Deadly with a golf club

By Brendan Shriane

A hole-in-one is one of the most elusive and probably the most dramatic feats in golf. Many duffers will never even get close. Gary Young, 73, of Semiahmoo has seven of them in his 40-plus years playing golf. Young hit his sixth hole-in-one on the third hole at Loomis Trail April 11 and then followed it up the next time he went out golfing with another one, this time on the third at Semiahmoo golf and country club. He attributes his good fortune to good bounces and practice. “Good luck and experience. I’ve been playing golf a lot of years,” he said.

Young’s goal is to shoot his age while he’s still 73. The week he hit his two hole-in-ones, he got close, shooting a 74. He’s shot 74 two other times this year.

The April 14 hole-in-one was Young’s second at Semiahmoo. His other hole-in-ones include two at Olympic in San Francisco and two more back in his home province of Ontario. His first one was at Hotel Ontario in Muskoka. He also had one at Scarborough golf club in Toronto.

Scarborough is also where he shot his best ever round, a 70.

Young, originally from Toronto, had his own meat rendering business there until it was bought out by a larger San Francisco company, Darling Delaware. He continued on with that company as a vice president. When he retired from the rendering business, he chose Semiahmoo because he wanted to remain on the West Coast and be close to his family in Vancouver.

“Golf is a lifetime of fun. You can play with people of all ages. It’s a great sport,” Young said. “You can’t play tennis with people of very different ages.”

Young isn’t just in it for the holes-in-one; he has a pretty good all-around game. He recently won the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s Super Seniors tournament in Seattle. He also won the event, a 54-hole tournament for golfers over 70 from British Columbia, Oregon and Washington, in 1999.

Young enjoys the fellowship and camaraderie he finds with his friends on the course as well as the suspense. “You never know what’s around the corner with golf.”.

Back to Top