Century-old club remembers its past

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/09/2014 (4252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many golfers and golf fans have enjoyed visiting Pine Ridge Golf  Club over the past 20 years, as the club has hosted the Manitoba Open (under several different names, depending on tour and title sponsors).

The history of Pine Ridge can be traced back to Aug. 2, 1912, when the board of directors held its first recorded meeting. A Winnipeg Free Press article dated Aug. 10 of that year reported that a layout for Winnipeg’s third golf organization had been completed and that the new course in the Birds Hill district would be 18 holes and 6,490 yards in length. The club was officially opened in late August, 1914. Dues for the year were $10 plus 50 cents per player per day.

The club’s members have done an excellent job of preserving it`s rich history. In 1995, an archives committee was established under the leadership of honourary life members Malcolm Woligrocki and Bruce Hudson. Woligrocki and Ken Odokeychuk researched and produced a book titled The History of the Pine Ridge Golf Club in 2010, which was expanded to a 100th anniversary book titled The Course of the Century.

In the basement of the clubhouse is a hall of fame and memorabilia room devoted to the accomplishments of club players and builders. Hudson, who has belonged to the club since 1962, recently took this columnist on a tour of the area that most visitors don’t get to see.

The Robert T. Jones clubs that club pro Kas Zabowksi used to win the Manitoba Open three times in the 1930s are mounted in a shadow box. Canadian and provincial champions and provincial team members who belonged to Pine Ridge are honoured and the long list includes familiar names such as Glen Hnatiuk, Rob McMillan, Gord Lenton, Carl Teplitski, Brad Kirton, Tyler Mancini and Josh Wytinck. Pros Harold Eidsvig, George Knudson and Jim Collins belonged to the club at one point in their careers. Merlene Netterfield, Pat Piper and Judi Lidstone were tops on the women’s side. The honour roll also includes club champions and players who achieved a hole-in-one. Between 1980 and 2001, Alice Muir won the ladies club title 14 times.

A special touch is a Wall of Fame, on which past and present Pine Ridge members are recognized for their inductions into various sports halls of fame. Along with Knudson, all-around athlete Dan Bain and rower Conrad Riley are members of both the Canadian and Manitoba sports shrines. The provincial Sports HOF inducted hockey player/golfer Nick Mickoski, former Winnipeg Jets owner Ben Hatskin, five-sport star Kenny Little and Isny (Johnson) Gallimore for 5-pin bowling, golf and softball. Eidsvig, Netterfield and Zabowski also are honoured members. Hnatiuk was inducted in May.

In the dining room, Neil Payne, the former CFL official who was inducted into the Manitoba Football HOF in 2010, stopped by to say hello. Graham Kinley, a 2012 football inductee, was spotted at another table. Richard Maytchak is a member of the Manitoba Bowling HOF while catcher Gary Blaine and pitcher Bill Carpenter have been inducted into the provincial baseball hall.

Hudson is in both the baseball and curling shrines while Henry Kroeger and Clare DeBlonde have been recognized by curling. Reg Abbott and Wayne Chernecki are members of the Manitoba Hockey HOF and Alex Shastal is in the Manitoba Softball HOF.

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com