I learned to play golf in 1970 while attending St. Andrews Junior High School and York Mills Collegiate, in North York. During the early 1970’s, I regularly played golf courses like Willowdale (by Stanley Thompson), Westview (Aurora), Dehavilland (a great nine-holer with a driving range), and Lakeview (Mississauga). I also began playing the main Toronto city courses—Don Valley, Humber Valley, and Tam O’Shanter. I give a loving nod to the memory of my dad, George Sr., and my step-mom, Toini, for both supporting my golfing “hobby” as a teenager.

In 1976, I attended Ryerson and golf disappeared for a time while I focused on getting my C.A. designation, building a career, and courting Bettina Kuypers, my spouse-to-be. I also got distracted with another hobby—riding motorcycles (something I still enjoy doing today). In 1990, after 10 years working in public accounting, I went to work for a prepress and printing firm (Herzig Somerville Limited), and there I started playing golf again as the company had an active golfing workforce. This meant numerous opportunities to play golf with management, sales, suppliers and clients of the firm. On January 1, 2000, Bettina and I together started our own I.T. consulting and accounting business, inbusys inc., and so there were numerous opportunities to play “business golf.” 

My most memorable golf experience occurred in late 2000, when Bettina and I travelled together to Hull, England on a consulting trip for a Toronto client. After the business was concluded, we travelled to St. Andrews, Scotland where I played The Old Course after waiting for 3 days of rain and strong winds to subside.  They actually closed the Old Course for an entire day! On the 17th hole of my round (“the Road Hole”), Bettina was waiting for me by the green after shopping in the town, and together we walked down the 18th hole together—just as the light drizzle suddenly stopped. At the conclusion of the round, I received two coins from a bet I had made with each of my two playing partners (both local members of the St. Andrews Links). It was the best possible finish to an incredible day.

My career golf round was at age 49 in 2005, when I played Tam O’Shanter with my modern clubs and finished 4th in the Toronto Men’s City Championship shooting a 70, a round of two-under par, and that was after qualifying. I then played in the Golf Channel Am Tour for several years, and I had a handful of amateur wins in my handicap class (generally 9-12 range). I’ve had two hole-in-one’s during my golfing career—using a 4-wood in 1974 at Westview and a 9-iron in 1992 at Lakeview. My battle scars include a herniated disc (1982), a left hip replacement (2010), and a right hip replacement (2022). But I still keep playing anyway and I always use a golf cart.

A couple of years after Bettina passed in 2014, I turned to hickory golf. Playing hickory golf has become almost a spiritual practice for me and something I know intuitively that Bettina would support. To date, I have played in three U.S. Hickory Opens (USHO) and two U.S. Mid Pines hickory tournaments. In one trip to the 2017 USHO in Monterey California, I joined—as the sole Canadian Representative at the three-day event—a small entourage of hickory players and their families who had travelled to the tournament from their homes in Australia and together we formed “the Commonwealth Team.” I met these Aussies at the event’s official bar that first evening when I arrived. Later, we played the practice round together and stood up as a unified group at the event dinner where we were applauded by the other players in attendance. That was a great memory.

For me, hickory golf is zen-like. It’s a mystical game that has the ability to elevate one’s soul for a time. It brings out some great qualities in us — a spirit of cooperation and consensus, a healthy respect for good manners, etiquette and self-control, plus a desire to simplify. Just thinking about hickory golf, with its slower and more deliberate tempo, makes me feel more calm and contemplative. It’s also hugely challenging and the greatest fun!   🙂

George Supol