers the Cemetery Act for the government of Saskatchewan. He's even heard of relatives who held ceremonies where ashes of avid fishermen were placed in a lake and where ashes of a hunter were placed in a shell and blasted out of a shotgun. But Dwyer suggests people ask and get permission if the land is privately-owned.
GOOD FOR WHAT AILS YOU - Every time we think there simply can't be more than 250 golf courses for a population of one million people in Saskatchewan - yet another is found. Our viewers point out the nine-hole Saskatchewan Hospital Golf Course at North Battleford has been operating since about 1927 to provide therapy and recreation for patients.
Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford is a psychiatric rehabilitation facility that services the entire province, operated by the Prairie North Health Region and located along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The course is located on the hospital grounds just east of the North Battleford Golf & Country Club on a 30-acre parcel. The popular 3,195-yard SHNB track offers irrigated grass greens and non-irrigated fairways. Public rates are $7 a round and $125 for the season.
The course is maintained by the SHNB's physical activity group of about ten as part of a therapeutic program for patients and to help them develop work skills they may need when integrated back into the community.
MOST FAMOUS HAZARD - When the popular Waskesiu Golf Course was first designed by renowned course architect Stanley Thompson in the mid-1930s, one of the old evergreen trees was left 110 yards away in the middle off the first fairway. It was named after the Cree word "Lobstick" which refers to an evergreen that's had its branches cut off to the mid-way point to act as a trail marker for natives, traders and settlers. The Lobstick is the most famous golf hazard and tree in the province. But during 2002-2003, steps were being taken to try and save the majestic Lobstick tree and the surrounding spruce forest at Waskesiu Golf Course in jeopardy from Choristeuera fumiferana, a.k.a. spruce budworm.
"If the Lobstick tree ever came down, it would be interesting to find out how many balls were lodged in it," said Cam Forrester, the head professional at the course from 1990-2000. "The poor ole' thing is having some tough days - it survived ants, major storms and is split on the backside - and now it's infected with budworm. It's a formidable hazard. "You just keep hitting until you get by the tree," said Forrester, who witnessed one golfer hit it four or five times before she found the fairway. An unusual local rule allows golfers to hit again (and again) if they hit the tree on the fly off the tee.
During the last several years the Lobstick Golf Club, which operates the busy course, has spent more than $100,000 in reforestation projects including a tree nursery and in 2003 allocated $20,000. But as much as 70 per cent of the forest in the National Park could die within five to six years, according to Parks Canada, including the famed "lobstick" tree. "The Lobstick tree has been on our minds but we haven't found a replacement," said head pro Derrick Tallon, who estimates the tree is about 70-80 years old. If one is found, staff wonder if it will have to be trimmed half-way up like the original. The infestation is particularly noticeable on holes six through ten, he says.
A SCOTTISH MYTH - You may want to tip a glass of dark beer - known as a "wee heavy" - after reading this. A German sports historian claims that golf was first played in the Netherlands, not Scotland, according to a report in The London Telegraph in July. Heiner Gillmeister says the word "golf" is derived from the Dutch "Kolve" or "Kolf" which is a shepherd's crook. He points to Flemish and Dutch miniature paintings of golfers from the middle of the 15th to the 18th century, plus, a Latin document dated 1545. That's a century before the first evidence of the game in Scotland. Gillmeister wrote the most recent entry "Scots as inventor: A popular myth" for the esteemed Encyclopedia Britannica (www.britannica.com, search "golf").
True or not, it doesn't take away from the fact that Scottish immigrants to Canada brought the game to Saskatchewan and much of Canada. The Royal Regina Golf and Country Club, the first club in the province, was established in 1899 by a group of organizers led by John Keslo Hunter, a local civil servant and Scottish immigrant.
GOLF GLOVES WITH FISH SKIN LEATHER - Fish skin inserts on the fingers and palms has been incorporated with soft kid leather by Mann & Associates of Regina, Saskatchewan, to make the ultimate all-weather, long-wearing golf glove.
"It's the newest and most exciting change in the golf glove industry in over 40 years, according to Frazer Mann who has been developing the product for four years. This is the first year the gloves - along with watch bands and reversible belts made with fish skin -have been available to pro shops and retailers in Saskatchewan and across Canada.
