THE BLOGNick Weslock Passes Away.
October 31, 2007
Nick Weslock, one of Canada’s finest amateur golfers, died Saturday night, October 27 2007, of an aortic aneurysm at the Joseph Brant Memorial hospital in Burlington, Ont.
Weslock, a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, would have turned 90 on Dec. 13th. His wife Elsie predeceased him eight years ago. The family held a private service yesterday.
“He had a wonderful life,” Weslock’s daughter Sheri-Lee said. “If he wasn’t putting or hitting balls, he had a fishing rod in his hand.”
Weslock won four Canadian Amateur championships, the first in 1957, and played in four Masters. He won eight Ontario Amateurs, from the 1940s into the 1970s, and won seven Ontario Opens. Weslock was the low amateur 16 times in the Canadian Open, including a third-place finish in the 1947 Canadian Open. He also won six Canadian Senior Amateur championships, and 11 Ontario Senior titles.
He was a member of the Ontario and Canadian Golf Halls of Fame, and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Weslock was born in Winnipeg and lived there until he was five years old, when his family moved to Windsor, Ont., where he caddied at the Essex Golf and Country Club for famous tour pros such as Al Watrous and Walter Hagen.
He later moved to Burlington, Ont., where he and a partner started a business selling products that helped companies automate. Weslock was a lifelong close friend of the Canadian legend Moe Norman, who died in September, 2004. He was a member of a variety of clubs, including Essex and the Burlington Golf and Country Club.
Known as Nick the Wedge for his short-game prowess, Weslock was an avid student of the game who kept meticulous notebooks and scrapbooks. He played golf as recently as last week.
“I played with (American) Clayton Heafner,” Weslock told the Financial Post in a 1998 interview. “He wouldn’t sign my card because he thought it was an illegal wedge.”
But tournament officials ruled the club was kosher.
Weslock fired a final round 69 to finish 12-under par for the Toronto-area tournament, won by Bobby Locke. But he played down talk of turning pro.
“I said Bobby Locke would only get $1,500 for first prize. I said I can make that in my business in one day. Forget it,” Locke told the Post. “And, there’s no home life, you’re travelling all the time. It’s a rough life.”
Weslock carried a “little black book” with him, to record advice he received on his golfing travels. He published his findings in 1985 in “Your Golf Bag Pro: Nick Weslock’s Little Black Book of Key Golf Secrets.”
Weslock survived health issues such as hip replacements, gall bladder ailment and hernia operation to keep golfing.
“I had a chance to speak with him before he passed away,” his daughter said.
“He told me, ‘I’ve had a good life.’”
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