You would never see it written in a club brochure, but if truth be told, Wilf Hughes’ positive, charismatic presence was reason enough for anyone to join our club.

Prospective members look at a lot of things when they are kicking the tires, but we underestimate the role that current members have on the appeal of a club to future members. Some, like Hughes, make such a significant, deep impact on the culture of a club that others just want to be around them. Play where they play.

Wilf died recently and his absence around our club will create a void not easily filled.

There wasn’t a hat that Wilf Hughes didn’t wear. Committee member, cheerleader, president, book publisher, MC. In his classic self-deprecating manner, one of his many super powers, he would probably add “hacker” to that list. His character was the perfect fit for so many roles at our club. The photo here captures one of the most enduring and representative memories I have of Wilf; as Official Starter, or more like Master of Ceremonies, of our Club Championship weekend back in the day.

Our club, and the wider Peterborough community, lost one of its truly great members, citizens, teachers, principals, board members last month. Not to mention husband, father and grandfather. In the seemingly forever boom and bust nature of golf clubs, I will always associate Wilf Hughes, his wife Gail, and their incredible “gang” with one of the most important boom cycles of our club in the past 50 years. He was the poster child for the kind of member a club can build a culture and a future around. Kind, generous, upbeat. Friends with all. Giving more than receiving.

Being a well-respected educator in a town our size, his vast circle of friends and connections were matched only by his circle of influence. You treasured being in his company. For four hours or four minutes. I can’t think of anyone I more looked forward to bumping into in the locker room.

When winter rolled around you could always count on Wilf to stroll by the curling lounge after dinner with that devilish smile, waiting to lock eyes with you so he could rib you about something or ask about your family or how business was going. He would quip about my new-found love of curling, “Hickey I really hope you’re getting your due and struggling with curling like I struggle with golf.” Classic Wilf. “And yes, Wilf, I am struggling thank you.”

In golf, people find out where such and such a person plays, belongs, and they join. Good people follow good people. They want to play where they play. Curl where they curl. Hang where they hang. Because people want to be around the kind of spirit and goodness that a gentleman like Wilf exuded in spades.

That’s what club membership really gives you access to. It’s one of the joys of belonging to a golf club, not just playing golf; those people you talk to every day and play with and joke around with, even when gone, are still walking the lounges and locker rooms to this day. It adds to a place’s comfort level. To be in a place, enjoying the social and sporting aspects of a club, as others have before you.

I get sad thinking about walking the hallways of our club without the possibility of running into Wilf and that smile. And oh those twinkling eyes.

But like all great members, his spirit will live on at our club. I know he made me a better member. People like Wilf are the glue that holds a membership of a thousand together through thick and thin. Even when they are physically gone. Just like thousands of his former high school students and teachers around this town, we are forever indebted to you for building strong, caring communities everywhere you went. So grateful that you chose our club as your home away from home for golf and giggles, for the past 40 years. The legacy of a great member lives on.

© Peterborough Examiner