"Fish skin is the second strongest leather know to man next to elephant skin, said Mann."For example, three strips of salmon, a half an inch wide and braided together, can pull an automobile." It's durable and provides a superior grip, it's impervious to oils in the human hand and best performing under wet conditions - and certainly not smelly, he says.
The company sends it's leather to China where the All Weather / All Sport Pro Gloves are manufactured. The tanned fish skin leather actually resembles eel skin in appearance and can be dyed in a myraid of colours including blackpearl, dolphin grey, coral, and sea urchin. More than 20 non-endangered species are used for the gloves although the exact fish or the origins are considered a secret. The gloves are also claimed to provide an average three to four times more wearings than ordinary golf clubs. Gloves are provided in a full or ruffle finish, the latter of which can be dry-cleaned. In order to preserve the condition of the glove, it's sold in a resealable plastic pouch. allweathersport@accesscomm.ca
HANG ON TO YOUR GOLF HAT - Every golfer knows Saskatchewan is the windiest inhabited place in Canada - now we have the evidence. Two Environment Canada scientists, Robert Benoit and Wei Yu, have created a wind-energy map of Canada and the United States. The windiest area in Canada is Labrador and far Northern Quebec, both largely unpopulated with golfers or anyone else.
Interestingly, the map shows the windy zones cover most of southern Saskatchewan with the exception of the southwest (where the provincial government is currently involved in a wind-generation pilot project.). The windiest area is the southeast and east central regions of the province at an average 300-400 watts per square meter. Bottom line - if you're going to score on a Saskatchewan golf course you must know how to play the wind.
OUTRAGEOUS LUCK ON THE LINKS - When Sandy Hamel scored three aces during the summer of 1991, she became a permanent part of Saskatchewan golf lore. Hamel, a member at Flowing Springs Golf Greens, aced 105-yard Hole No. 11 on May 19. Not content to rest on her laurels, she scored a hole-in-one on two other par-3s, the 110-yard Hole No. 3 on Aug. 10 followed by another on 120-yard Hole No. 13 on Sept. 10. The odds of an average player - Harmel is normally a bogey golfer - are 3,000 to 1. The chances of a player registering three aces in the same season are astronomical.
To date (2002), Harmel hasn't scored another hole-in-one, of considerable comfort to her husband who witnessed all three hole-in-ones and who has never been so lucky. "I have no idea why I got them - I was just awful lucky!" said Harmel. Her three-peat was reported in the Regina Leader-Post and subsequently published in several Canadian newspapers.
GOLF SASKATCHEWAN STYLE - Golfers pay green fees and play on a
9 or 18 hole course. Usually, but not if you’re a golfer in Saskatchewan!
There’s even free golf at one course while another course has only 14
holes. One keen golfer in the province even had his own course.
Pennant has what may be the only golf course in Saskatchewan that doesn’t
charge green fees. The Indian Hill Golf Course, a couple of kilometres
west of Pennant near Swift Current, has no donation box like many other
sand green courses. There are about 60 sand green courses around the
province – many built because of lack of access to water on the dry
prairies - probably the highest number anywhere in the world. Owner
Dave Dowdeswell farms in the area and with the help of a few donations
and neighbours maintains the nine hole prairie track. “It’s a nice quiet
place to have a round with no crowds,” said Dowdeswell. However, there
are local fun days and service club tournaments at the non-profit club.
The Emma Lake Golf Course just southeast of Prince Albert National
Park on Highway #263.has a beautiful 14-hole golf course. Carved out
of the hilly lake land, water comes into play on half of the 14 holes.
The course opened in the mid 1960s and added two holes in 2000 and has
been growing the course ever since. A full 18-hole track was completed in 2003.
Up until the early 1990s, George Coffey of the Carlyle district built
and played on his very own course with his wife. It had three holes,
according to the town office in Caryle.
SASKATOON GOLFER A TRUE MARKSMAN - It turns out Rick Folk, the
Canadian Men’s Curling Champion in 1980 for Saskatchewan and in 1994 for
British Columbia, inherited some of his incredible marksmanship from his
father. “He was a tremendous competitior,” said Rick, who owns and operates
Folk’s Golf and Curling in Kelowna. His father Alex didn’t take up golf
until he was 33years of age, but managed 13 aces before his death in 1994.
