One of the more interesting questions I get as owner is “How did you end up owning a golf course?”
From the beginning – I was bitten with the golf bug in Lively Ontario where we had a 9 hole par 3 course that my friends and I would play 54 holes almost every weekday, with a 5 iron and a putter. We got there first thing in the morning on our bikes, with clubs somehow stuck on the bike. We would be close to the first players out. Being an INCO town, the rule was we had to be off the first tee before 4PM so that the men coming off shift could play their round after work. So no matter what hole we were on, we kept an eye on our watches to ensure we were back to the first tee by 3:45PM to beat the restriction. Day in, day out.
I was lucky enough to get a hole in one on the 2nd hole of that course and this just added fuel to the fire. That was a great time – til the TV station called for an interview and I had to decide which of the 5some I would not add to the story. Turns out I told all 4 players who were with me that day, and I was not sanctioned by Golf Canada for rules infractions. This also showed me that a 5some could play as quickly as a 4some or fewer, leading to our policy today of permitting over 4 per group with the single commitment to “stay behind the group ahead of you and not ahead of the group behind you”.
That hole is the only one that survived the expansion of the course from 9 par 3s to a regulation course that is touted as a great on in the Sudbury area. It is now the “beer hole”, as the 18th green is a wee walk from the clubhouse. What better way to end a round than this little par 3 that holds special memories for me.
My set gradually grew to a mismatched half set, a golf bag and a golf cart that I could tow behind my bike to get to the course.
Our lunches were in paper bags that we would munch down at a turn from 9 to 1.
This all worked well til high school when I went south, and the other lads stayed in Lively. We continued to play in the summer months til we were of age where we could get summer jobs. The clubs were stored away and used infrequently in the teen years.
The story continues…
