BC Golf Museum - OCTOBER 2009 e-Newsletter

(October 20/09)
From the office of Barrie McWha
Executive Director,
BC Golf Museum & Golf Hall of Fame of BC

I am writing this newsletter while attending the Golf Collectors Society Conference at the USGA Museum in Far Hills, New Jersey.

In addition to a two day workshop conducted by the USGA Museum on golf history, I am attending the AGM of the Golf Collectors Society, a component of which is a trade show where collectors show their wares in the hopes of selling enough items for enough money to acquire more items! If that wasn't enough, there was a golf championship played the old way....with hickory shafted clubs and gutta percha and mesh balls at a golf course that is nearing the century mark! Everyone was dressed in their plus fours (yours truly included) and a great time was had by all.

Hickory golf is big in the US and growing in eastern Canada....I think it's time we had a hickory community in BC. Did you know the Canadian Hickory Championships take place each year in Edmonton at The Legends Golf Club! This year they even added a hickory event at Banff Springs GC as the opening act for the Canadian Championship.

The opportunity to meet collectors, hickory golfers and the USGA Museum staff all on the same trip has been very worthwhile indeed. The USGA Museum is really impressive and well worth the trip itself...WestJet flies Vancouver - Calgary - Newark, New Jersey and the Museum and USGA Headquarters is 30 minutes from the airport (and surrounded by some wonderful golf courses)!

But I digress...check out the web site for the USGA Museum and the Society of Hickory Golfers and you will find some interesting reading for sure....and watch for a hickory golf event in BC in 2010!

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What's been happening....

The BC Golf Museum and Hall of Fame has been present at a number of tournaments this past month or two letting players try hickory shafted clubs that are 100 years old! The common response is ..."will they break?"... the common answer is ... "they've lasted this long...don't worry...just swing away!"

It is a great way to gain appreciation for how good the accomplished players of that era really were, given the conditions of the courses they played on and the equipment they had at their disposal!

Either, Michael Riste, our eminent Historian or I have been present at golf tournaments at King's Links in Delta, University GC and recently the Surrey GC windup for Golf Fore Gals where many of the players participated in a putting contest using hickory putters and raised money for both the GFG Charities and the Golf Museum.

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Membership and Patron Campaign

Like so many non-profit organizations, this year the Museum was denied funding from BC Lotteries which, for many years, has always covered the capital funding needs of the Museum. Things like roof repairs, computer upgrades, exhibit refurbishing, artefact acquisitions have all been paid for out of the lottery funding.

Tough times call for revisiting how things are done! Our memberships are now even more important and so I invite you or your business or golf course to visit the Museum website and join now! When you consider that the cost is certainly not great, the impact of many people joining at a small fee is very significant!

You can also see the list of corporate, family and individual members who have already supported the Museum with their memberships.

Some have chosen to even go beyond the membership step and make financial donations that are fully tax deductible. As we near the end of the year, a little tax planning and helping the only independently funded, publicly accessible, golf museum and library in Canada, might just go hand in hand.

Should anyone wish any further information, please contact me by email bmcwha@bcgolfmuseum.org or 604-222-4653.

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Hall of Fame Dinner is SOLD OUT!

October 22 will be a very special evening for four of BC's finest golfers...and their many friends, relatives and admirers!

Capilano Golf & Country Club will be the site of the induction dinner where Jackie Little, Alison Murdoch, Steve Berry and Richard Zokol will take their rightful place as Honoured Members of the Golf Hall of Fame of BC.

Special thanks to the Coast Hotel and Resorts Plaza Hotel on Comox Street in Vancouver for coming on board as the Host Hotel for the many out of town attendees.

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Looking for Clubs from 1950-1990

As the Museum looks to expand its collection of golf clubs, we are focusing on clubs and bags from the era 1950- 1990.

If you have or know of any clubs from that era please contact me at bmcwha@bcgolfmuseum.org or 604-222-4653

One added benefit is that we can issue a tax receipt to the donor after evaluating their current market value.

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One More Reason to Remember the BC Golf Museum!

Royal York Golf Club in Armstrong, BC lost its relatively new clubhouse in a devastating fire earlier this summer!

In the archives of the Museum, there are over seventy binders of clippings, photos and information on golf courses past and present around the province. At some point in the future your golf course is going to reach a significant birthday and if history has not been captured along the way often it is too late to piece together a display to celebrate the event!

Our volunteers have been contacting golf courses by phone to introduce the Museum and hopefully acquire copies of their course historical information and photos so that duplication exists in the event of a catastrophe. Sadly fires happen all too often and historical information that cannot be replaced is often lost.

Private clubs seem to often focus more attention on their history however we encourage all golf courses to enlist some volunteers or ownership to copy and preserve that history by having it off site at the Museum.

One of the sessions presented by the USGA was on how to establish a historical program at a golf course...what to consider, best practices and policies to employ. Should any golf course wish to learn more, please contact me at the Museum office 604-222-4653 or bmcwha@bcgolfmuseum.org.

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Last Month's Trivia Winner

Last month's trivia contest winner was Kevin Oates, Head Golf Professional at Arrowsmith GC in Qualicum Beach. A number of people had the correct answer to the question "which husband and wife couple won the men's and women's amateur Championships in BC in the same year?"

Using a computerized random selection program, Kevin, who named Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Combe, was the winner of golf for two at University Golf Club.

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For questions or comments please contact our us at office@bcgolfmuseum.org or 604 222-4653.
Our Website: www.bcgolfmuseum.org
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Masthead photo by William Fraser