To the end, Peter Haime was old school, a guy’s guy, a pro’s pro, right down to the tassel loafers on his feet.
He could be gruff. But the long-time head golf professional and heartbeat of the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club was much more than that. Peter, who died at age 79 last Friday, leaves behind the love of his life, Dawn — his wife of 57 years —his sons Kevin and John and their families (Kevin’s wife Lisa and sons Jake and Jackson, John’s wife Patricia and son Aidan). Through the tough exterior, there was incredible passion for his family, his friends and his work.
Since Peter’s death, there has been a steady stream of messages of sympathy from friends and strangers — people who he’s influenced in one way or another. Canadian golf legend Sandra Post was one of the well-wishers.
“(Peter) was a taskmaster, but he was a real lover of golf,” said Dawn. “His life consisted of two things: Golf and family, with a few race horses thrown in.”
Kevin, who, with Lisa, runs the Kevin Haime Golf Centre, laughed as he recalled advice from his father: “When I got into business, he said, ‘Kevin, bite off a little bit more than you can chew and chew like hell.’”
Peter’s family moved to Ottawa from Halifax in the early 1940s. He attended Corpus Christi Elementary School, then St. Patrick’s High School. He played hockey, baseball and basketball before taking up golf when he was 16, a passion that was ignited in Banff when he caddied for Stan Leonard — an eight-time PGA of Canada champion who won three times on the PGA Tour. Peter was hired by Chaudiere pro Stan Kolar. In 1960, Hunt Club’s Ken Clark made Peter his assistant pro. In 1973, Peter became the head pro, remaining there until 2002.
Peter met Dawn at the Canadian Youth Organization and they married in 1962.
“We just started dancing and dating —one thing led to another,” said Dawn. “I would say we were opposites, but we were also alike in some ways, too.”
Without “two pennies to rub together,” early in their marriage, they lived in a Parkwood Hills apartment, then in a garden home on Walkley Road. Peter and Dawn became rock stars in the golf merchandising world. Peter wanted perfection. He’d get up in the middle of the night worrying about details. He was wired to work hard, always trying to do more.
Said John, an author and president of New Edge Performance: “I remember hitting balls at the driving range, practising for five or six hours, then going into his office and saying, ‘You know dad, I had a long practice session, I wasn’t hitting them straight.’ All he said was, ‘Well, you’d f—–g better go back (and hit some more).’ I had blisters on my hands, I’m sweating and I’m frustrated, he says, ‘Well, you’d f—–g better go back.’”
“He used to say nobody ever drowned in sweat,” said Kevin. “If I was complaining the way I was hitting balls or how hot it was, that was his saying. It epitomized him — no excuses, go work harder and get the job done. That was pretty much his mantra of life.”
“He was tremendously proud (of the boys), but if they were looking for sympathy, they didn’t go to Pete,” said Dawn. “There was a huge soft side, but nobody but me would see it. He could be hot tempered; he could be hard on himself. He had a lot of stress to deal with from the job. I think it took a toll on him.”
In 1994, Peter was recognized as the Canadian Club Professional of the Year. In 1998, he received the PGA of Canada National Merchandiser of the Year, an award he won so frequently at the local level, they started calling it the Peter Haime award. In 2010, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Ottawa PGA.
