Early Wednesday morning, the kitchen and living room of a rented house in Tuxedo were filled with laughter, the smell of bacon cooking and a group of longtime friends settling in together.
It’s the start of the 40th-annual get-together for a group of guys, some of whom first met in kindergarten classrooms in Winnipeg in 1976 and have known each other for a half-century.
Greg Romaniuk, Jason Archer, Duane Sharpe, Brian Derksen, Daryl Antoniuk, Gerry Schmitdke, Darren Lehto, Trevor Bowden, Gil Grenier, Darin Feasey, Trevor Fridfinnson, Lawrence Chang, Curtis Wennberg, Jason Oliver and Kevin Benson are now spread across Canada, the United States and around the world, but they gather each year for a weeklong golf trip that has been a constant through decades of life changes.
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Duane Sharpe tees off as Lawrence Chang (middle) and Daryl Antoniuk (right) watch and comment on the drive at Bridges Golf Course.
Some didn’t meet until junior high and others joined later, while going to university in the early 1990s, but the roots of the yearly reunion go back to Westwood.
Romaniuk recalled his late-August 16th birthday, when he asked his father if his gift could be a road trip with some of his Westwood High School friends.
After getting the go-ahead, Romaniuk, Archer and Sharpe headed up to the Interlake to play golf at Hecla Island, where the now-much larger group returned Wednesday for the 40th-anniversary outing, followed by plans to tee it up at Bridges Thursday, Pine Ridge Friday and Breezy Bend on Saturday.
“Our teachers — I do remember them saying, and our parents were saying — this is a different group,” Romaniuk said. “They could tell we just were pretty close friends.”
They’ve never missed a year since.
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Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as work and family commitments, a core group has managed to make the trip each year.
“So the next year we came back, told a bunch of guys, and we had eight the next year, and then the year after was 16,” Romaniuk added.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as work and family commitments, a core group of nine has managed to make the trip each year.
No matter the destination, they follow the same routine; all staying in the same house, cooking breakfast together, socializing and, then, heading out to the course.
It’s all written out in the bylaws — loosely defined rules that have been followed for years.
Among them is a new destination each year and a requirement that at least two members travel a minimum of 250 kilometres. There’s also a “chicken holder” rule: the last player in the group to three-putt is handed the chicken, a lighthearted punishment the unfortunate victim endures for the rest of the day.
“You don’t want to have it, because then you’ve got to carry it around all day, all night, buy some drinks, do the cleaning,” Romaniuk explained.
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Jason Archer (left) wants to keep the golf trip going so he started bringing his son, Gabriel, along.
The “bucket of fun” — filled with beer and ice — is a constant.
“Once someone commits to the dates, seems like eight of us are booked within a day,” Sharpe said. “All our flights and booked and travel plans are made. It’s just a week we don’t want to miss.”
“We go to golf, but we’re not really there to golf. It’s just to hang out.”
They’ve convened in other provinces, in the U.S. and Panama, as well as overseas in Ireland and Scotland, collecting memorable stories along the way.
One came in Northern Ireland on a Sunday night when a local Gaelic football team had just won its first championship in 90 years, and the group found itself swept up in the celebrations.
On another occasion, they arrived at the Old Course in St. Andrews without a tee time — most people make reservations at the game’s birthplace a year in advance — and were told they were “the luckiest lads in Scotland” after a cancellation opened a spot.
“I don’t think there’s really a favourite,” Romaniuk said. “I mean, we go to golf, but we’re not really there to golf. It’s just to hang out.”
Mike Sudoma/Free Press
Gabriel Archer lines up a shot in the rough.
Plans for another trip to Scotland next year were already underway in the living room of their rental home.
“We’ve had people who go through, like, major life crises and divorce and all that stuff, and we know that every single one here is going to be supportive of the other,” said Feasey, who joined the group in Grade 7.
“And so, (the trips) make a world of difference to get us through all the different stuff that life brings.”
Mike Sudoma/Free Press
The group of friends get ready to tee off as Day 2 of the 40th annual golf trip commences.
zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca