For late-bloomer Laschuk, golf is about love of the game
Vancouver talent who picked up clubs at age 40 is making up for lost time
Funny thing about golf: For a variety of reasons, it’s a game with an ability to draw people in, or bring people back, despite frequent frustrations that come with trying to hit a tiny dimpled ball into a hole with a diameter of 4.25 inches in as few shots as possible.
When Vancouver’s Phyllis Laschuk first took up golf, it was the beauty and scenery — lush, green fairways lined with taller grass you try to avoid and trees lining the narrow plots of land — that helped attract her to this sometimes vexing outdoor activity.
“There’s so many golf courses around the world. Anywhere you travel, you can go and enjoy the beauty of a different type of golf course,” she said. “That was the appealing part of it.”
Now, at the age of 64, she hopes to experience golf’s more traditional look by competing in the senior amateur championships in England and Ireland in 2018. She has already qualified for and competed in a USGA senior women’s tournament and would like to add a few more internationally renowned events to her resume.
Having progressed over the last 24 years into an accomplished amateur golfer despite a late start in the game, Laschuk was most recently in contention at last month’s 30th running of the Pacific Northwest Senior Women’s Amateur at Arrowhead Golf Club in Molalla, Ore., before placing second in the 36-hole stroke play tournament.
She led for most of the event, admitting to some nerves following her opening round, and was tied with eventual winner Anita Wicks of Roseburg, Ore., on the final hole before bogeying the concluding par-5. It may not have been the storybook finish at this event for Laschuk, but it was still a positive ending to her season, reaffirmation that she can get to the top of the leaderboard and compete with some of the best senior amateur golfers in the region.
It’s a belief she hopes can help her reach a new level at future tournaments, and, on a grander scale, reach her goal of travelling abroad to compete two years from now.
Don’t be fooled. The senior am- ateur circuit provides a competitive environment. But there can be a different perspective that comes with it. For Laschuk, a 15time club champion at her home course of historic Point Grey Golf and Country Club, golf has become about building new connections and maintaining past ones.
“It’s a thrill to be able to go back and keep the friendships going,” said Laschuk. “When you get to the senior women’s golf, it’s probably more about the friendships and about the enjoyment of seeing your friends.”
For all the passion — and ambition — she has for golf, Laschuk didn’t even start playing until she was 40 years old.
The definition of a late bloomer doesn’t include a specific age, although the tag can be applied without much hesitation to golfers who begin to rise through the ranks well before their 40th birthday.
It all began at the University Golf Course at UBC with a few lessons and has blossomed into a competitive amateur career, even though Laschuk admits she never thought she would ever have time for the sport because of her career.
The plan was to give golf a try for one year. Give it a try she did, and hooked she became.
Bolstered by an athletic foundation instead of innate, raw golf ability, Laschuk has worked with coaches to improve her game, but says she can see the difference between her swing, very much a fluid but controlled motion, and the swing of her peers that began playing as juniors.
“Here I am. It’s a game for life, really,” she said. “That’s what golf does. It gives you the miracle shots when you need them. It gives you the need to come back because you always want to do better. That’s human nature. We all know we can do better and we all want to be given a chance to be better. We don’t want to give up.” Golf can have that effect. Laschuk has no plans on giving up the game. Not even close. With experience playing at local, provincial and regional tournaments, she has her sights set on that trip to the United Kingdom in 2018.
“Well, the enjoyment is always there,” she said. “But as long as the health and travelling companions continue, that’s the goal.”