The Word - Vol 113

World Championship Snowgolf ❄️🏌️

It was the mid-70s when I boarded a PWA flight to Prince George to take part in the Prince George World Snowgolf Championship. Don Prentice, a Prince George radio personality, was the Tournament Chairman and the driving force behind the tournament. It was a big party all week, and a wonderful event for the city of Prince George, not to mention a good distraction from the long winter.

A few people from radio and television, and several of the B.C. Lions football team were also on board. As our flight from Vancouver was coming to an end, I could tell we were circling the airport. Looking out the window I knew why, we were flying into a blizzard! After circling a few times suddenly, we dropped out of the sky and bounced down the runway and came to a stop. The well-lubricated snowgolfers and football players started yelling “We’re all going to die!” Yes, the party had already started. I’m sure the outburst didn’t sit well with the regular paying customers on the flight! 

We walked through the snowstorm to the airport and the tournament welcoming committee was waiting for us. One of the committee members said he’d never seen a landing like that before! He said, “You just dropped out of the sky!” I saw the pilot and asked him about the landing. He said he knew we were coming in for the tournament and if he didn’t land in Prince George he’d have to divert to another city, and we wouldn’t have had the chance to play in the tournament! He didn’t want us to be disappointed. 

It was quite a welcome to Prince George! Not quite as wild a welcome as Arte Johnson got though. He and comedian Nestor Pistor were the celebrities on the guest list. Arte Johnson, you’ll remember, was one of the stars of the TV show Laugh-In, and Nestor Pistor was a character created by comedian Don Ast. Ethnic storytelling and ethnic accents were a comedy thing back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, something that isn’t acceptable these days. His character had a very heavy Ukrainian accent, and over the years Don recorded a number of comedy albums that included “Winestoned Plowboy” a take off on Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy, and another that would be recorded in Prince George titled, “Nestor Pistor Live at World Championship Snowgolf!

The organizers thought it would be funny to have both Nestor and Arte chauffeured into town in a dumpster on the front of a garbage truck! I guess they hadn’t counted on the snowstorm. And to make things funnier, and worse at the same time, both Nestor and Arte were given necklaces, like Hawaiian Leis, but not made from flowers, they were made from garlic sausages, which immediately put a nice big oily stain on Arte’s suede jacket! The party was picking up speed! 

The next morning was the first day of Snowgolf, something none of us had played before. First, you need a good covering of snow on the golf course, and next a purple rubber ball so it would be easy to find after you hit it with anything you want. Golf clubs were ok, but so were hockey sticks, and baseball bats. You name it, you could use it. Then the rest of the game was much like a game of golf: get it to the flag with as few shots as possible. 

Local foursomes were encouraged to pick a theme for their group and dress up in costumes. Some of the costumes I remember were “The Upside-Down Clowns,” and “The Chocolate Chip Cookies” 4 people dressed in full brown long johns, with what looked like big chocolate chips sewn on them. And who could forget the “Outhouse Cowboys” four people who were inside cardboard outhouses. They carried them down the fairway then would get out of their outhouse, hit the ball, then get back in the outhouse and continue the walk. As you can imagine, adult beverages were a very big part of the game.

The next day featured a flag football game in the snow with the local doctors and nurses dressed in their scrubs forming one team, and a few of us from radio and TV joining members of the B.C. Lions to form the other team. The field was a shortened version of a football field, with the lines drawn with red paint. It turned out that wasn’t the best idea, as the paint didn’t dry in the snow, and red paint decorated our boots and clothes for years to come, a reminder of our gridiron classic!   

To cap off the day, each night the tournament turned the city’s enclosed shopping centre into a casino, and we were entertained by the comedy of Nestor Pistor. One night I was partying with a well-known recording star who came on the trip and everywhere he went, he brought along a wine skin (remember wine skins?) full of Chivas Regal. He thought it would be funny to throw the main power breaker of the shopping centre and send the makeshift casino into darkness, an idea we managed to talk him out of.

Snowgolf was just one part of a week-long winter celebration that involved other community events to help liven up a long cold season. I don’t believe Prince George has continued the Snowgolf Tournament, but I’m reading that dozens turned out for the annual Canadian Snowgolf Championships in Midland, New Brunswick. The event raises funds for Make a Wish Canada.

It’s heartwarming to see the crazy idea of hitting a ball in the snow is alive and well and living in the Great White North. 

Till next week…
Wayne