Athletic phenoms who are still a few years away from reaching puberty can be located in an instant in 2024, thanks to all that is Social Media for the current generation.
Some might achieve greatness, but most do not.
For as much as the concepts of TikTok, Instagram and Snap were still several decades away from being conceived, there was the occasional local media spotlight shone in the direction of youngsters who showed signs of possessing sporting talent, even a half century ago or more.
“I remember when I was ten, I shot a 39,” offered Sid Segsworth, a true gentleman of the Sudbury and area golf landscape and Idylwylde Golf & Country Club member for fifty years now.
But it was as a member of the Sudbury Golf Course that existed where Cambrian Heights now sits (off Notre-Dame) where the future engineer would first garner attention. “Hub Beaudry (Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame member – media category) came to our house, interviewed me and took some pictures.”
“I was on the Sudbury News (TV) – but that was a long time ago.”
(I must say that one of the most endearing features of this column lies in the ability to intermingle the names of so many storied Sudbury sports folks while profiling athletes such as Sid Segsworth – who went on to note that his multi-sport involvement also included a stint with midget hockey with St Jean’s Painters – with future Wolves’ coach Marcel Clements at the helm)
Segsworth had kind of meandered his way to the closest golf offering after initially running wild with all that the outdoors had to offer in an area that the Maley Drive bypass now runs through.
“I was raised in Frood Mine, a little village outside of the Donovan,” he recalled. “There were 24 houses and the maximum population was 96.”
That demographic limitation had the offsetting benefit of freeing up boundless areas of space for those who loved to keep busy outdoors. “I started by shagging (golf) balls for my dad and then got one club and started whacking,” Segsworth said with a smile.
“We had a big field behind our house and I would go back and forth down this field, whacking golf balls. I didn’t really know what I was doing – but it was lots of fun.”
Though his twin sister (Cassie) enjoyed track and volleyball and older brother Bob loved his tennis, Sid was the true family sports nut – especially as he made his way through his secondary schooling at Sudbury High.
“I grew quite a bit between grade 11 and 12 and by then, I was playing everything: ski team, badminton, track, you name it.”
Golf, however, had distanced itself from the pack.
“I started playing in the Northern Ontario juniors when I was 12 or 13 – won my age group at 14, I think,” said Segsworth. “Back then, the best young golfer was Fred Silver (five-time Idylwylde champion), but he was in an older group than I was. His brother Mike was a good player too.”
For as much as the 76 year old who still plays three times a week has long been acknowledged for the core consistency of his game, he also recognized early the flaws that would limit the possibilities on a much higher level.
“I was pretty good, but I got really nervous,” acknowledged Segsworth, who eventually worked his game to a scratch handicap and hovered right around one or two for quite some time – all in his later years.
“If I didn’t have that nerve thing, I would have been a hell of a lot better.”
“Never big on practice” by his own admission, Segsworth would find it challenging squeezing rounds of golf between his budding career at Inco, early on – though he was a member of a pair of championship winning rugby teams during the time of his studies at the University of Toronto, even as his golf clubs remained in Sudbury.
“I still wasn’t very big, but I could run and played wing.”
A regular in championship flight play at the Idylwylde Invitational for years and no stranger to Ontario Amateur Championships, Segsworth would experience a bump in his game in his mid-fifties, with a couple of contributing factors at play.
“For some reason, when I turned 55, my nerves got better,” he laughed. “I retired early and once I retired, I was playing more. And about 15 to 20 years ago, I switched to a long putter. I was a lousy putter. I am still poor, but not as bad as I was.”
This, however, is all relative, given the fact that the Sudbury native would go on to compete at several Canadian Senior Championships, including as a member of Team Ontario on a handful of occasions.
As would be fitting for a man who enjoyed competition but clearly enjoyed the social aspect of the sport every bit as much (there wasn’t an incoming Idylwylde member who did not stop by and say hi as we chatted over coffee at the club a little over a week ago), Segsworth suggested that some of his favourite accomplishments on the course were matched by some pretty cool social interactions.
In 1979, he had the pleasure of playing in a foursome with Arnold Palmer at the Idylwylde and three years later, it was Lee Trevino who made the trek north. “Those would be up with my highlights,” stated Segsworth. “You don’t know what straight is until you see those guys play.”
“They used to say Lee Trevino had a slice – but it was maybe three feet over 250 yards.”
To his credit, the lifelong Sudburian who has captured Senior tournaments in the region and beyond countless times over more than held his own. “Even though I am not in their league, I played pretty well those days, right around par.”
Making his way to becoming a member of Society of Seniors, a south of the border collection of golf talent that would see Segsworth reach a high of competing in perhaps as many as five or six events a summer following his retirement from Inco, he clearly found his Zen on the links.
“I got to meet many, many great guys and some really good players.”
After all of these years and thousands of swings, that truly is what golf is all about for the gent that is Sid Segsworth.
