As soon as the Club receives news of the death of a current Member the flag is lowered to half mast and remains there for three or four days or until the Member’s funeral has taken place.

 

This custom was introduced in 1941 primarily in respect for Members who were killed in W.W.II, but continues to this day upon the death of a current Member or any person whom the Club wishes to honour.

During W.W.II, golf matches were an accepted means of raising money to help the Allied war effort. You needed a generous donor of course, to put up the “purse”; in 1942 VGC Member Ernie Todd filled that need, with the proceeds of the match going to the Kinsmen Club’s “Milk for Britain” fund.

 

Ben Hogan and Stan Leonard were considered the future stars of U.S. golf and in this match on the Victoria links, Ben Hogan was paired with Phil Taylor, the home Pro, against Stan Leonard and Fred Wood, a former Club Champion of the Vancouver Golf Club for four consecutive years.

 

“Hogan appeared to have an off day; he won only one hole during the round. ‘I was afraid to let myself go and I found the hard-surface greens tough to figure...I just wish I’d had a practice round  before the exhibition’, he said afterwards.”

 

That may well have been true, but one must expect his experience on the 7th green to have rocked his self-confidence considerably. In those days the beach adjoining the green was out of bounds – not a water hazard as it is now. The green is markedly two-tiered and Hogan’s drive had stopped on the upper level, while the pin was on the lower one.

 

Striking his ball a little too confidently for the steep gradient, he watched in horror as it accelerated down the slope without the slightest intention of remaining on the green, but pausing a moment to wave goodbye before dropping to the beach below.

 

“That’s the first time I’ve ever putted out of bounds,” was all Hogan could manage.

 

His partner, however, was in top form and able to carry the household name to a 3 and 2 victory.

 

‘Babe’ Didriksen-Zaharias is often considered the most talented female athlete of all time. She won three gold medals – high jump, javelin and 80m hurdles – at the 1932 Olympics – breaking records in all three sports, –  earned a living as a professional basketball and baseball player and even competed against men in the PGA.

She took up golf in 1933 but lost her amateur status because of her other professional careers. When it was restored in 1945 she won 17 amateur tournaments in a row, which included the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the British Ladies Amateur. She was the first American to win the latter tournament in its 53 year history. She was also a founder member of the LPGA and the first female Professional.

VGC Member Marjorie Todd had met the ‘Babe’ at the Tampa Women’s Open and persuaded her to come to Victoria, where she played in a Kiwanis Junior Safety Patrol fundraiser. Derek Todd remembers:

“Before the game she thrilled the audience for half an hour as she went through her bag of clubs, propelling the ball an amazing distance. She kept the gallery amused with her colourful chatter. Someone asked how she could hit a golf ball so far. ‘I just loosen my girdle,’ she said, ‘and let everything fly!’”

Owing largely to the effects of military conscription, golf courses changed very little during W.W.II. apart from fairways being ploughed up to provide vegetable allotments at some courses in Europe. Within ten years of its end, however, two new inventions were being rapidly introduced at golf clubs in North America, and later in Europe.

 

The first of these was the hand-drawn pull cart which had great advantages over the constantly-outstretched hand of the caddy; it was cheaper, always available and never said “I told you so!”. It was sad to see the popular Hugh Mackenzie, the Caddymaster, edged into retirement in 1949 but presumably few saw caddying as a profession after serving in the forces. At VGC, the Pro Shop had to be enlarged to house 150 of these handcarts.

 

A similar situation arose ten years later when “power carts” became available which could carry either one or two golfers and their clubs. This enabled senior golfers to continue playing the sport for many years after their hips and knees caused unbearable pain. At the beginning members were allowed to arrive in their own carts, but as the number of carts grew, there were complaints of the damage which their narrow wheels caused to the course paths. After a short while, private power carts were banned and the Pro Shop built up its own fleet which could be rented by members. Fortunately, the VGC invested in the virtually silent electric models rather than those powered by high-maintenance, noisy internal combustion engines.

1940 - 1950

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