Once upon a time, someone told me that golf was a place where big-money deals were made.
I don't doubt that for a second but they've obviously never been to Yellowknife because I've never heard of any sort of big-money deals made at the Yellowknife Golf Club. If there have been, they were kept secret from me.
Golf has always had the reputation of being a proper sport full of honour and respect. Sure, there are those time-honoured traditions of being a lady or gentleman (that is if you can play at a course which accepts women) and keeping with the dress code but there are places, such as here in Yellowknife, where you can drop all the pretence and just duff it.
Take this past weekend for example. There were two events which saw dozens of golfers playing for the absolute fun of it: one for charity, the other for those who consider themselves, and know, they're mediocre.
The charity tournament was the Adlair Aviation Women's Tournament, the only tournament in the city where it's women only. They don't take themselves seriously at all as evidenced by the photo which accompanies this column. Canadian tuxedos? A brilliant idea. There's a costume theme each year and players do their best to match it.
The other good thing is that no scores are kept because it's completely for fun. They don't pretend to be something serious, unlike other tournaments, both golf and non-golf. It's all about raising money for charity and whooping it up. I know this because when I was covering the event on Aug. 10, I heard plenty of whooping.
On a side note, tens of thousands of dollars are raised through the golf club each year. There are so many tournaments in addition to the Adlair event, which raise badly-needed funds for plenty of worthwhile causes. The HUB International Charity Tournament is in support of the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT's Camp Connections program. The Petersen and Auger Tournament, which is one of the longest continuous tournaments at the golf club, is now in support of KidSport NWT.
The list goes on but you get the idea. Golfers like to pony up for good causes.
The other tournament was the Mediocre Golf Association's latest event, The MGA, as it's known. Every tournament hosted by the Yellowknife chapter is a play on a well-known professional event and this one was lampooning the PGA Championship.
Again, no one took themselves seriously and I have half a mind that if anyone did take themselves too seriously or got angry enough at the way they were playing, Shaun Morris, the chapter's president, would tell them to finish their round and never come back. The players would probably have something to say about it as well.
The association is what it is and its motto – Face It, You Suck – leaves little to the imagination. They may suck but they have a helluva lot of fun doing it. I've been to a few of these tournaments and I can attest to just how loose things are. They play by the rules, mind you – this isn't a complete gong show which goes against the laws of the Royal Canadian Golf Association. They just like to make people think it's lawless.
I have a chuckle when I recall how the association came to be in the first place. Morris said he was sitting on the toilet reading when he saw something about the association. Isn't that how many great ideas come to be? I always do my best thinking that way, don't you? It's become a hit with no less than 30 golfers playing every event and it's been a good source of revenue for the golf club. Golfers get thirsty and hungry, remember.
In the grand scheme of things, golf can be both fun and serious. Leave the serious tournaments to those who are looking to win big prizes, like the parking spots up for grabs at the Yellowknife Golf Club Championships next weekend. For everyone else, there's a day to grab the clubs, grab some chugs and enjoy it.
Me? I just suck. I'll stick to darts. Chucking is better than swinging.