9 holes, 1 community effort: Deer Lake golf club celebrates 30 years of play
Manager says it never would have happened without local support

A smiling man wearing glasses and golf attire stands on a golf course.
Scott Janes, general manager of the Humber River Golf Club in Deer Lake, says it’s exciting to mark the course’s 30th anniversary. (Alex Kennedy/CBC)

Golfers in Deer Lake are marking thirty years at their local club, which the club president says is thanks to decades of community support.

The Humber River Golf Club opened in 1994 on land leased by the Deer Lake Airport Authority. It was created by three local players — Peter Bass, Bill Crane and Harold Schwartz — who formed the founders’ committee alongside Bob White and Dave Blanchard.

“They played golf elsewhere. They wanted a golf course here, and they got one,” Scott Janes, the course’s general manager, told CBC News recently.

“[It’s taken] endless effort of countless individuals. Like, it’s been a long journey and it’s certainly not the end of it, but it’s nice to celebrate being this far and how far we’ve come.”

Janes said he’s come to value the community’s connection to the course — run entirely by a volunteer board of directors with volunteer-run programming, and each hole sponsored by a local business.

A member of the course for two decades, Janes said he considers it his second home.

WATCH | Scott Janes and Derrick Wagg mark 30 years of golf in Deer Lake:

Deer Lake golf course hits 30th anniversary with community support in full swing
19 hours ago
Duration 1:57
Scott Janes, the general manager at Humber River Golf Club, says community support has been key in reaching three decades of play in Deer Lake. The course and its programs are run by volunteers, who have made the place a second home for many golfers every summer. The CBC’s Alex Kennedy takes us there.
“It’s hard to speak to how amazing that is. Like we get people here every day from ages nine to 90 enjoying this place. To think it was just imagined and then, like, actually followed through on, and it’s in the shape it is now, is hard to fathom,” he said.

“It’s just home to me. The people are family.”

A framed newspaper clipping. The headline reads ‘Deer Lake group formed to build 9-hole golf course’.
This newspaper clipping from 1989 announced plans to explore building the course, which would come to fruition five years later. The group was spearheaded by founding members Bill Crane and, from left: Bob White, Peter Bass, Dave Blanchard and Harold Schwartz. (Alex Kennedy/CBC)
As the course marks 30 years, Janes says it’s on pace for a second straight banner year.

He estimates the revenues are up between 30 and 40 per cent from this time last season, which was a record year.

Derrick Wagg, a former club president who spends most of his summers on the nine-hole course, has watched it grow since the beginning.

“Over the years, we’ve had to go from a trailer to a clubhouse, to building the greens all over. It’s just been a fantastic story,” he said.

He remembers when Bass, Crane and Schwartz were getting the course off the ground, knocking on doors and raising money to build the course at Schwartz’s sports shop.

A smiling man wearing a grey t-shirt stands on a golf course.
Club member and former president Derrick Wagg values the course for what it brings to the community, as well as a way to make connections and enjoy the outdoors. (Alex Kennedy/CBC)
“I recall going down to his store and handing him three $100 bills. I was going to get a membership for myself and my two brothers. I can see him today putting that money in a drawer,” Wagg said.

“When the course got up and running four years later, I got called. And I went in, and he gave me back the $300. They never really had to use it, they had raised enough money to get this off the ground.”

Three decades later, Wagg said he can’t wait to see where the course goes next.

“It’s really important for all the people,” he said.

“This course means, to me, recreation, fellowship, friendship and just golf.”

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