The quirky connection between golf and hockey was on display again this week at the Ontario senior amateur championship.
Barrie Country Club member Rob Garner, the former pro hockey player who played on Barrie’s national championship midget team almost 50 years ago, finished ninth.
The winner? Longtime NHLer Adam Creighton.
The bonds between golf and hockey hide in plain sight and go back decades.
“Golf was the sport that, as hockey guys, we would fall into after the season,” said Garner, who, two years ago, won the Barrie Country Club’s senior title over another retired pro hockey player, Greg Hotham, when asked to explain why so many stories like his own linger around the golf world.
“We wouldn’t play soccer or baseball for the most part, but golf in the summer. You can play, have a beer, spend some time together and then just get ready to go back to training camp.”
Those scenarios Garner describes started soon after the Second World War, when it was not unusual for certain NHL players to tee it up in the Canadian Open during their summer off-season.
The most successful former hockey player on the links is probably John Harris. He won an NCAA hockey title playing for the legendary Herb Brooks at the University of Minnesota in 1974, the same year Harris won both the Big Ten and state amateur titles in golf. Harris later won the U.S. amateur, made the cut at the Masters and won on the old senior tour (now PGA Tour Champions), all after his hockey career ended.
Intrigued with the many examples of hockey players playing so well in their ‘second’ sport, about 10 years ago I sent Harris an email to ask if there was a legitimate connection. He offered some interesting insight.
“Certainly, the seasons complement one another,” he wrote back. “You need good hands for touch and feel in both sports and … hockey players also take a similar stance with a low base (when taking a shot). I think that (over time) really helps.”
Garner offered a similar take: “We, as hockey players, don’t have to learn the mechanics of the swing. We already know to swing at a target and it just comes (naturally).”
One year at the Canadian Open, and around the same time as the Harris exchange, I asked four-time major champion Ernie Els a similar question. He said he knew little about hockey but had benefited greatly in golf from playing competitive tennis as a youngster. He had assumed hockey had even more transferable skills because the puck, like the golf ball, is hit from the ground. Even more interesting was the fact Els’s occasional caddie was former NHLer Dan Quinn, who was carrying the bag for Els that week.
Quinn was taken first overall in the 1981 OHL priority selection. That started a two-decade hockey journey, including 805 games with eight NHL clubs. He was one of Ontario’s best junior golfers before he dedicated himself full-time to hockey.
What did Quinn do after his playing career was over? He returned to the golf course. His playing exploits have included winning the American Century Championship on five occasions. The annual event involves celebrities and former athletes. NBA star Steph Curry won the most recent tournament, last week.
Locally, San Jose Sharks prospect Ethan Cardwell wound up his OHL career last season with the Colts. In golf, he has won both the 2017 Ontario bantam championship and the 2018 provincial juvenile title, beating Barrie native Michael Ikejiani in a playoff.
Cardwell started his OHL career with the Saginaw Spirit soon after. By the time he left Saginaw to come to Barrie, he may not have even been the best golfer on the Spirit. That honour could have belonged to Davis Codd, the Spirit winger who won the 2021 Michigan state high school title.
We may be getting redundant here, but there are many other examples, both locally and further afield. I’ll name just a few more, among both active and retired pucksters.
The best golfer/hockey player right now is a toss-up between Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski, who finished third behind Curry last week, and journeyman pro Greg McKegg, who has won the Ontario mid-am championship.
And speaking of mid-am titles, NHL referee Garrett Rank, who played both Jr. B and university hockey before trading in his stick for a whistle, won the Canadian over-25 title at the Barrie Country Club 10 years ago.
Retired NHLer James Wisniewski spends much of his time these days playing golf and taking tips from his neighbours at the exclusive Muirfield club in Ohio. One such neighbour is PGA Tour star Jason Day, who has also caddied for him in elite amateur competition.
The other? Jack Nicklaus.
There are dozens of other examples of the two sports intersecting, but you get the point.
Instead, we’ll leave you with this quick story.
Recently, a collection of old hockey players from the area got together to catch up. Included in that group of 50- and 60-somethings were former Leafs Terry Martin, Bill Stewart and Greg Johnston, along with other hockey folk of similar vintage.
Where did they gather? At a golf course, of course. After a round at the charming nine-hole Allandale Golf Course in Innisfil, the group retired to a downtown watering hole for dinner and drinks.
You can bet there were just as many golf stories told as there were about hockey.
