One of the Rossland-Trail Country Club’s founding fathers is now part of Trickle Creek Golf Resort history.
Last Saturday 93-year-old Dr. Jack Colbert joined his son’s annual golf trip to the Kimberley course when he was offered a chance to hit a ball on the par-3 8th hole.
“They had a tent set up in support of prostate cancer treatment,” explained the longtime Trail surgeon, who retired in 1983.
“They mistook me for a course marshal and I said I was marshal for just this group.”
Doctor Colbert joined his son John’s golf outing that features John’s hockey-playing buddies from Edmonton. The group has made the trip for the past 23 years and Jack joins them for the jaunt around the course and hits the odd ball.
“The fellow said, ‘Go over to that tee and hit a golf ball.’”
So Dr. Colbert grabbed his driver and connected on the 108-yard hole.
“I hit it, I saw it go and I saw it land but I didn’t follow it. Then everybody started yelling.”
Doctor Colbert’s ace was his first ever despite being a member of the Rossland-Trail golf club for over 60 years.
“You never know when it’s going to happen,” he laughed.
Doctor Colbert’s relationship with the Rossland-Trail course dates back to its infancy when he was part of a group of five pioneers including Reg and Roy Stone, Bill Forrest and Ernie Gordon who helped create the course.
Back then it featured the 18-hole track in Trail and nine holes in Rossland. When Birchbank became its own entity in the 1970s, Colbert served as president.
“I’ve probably played hundreds of rounds (at Birchbank) but never got a hole-in-one.”
Ironically, Dr. Colbert said for a $10 fee, as a fundraiser for prostate cancer research, he would have been entered into a contest to win $2,000 for a hole-in-one.
Unfortunately, because he wasn’t even expecting to hit a ball, he wasn’t eligible for the cash prize. But that didn’t deter him from buying a round for the house to celebrate his shot.
“If I had of paid (the $10 fee) then I probably wouldn’t have made the hole-in-one,” he joked.
The Trickle Creek resort wasted no time celebrating Dr. Colbert’s achievement on its website and proclaimed him their oldest player to get an ace.
The doctor’s extensive historical link locally ranges from roles with the Kootenay Savings Credit Union and Selkirk College boards to team doctor for the 1961 world champion Trail Smoke Eaters.