“His greatest trait as a golfer was the ability to hit the ball extremely
straight and wiith a bit of luck, sooner or later they go in,” said Folk,
who has managed two aces of his own over the years. Alex, a scratch handicapper
and furrier by trade, holed most of the aces when he played as a senior
playing out of the Riverside club in Saskatoon, at Waskesiu and courses
in California.
UNSOLVED MURDER AT THE SASKATOON GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB - At
approximately 8 a.m. October 17, 1963, Richard Otto Hartz, 53 years
of age, was found shot to death in the main floor hallway at the club-house
of the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club, where he was employed as the
resident caretaker.
He had been shot twice with a .22-calibre weapon, once in the back
and once in the top of the head. It appears that Hartz, clad in pajamas,
had surprised the offender(s) in the act of breaking into the clubhouse.
During the break-in, a cash box containing a small amount of money
was taken. This cash box was recovered on the 18th fairway about 200
yards from the clubhouse and a fingerprint, which had not yet been identified,
was found on the box. At least 2 other shots were fired in an attempt
to open a door and a desk drawer.
This murder case has never been solved. The Saskatoon Police are interested
in speaking with anyone who has any information about this homicide.
They can call the police at (306) 975-1419 or (306) 975-8300.
LARGEST MATCH PLAY IN NORTH AMERICA - The annual Lobstick invitational
tournament at Waskesiu Golf Course is the largest match play event in
North America, according to club pro Cam Forrester. More than 700 people
from across the continent visit the charming Waskesiu townsite in Prince
Albert National Park for one of the four Lobstick tournaments - juniors,
men's, women's and seniors. The tournament, a summer tradition in Saskatchewan
for more than 60 years, was named after a so-called "Lobstick" tree.
The Cree word "lobstick" refers to an evergreen tree that's had its
branches cut off to the mid-way point to act as trail marker. When the
course was first designed, one of these trees was made in the middle
of the first fairway. The Waskesiu Golf Course was designed by the renowned
course architect Stanley Thompson in the early 1930s. At such a northern
latitude, wildlife is abundant, with foxes and ravens stealing balls,
and elk grazing the fairways.
SASKATCHEWAN'S BUSIEST GOLF COURSE - With about 78,000 rounds
played each of the last several years, Holiday Park Golf Course in Saskatoon
is the busiest golf course in Saskatchewan, according to Arlene and
Robin Karpan in their book Saskatchewan Trivia Challenge (2000). In
the chapter "World's Greatest Swinger," the Karpan's report that prior
to the addition of new golf courses to Saskatoon a few years ago, Holiday
Park was the busiest course in Canada averaging a staggering 96,000
rounds annually. Holiday Park is actually two City of Saskatoon-owned
courses - an executive length 9 hole course and an 18-hole championship
course. The championship course was designed in 1962 by Clinton Robinson,
an apprentice of renowned Canadian golf course architect Stanley Robinson.
A NATURAL ACE - Ed Prosofsky of Regina lays claim to scoring
the most holes-in-one in Saskatchewan. The 70-year-old boasts 10 aces
since taking up golf in the mid-1950s, reported the Regina Leader-Post
in the fall of 1999. Prosofsky has won free trips, golf clubs and other
prizes for his marksmanship. A modest Prosofsky claims "anyone can get
a hole-in-one." His wife, named Birdie, has golfed for 55 years but
has never got a hole-in-one.
ONLY CANADIAN HALL-OF-FAMER - Pat Fletcher was born in 1916
at Clacton-on-Sea, England and passed away in 1985. From 1946 to 1956
he was a professional at the Saskatchewan Golf & Country and from 1956
to 1975 at the Royal Montreal Golf Club. He won the Canadian Open Champion
(1956), the Canadian Professional Golfers' Champion (1952), the Low
Canadian Professional at the Canadian Open (1953), the Saskatchewan
Open Champion (1947, 1948, 1951), and the Quebec Spring Open Champion
(1956, 1957). He was elected to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame
in 1974 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1975. Fletcher was also
President of the Canadian Professional Golfers' Association (1962 to
1965 inclusive) during which time he made many significant contributions
to the progress of the CPGA. He was inducted in 1976.
