Page 3 - Tamarack 85

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Glen Parker
Editor’s Note
After my initial discussion with Tamarack Men’s Club president Jordan Trotter
about an 85th Anniversary Tamarack special publication, my first thoughts were
that this project would be a lot of fun to work on. We talked about content ideas,
publication style, financial implications, distribution and workload. It still seemed
like a great deal of fun.
Then reality ascended upon me like a down hiller to a front right pin on twelve.
How can you possibly encapsulate 85 years of memories - only the Tamarack can
produce - into limited space? After a deep breath and a sip of chardonnay I thought;
just eat this elephant one bite at a time.
So we arranged a freelance writer/researcher/layout person and I could just
submit ideas and watch it unfold. Wrong! Young love took my freelancer away and
we needed Plan B. This plan worked. Christine Torrance would head up page design,
layout, creative services, along with technical guidance. David Bachewich would
help me with research and provide creative services – photo enhancements,
cleaning up old printed stories etc. And then we wanted someone with good
knowledge of golf, the Clear Lake Golf Course, the Tamarack, the players and their
families. When we signed up Bruce Penton, we covered all those bases. A former
sports editor of The Brandon Sun, currently living in Medicine Hat, Penton provided
the strong writing this project deserved.
So why this project you ask? As a somewhat frequent Tamaracker I get what all
the fuss is about. I’m as far away from Tamarack Royalty (North, Patrick, McDiarmid
et al) as you can get, but I know there is something special about the week that is
very hard to explain. Watching friends and family; three-putting with friends and
family watching; celebrating; commiserating; and congregating, it’s all part of the
Tamarack deal. With participants ranging in age from kindergarten to care-home,
to say this is about family would be a gross understatement.
The Tamarack also provides something for the average hack not many other
events do. While fun and family are front and centre, it’s a competition, and with it
there’s some formality. There’s the expectation the rules of golf will be adhered to
for one. The first-tee introductions are also an example of something not all
amateurs get to experience. This is quite often accompanied by the anxiety of hitting
your opening tee shot in front of a large gallery. Many of the tee shots executed are
evidence of said anxiety. My brief foray into championship flight made me realize
you’d better learn to play with a gallery or you’d be in for the longest short match
of your life. I guess what I’m saying is while it’s great fun, the organization and
formality lend a professional feel to the event. And research has revealed that this
tradition has been there since the beginning.
We were able to find mention of the tournament in our archives as far back as
1935 when it was known as the Clear Lake Golf Tournament. As catchy and original
as that name was, it was renamed Tamarack in 1972 and a dashing young player
named Jack Matheson won his second of three titles. We have stacks of papers
back to 1934 and sought input from the public, to help compile the Tamarack story.
With name changes, date changes and a quirky archive network, finding all the
information we would have liked, proved quite a challenge.
We sincerely hope you enjoy seeing many of the names and images of the past,
present and future Tamaracks in this publication. This was fun!
Glen Parker
Tamarack ’85 Editor
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