Russell tackles golf in latest book

In his first nine books, well-known Kentville sports author Burton Russell concentrated mainly on baseball and hockey, making use of a large volume of newspaper clippings and other memorabilia he collected over the years.

Russell’s latest is somewhat of a departure for him: golf and golfers in Nova Scotia.

Not to suggest Burton doesn’t know his way around golf. A long-time participant from a golfing family, he currently holds memberships at three different local clubs (Ken-Wo, Eagle Crest and Minas View) and plays at least three times a week.

Add in a love of sports in general that goes back more than 60 years, and he is more than qualified.

I received a copy of “Nova Scotia Golf: Facts and Heroics” from Burton the other day. It’s an informative volume with a different look.

Ed Martin Printing of Windsor did the printing, and Burton is pleased with the job. The book is professional-looking, with a number of colour photos - also a first for Burton.

Many of the photos came from the collection of Jean-E. Boudreau, a member of several provincial golf teams over a successful 30-plus year career. When Burton began his search for photos, he contacted Boudreau, who he first met when she was student teaching at KCA in the early ’80s. “She sent me a lot of photos and all her clippings,” he says. “I’m not embarrassed to say that I made great use of her.”

Winnie and John Horton were also helpful sources, and Burton purchased photos from the archives of the Daily News.

Burton has a well-deserved reputation for being meticulous in preserving sports history. This comes through loud and clear in this book, which chronicles the history of golf in Nova Scotia from the perspective of its most successful players.

Before reading Burton’s book, for example, you might have heard about how successful a career Kathy Powers has had but not have known all the details. The book records all the accomplishments of the 14-time provincial winner, one of our province’s finest athletes.

The same for top male golfers, including Gerry MacMillan, Graham MacIntyre and Kevin Dugas from Clare, many times an Atlantic champion and arguably the best professional our province has produced.

Another feature is the book’s chronological history of Nova Scotia’s golf courses, complete with thumbnail sketches of each course and how it came to be. Burton has played a number of these courses over the years. “Hopefully, I’ve put together a brief but concise history of golf in Nova Scotia,” he says, though he admits many names had to be omitted due to constraints of time and space. “I tried to concentrate on those golfers from our province who excelled at the provincial level. There were lots of golfers who did very well at the district level but, sadly, I didn’t have room for them all.”

Significant space has been devoted to the accomplishments of golfers from our area: Margaret Bishop, Winnie Horton, Lillian Swanburg and Gerry Elliott to Laura Harris and Thomas Corkum (to name just a few).

Unfortunately, he quips, “talking to all these ‘experts’ about all their accomplishments still hasn’t helped my own golf game a whole lot.”

This is Burton’s tenth book dating back to the early ’70s and, he readily admits, “I’d like to make it an even dozen if my health permits.”

This book contains facts and figures, and isn’t necessarily something you’d settle down with on a rainy afternoon (though it might be) but, as a reference book for a sport that has been largely overlooked, it’s invaluable.