MOST SOUTHERLY COURSE - The honour goes to the Gateway Cities
Country Club in North Portal, Saskatchewan and Gateway Cities Country
Club in Portal, U.S. The course straddles the border - nine holes in
Canada and nine holes in the U.S., reports Golf Canada magazine in a
December 1999 article on Legal Ease: How Stanley Thompson's border courses
provided relief to American golfers. These anti-Prohibition courses
were set up to get around restrictions between 1919 and 1935. Once Prohibition
was introduced, the 19th hole at US clubs all but disappeared so you
can guess where Americans had their after-game beer, reports Golf Canada.
MOST HISTORICAL COURSE - It's a three-way tie! A rock cairn
on the golf course at Mossbank honours the British Commonwealth Air
Training Plan during World War 2. The cairn is dedicated to the memory
of those who served at No. 2 B and G bombing and gunnery school at Mossbank.
Between Oct. 28, 1940 and Dec. 15, 1944 the school trained 2,539 bomber
and 3,702 air gunner students of whom 3,493 were Canadian, 1,651 Australian,
755 British, and 342 New Zealand airmen. Twenty one airmen and one airwomen
died while serving at the school and one construction worker in its
making. The school's motto was "Aim well - Shoot straight".
Secondly, a branch of the famous Fort Carlton-Green Lake Trail runs
through the Spiritwood Golf Course. That trail linked the Saskatchewan
River at Fort Carlton with the watershed of the Churchill River at Green
Lake. These two river systems were the main routes used to bring furs
and trade goods to and from Hudson's Bay. The trail was also used for
cattle drives and mail service to the Witchekan (1913) and Norbury (1914)
post offices.
And finally, the cellars of the North West Mounted Police post can still
be seen in the "rough" a few rods east of the golf course at Fort Qu'Appelle.
A small detachment was stationed here in crude log quarters from 1875
to 1880. That year B Division moved here from Fort Walsh under the command
of Supt. Walsh and Inspector Steele. New barracks and stables were constructed
where the Force's first headquarters had just been demolished. B Division
patrolled the CPR and the cart trails. In 1881 Sitting Bull came to
this post in a last vain plea for refuge for his Sioux. An aluminum
plaque and interpretive shelter marks the historical spot by the clubhouse.
MOST HISTORICAL HOLE - If the breathtaking views of Lake Diefenbaker
and the breezes playing havoc with your golf ball weren't enough, a
marker on the front nine at the Harbor Golf Club and Resort tells the
story of one of the most overlooked historical events in Saskatchewan.
In March 1866, a large Blackfoot party, travelling down the South Saskatchewan
River valley in this vicinity, killed two Cree women and prepared to
attack a small camp on a neighbouring hill. Their shots alerted a well-armed
party of Cree warriors who trapped them in the valley. An estimated
400 Blackfoot were killed in the running battle that extended over a
mile between Battle and Cutbank coulees.
OLDEST GOLF COURSE - In 1899 the first golf course in Saskatchewan
was built in Regina. Nine holes were laid out in Regina's Crescent area
and used for three years "until roaming cows and hordes of mosquitoes"
drove its members to find another location, reports Sandra Bingaman
in Breaking 100: A Century of Women's Golf in Saskatchewan. The North
West Mounted Police offered a building at the barracks for a nine-hole
course and a clubhouse along the banks of the Wascana Creek. The club
members moved back to the original site between 1906 and 1911 before
finally settling on an expanded barracks site. In 1999, on the 100th
anniversary of the Regina Golf Club, an homecoming was held and "Royal"
was added to its name. In 1907, Saskatoon followed and established a
golf club and eventually the Saskatoon Golf Club next to the Exhibition
Grounds.
OLDEST GOLFER - At 99 years old Stan Larkin is almost the same
age as the Royal Regina Club where he's been a member for 70 years,
reports Saskatchewan Golf Magazine in its July 1999 issue. During the
last couple of years he hasn't played as often as he used to because
of failing eyesight. He once played in the low 80s. Larkin joined the
old Gyro Club in Regina in 1927 for $8 and played with a brassie, a
spoon, two irons and a putter. He's seen the game change over the years.
"Back when I started, the balls weren't very good, you were lucky if
it went 200 yards. When you found it, it usually had a different shape,"
Larkin told the Saskatchewan Golfer Magazine.
