When it comes to contributions to Canadian golf, perhaps nobody has done more than the late Ben Kern. Kern, who was 56 when he died from cancer on Oct. 14, 2002, was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame during a ceremony Thursday evening. Luminous figures in Canadian golf such as Gary Cowan and Sandra Post attended the induction at the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum at Golf Canada's headquarters on the grounds of the Glen Abbey Golf Club.
Kern nurtured pro after pro. Many of his assistants went on to prominent roles in golf. He was instrumental in developing national junior programs, including Golf Canada's Future Links program. He and the late George Knudson developed excellent teaching programs at the National Golf Club of Canada in Woodbridge, Ont., where Kern was the head pro for years.
Swing coach Sean Foley, who works with PGA Tour pros such as Stephen Ames, Sean O'Hair and recent Memorial Tournament winner Justin Rose, was in the National's summer program.
"I used to observe him at work constantly and thought he had a passion for people and his career," Foley wrote in an e-mail Friday. "It inspired me in my career because he was successful, content and well rounded. I have paid his generosity and mentorship forward to many young players. "
But there was more. Kern, along with the National's then course superintendent Ken Wright and John Saksun Sr., the man behind the Canadian company Accuform, which made clubs that were exceptional in their precise manufacturing standards, invented a sand trap rake. The rake caught on because it did such a good job in smoothing out furrows in bunkers. The rake is found at most PGA Tour courses and around the world.
The turnout at Kern's induction was large because he occupied, and still occupies, an important place in the Canadian golf pantheon. He was one of the first Canadians to attend a U.S. college on a golf scholarship, and paved the way for the many who have followed. Kern attended New Mexico State University, where he was a two-time All- American. He was the first Canadian golfer to be voted an All-American when he was so honoured in 1968-69.
While at New Mexico State, Kern won 10 college tournaments. He won the New Mexico State Amateur and the state Open twice, the first time as an amateur. He and Oakdale teaching pro Wilf Homeniuk, also a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, represented Canada in the 1974 World Cup in Caracas. He was low Canadian in the Canadian Open three times. Kern played the PGA Tour for six years with modest success. For years after he left New Mexico State, people there spoke of Kern, referring to "the Canadian."
Kern was in some ways a protégé of the great Lee Trevino. Trevino saw something in Kern and encouraged him in New Mexico. They remained lifelong friends. It was appropriate, then, when Trevino won the 1979 Canadian PGA Championship, which was held at the National when Kern was the head pro there.
After 20 years at the National, Kern moved in 1996 to the Devil's Pulpit in Caledon, Ont. Kern helped anybody who asked.
Lorie Kane, for one, has always credited Kern with helping her, especially in the short-game area. Kern never felt par was out of the question, and he helped the Charlottetown native sharpen her short game so she was strong enough in that area to win four LPGA Tour events.
Anybody fortunate enough to have known Kern remembers quiet moments talking about the game with him, and then applying his lessons. He is missed, but his lessons will endure. "The Canadian" is in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, and rightly so.