Inducted Members

Dave Ross, 50 years of passion

This year, the presentation of the Pierre-Nadon Prize is a double celebration in the Québec golf industry.

First of all, the Pierre-Nadon Prize is celebrating its 10^th anniversary. Second of all, in mid-September during the André Rousseau golf tournament held at the Milby golf club, it was presented to well-known golf professional, David Ross, who is cumulating 50 years of career and dedication to the game of golf.

Jean-Guy Gendron, Daniel Talbot, Michel Robert, Paul Labonté, Gilles Bourassa, André Maltais, Max Oxford, Roger Bouchard, Gilles Gareau, Marcel Dion, Jacques Huot, Pierre Lessard, Yves Mandeville, Pierre Brosseau, his fellow golf professionals, gave him a standing ovation.

Other guests included the generous host professional, Guy Faucher, as well as former authorities such as Roger H. Legault, co-organizer of the evening, Bob Dion, Russ Campbell, and Jean-Claude Gagné. The former Habs player, Pierre Bouchard, also was in attendance.

A true supporter of golf in our province, Pierre Nadon was a journalist who was taken away by cancer at 68 years old. He ended his career at La Presse and was editor of the Golf Canada magazine. His fellow journalists are composing the selection committee that is working in collaboration with Golf Québec for the presentation of this Prize.

The candidacy of David Ross as a recipient of the Pierre-Nadon Prize was a unanimous vote, which speaks volumes about his much appreciated contribution in our industry.

In 1966, he became an Associate member of the PGA of Canada and started working as a golf professional at the Royal Montreal Golf Club under the supervision of Pat Fletcher, an inducted member of the Canadian Hall of Fame and Québec Golf Hall of Fame.

Commonly known as Tintin due to his obvious resemblance to the cartoon character, he was highly respected by his peers and was elected as President of the largest golf professional association in Canada with over 3,000 members.

David Ross started his career as the star player of the St. Lawrence University hockey team in the NCAA. He was one of their scholarship recipients and was invited to the Boston Bruins’ camp.

“We are truly blessed that Dave chose to wear spiked shoes instead of skates. His contribution and expertise were outstanding and, as a matter of fact, he is still very active in the golf industry,” mentioned Gilles Terroux, editor at Golf Canada.

David Ross’ involvement was divided in two fields of expertise: at the competitive level as well as in the management of the game of golf, here in Québec and in other parts of the world.

This former caddie of the Summerlea Golf and Country Club, which was located in Lachine at the time, was promoted as Assistant Pro when the club moved in Vaudreuil-Dorion. He won many titles on the Québec Tour, including the first Club Professional Championship, and was runner up in the Québec PGA Championship won by Adrien Bigras who was his boss at the Rosemère Golf Club. After completing his degree, he also took a chance on the Canadian Tour.

Aside from being a Tour player, David Ross was dedicated to promoting the game of golf towards the mass.

“His friendly smile, humility, and desire to help others always inspired me,” confided Daniel Caza, Managing Editor of Golf International.

For nine years, David Ross was Head Professional at Candiac. In 1974, he hosted the LPGA event that eventually became the Canadian Women’s Open. He also was host to numerous provincial tournaments.

During these years at Candiac, the successor of Dan Halldorson - the most recent recipient of the Pierre-Nadon Prize, had the privilege to work with exceptionally gifted players, including Rémi Bouchard and Jean-Louis Lamarre.

During his two mandates at L’Estérel (from 1981 to 2001 and from 2014 up to now) where he will be celebrating his 25^th anniversary next year, he was the first to present an all-women pro-am event in Canada. Recently inducted in the Canadian Hall of Fame, Lorie Kane was one the many participants during her apprenticeship.

Presented for 20 years, his fall tournament crowned the likes of Talbot, Bigras, and Lamarre as well as Michel Boyer, Serge Thivierge, Raymond Richer, Éric Mercier, Carlo Blanchard and many others.

Always dedicated and generous, David Ross is currently a member of the Québec Golf Hall of Fame Committee chaired by Diane Dunlop-Hébert. He is honoured in Québec, but could also be recognized for his work in New Brunswick.

For three years, he shared his knowledge and contagious enthusiasm for the game as Head Professional of the Gowan Brae Golf Club. He also worked for two years in Miramichi as well as in Mataquac. Two years ago, his protégé of Gowan Brae, Adam Chamberlain, was crowned as Canadian Champion of Club Professionals.

“I visited Dave in the Maritimes. I must say that his behaviour and personality make him an outstanding ambassador of our province everywhere he goes,” confirmed blogger André Rousseau.

David Ross implemented the Golf in Schools Program when Bob Dion was working at Golf Québec. He was also invited to give golf lessons in Cuba. Jean-Morin, the professional owner of Golf Les Légendes and Christian Lauzon, professional manager of Alpine, were his students.

For Dave Ross who was a personal friend of Pierre Nadon, writer of La Patrie, Montréal-Matin, La Presse and Senior Editor at Golf Canada, golf was never a job in the classic sense of the term. For him, golf is a passion.

In his seventies, instead of simply retiring to enjoy life with his sweet wife, Monic, he came back to the Laurentians in 2014 with the intention of revitalizing the L’Estérel golf club.

“I am not looking for the usually coveted Liberty 55. What I really want is to stay active and play golf until I’m 77, if I can stay healthy enough,” commented David Ross in Golf International, Golf Canada.ca, and MonGolf.ca.

Ultimately, this is good for the whole golf industry.

Finally, we should congratulate Diane Dunlop-Hébert and her committee, as well as André Gagné who will soon be inducted in the Hall of Fame and join the select group of golf legends. Winner of numerous tournaments in Québec City and in the province, André also was a recipient of the Pierre-Nadon Prize.