MOST FURRY WILDLIFE - Golfers aren't the only ones who love
golf courses, they're also places for a lot of wildlife to live. "Thousands
of furry, finned and feathered species find homes in the natural spaces
on and around today's courses," according to golf superintendents. Our
nomination for the course with the most furry wildlife is Waskesiu Golf
Course, designed by legendary golf course architect Stanley Thompson
in 1935. It's the frequent home to fox, deer, elk and bear.
THE MOST GOLF CRAZY - Saskatchewan is golf crazy, according
to Tourism Saskatchewan. A recent study by the National Golf Foundation
showed that one-quarter of the population, 12 years and older, played
five or more rounds of golf a year, the highest percentage in North
America. A July 1999 Omnibus survey done by the City of Regina found
that 37.5 per cent of Regina's population makes use of the city golf
courses. In fact, per capita, the province has more golf courses (over
250) than any other place in the world.
MOST WATER HOLES - It's a trick question! The course with the
most water holes - 18 holes - is the former Mainprize Regional Park
Golf Course near Midale. Several years ago the entire course was flooded
during the building of the Rafferty-Alameda Dam project. The course
has since been relocated near Midale and features 18 links holes and
fine greens. The honours for the course with the most waterholes likely
goes to the Goulet Golf Course in Regina. Bring your floater balls along
since there are 14 holes where water comes into play on this executive-length
course.
MOST NORTHERLY COURSE - Eagle Point Resort International in
La Ronge lays claim as the most northerly golf course in Saskatchewan.
The challenging nine-hole course sits on the edge of the Canadian Shield
and the 1,600-square-kilometre Lac La Ronge with its 1,300 islands.
There are daily reminders that Eagle Point is in the north - bald eagles,
pelicans and ball-stealing ravens.
ONLY U.S. OPEN QUALIFIER - Arden Knoll is the only Saskatchewan
resident to have qualified for the U.S. Open twice. The 37- year-old
accomplished that feat in 1993 (tied for 62nd) and also in 1994. Knoll
was born in Saskatoon and raised in Yorkton where his parents still
live. Knoll graduated from the University of Saskatchewan and then taught
high school in Estevan before turning pro in 1990. He played on the
Canadian Tour starting in 1990, and then the Australian, South American
and Nike tours. As of 2000, he was living in Mesa, Arizona and playing
the Davidoff Tour with players from the Asian PGA Tour.
THE PROVINCE'S LONGEST HOLE - There was a turf war over who
thought they had the longest hole. First, No. 8 at Waskesiu Golf Course
measured up with 600 yards from the back tees. Who could forget playing
all 601 yards of No. 1 at Flowing Springs Golf Greens at Condie just
north of Regina? Well, unless someone contests, Hole 2 at Saskatoon's
Moon Lake Golf and Country Club on the Moors course is the longest hole
in Saskatchewan at 624 yards. Just for the record, that distance isn't
close to the current American and world record of a half-mile - the
1,007 gently rolling yards on No.8 at Chocolay Downs Golf Course in
Michigan. And according to Travel Digest, par hasn't been determined.
MOST SAND GREEN COURSES - Not only do we have the most courses
(250+) and golfers per capita than anywhere in the world in Saskatchewan,
we have the most sand green courses. Typically, the sand greens are
flat, circular and covered with a mixture of sand and oil which keep
the sand from blowing away. Before and after players putt on the greens,
they use a "roller, rake-like instrument" to smooth the sand between
the ball and the hole. Saskatchewan Golf Association president Dick
Deryk estimates about 60 courses still have sand greens in Saskatchewan,
with 37 of those located in regional parks. Most sand green courses
charge a nominal fee, if at all, operate on an honour system, and depend
on local volunteers to maintain the course. The sand green courses date
back to the early part of the last century, slowly disappearing as grass
greens became more affordable. In her book "Breaking 100: A Century
of Women's Golf in Saskatchewan," author Sandra Bingaman said that most
of the early rural courses used sand greens because there was no reliable
water supply with which to grow grass. Every year several of these sand
green courses disappear as communities install grass greens.
Have you got Saskatchewan golf trivia? Which course has the most
sand traps in the province? Where's the longest hole in Saskatchewan?
Who shot the lowest score ever in tournament play? We'll consider adding
your trivia to our growing list. Send it along to trivia@saskgolfer.com
