Reed On The Greens October 10, 2024
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com

Photo (above): Highland CC head golf pro Rick Pero presents Hunter Talbot with his Junior Tyson Tour Junior Boys runner-up award. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.

Glencoe golfer Hunter Talbot said when he graduates from Strathroy District Collegiate Institute, he wants a job “outside working, doing something different every day, getting my hands dirty, moving around. That’s what I like.”

Hunter Talbot

In fact, the 17-year-old Grade 12 student at SDCI could have been describing his golf game which has seen him win respect from his fellow golfers across Southwestern Ontario.

Yet like the worker who punches a clock, gives 100-per-cent, enjoys the day but doesn’t search for the limelight, Talbot’s achievements on the links have, for the most part, gone unnoticed this summer. For example, he played in the shadows of SDCI golf teammates and Junior Tyson Tour competitors Ben Hudson and Logan Woodiwiss, who between the two of them captured every single Tyson Tour Junior Boys event this season.

But that’s just fine with Talbot – not the fact that he didn’t win a tournament, but rather that he stayed out of the spotlight. A talented all-around athlete, Talbot’s fire burns within – he wants to win more than anyone else. Yet unlike many athletes, he is also enjoying the journey.

For every Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam, there are scores of golfers who, during their careers, achieved great things on the golf course without the spotlight shone on them – sometimes they break through with a career win, but sometimes they don’t. Yet that doesn’t make their stories any less admirable.

And in the end, moral fiber is more important than wins.

Like World Golf Hall of Fame member Ernie Els, Talbot is one of those athletes who boasts an assassin’s smile – he loves the game, and it shows, but you don’t want to meet him in an alley when the game is on the line. Hudson and Woodiwiss consider him the ultimate teammate, too, as they have shared the stage at multiple team golf events.

Consider Talbot’s 2024 golf season, and you quickly acknowledge his prowess from tee to green.

A Tyson Tour competitor since age 13, Talbot assembled a great ’24 campaign. He finished second at the FireRock Golf Club event, T2 at Highland Country Club, T4 at Tarandowah Golfers Club and at West Haven Golf and Country Club, and was runner-up at the Sunningdale Golf and Country Club Championship Invitational. Talbot is a golf student of Sunningdale assistant pro Keegan Knight.

Hunter Talbot (centre) and the 2024 U19 Boys silver medalist squad. Photo: Facebook.

“I loved playing this year,” said Talbot, taking a breath in between some final rounds of fall golf, school homework, high school volleyball, hockey with East Lambton Minor Hockey Association and part-time work with Gerber Electric in Glencoe.

“I would define my season as consistent. I played better than in past years. I was definitely near the top at all of the tournaments. It was a fantastic year from start to finish,” said Talbot, who said he’ll return to the Tyson Tour in 2025.

A member of Wardsville Golf Club, Talbot also competed on the second-year Lambton Junior Golf Tour which crowned Woodiwiss its U17 Boys champion.

“I was on my laptop at the start of the year and I asked myself, should I do this? I decided, yes, and it worked out well with my work schedule because they play on Sundays. So, I was able to play a few tournaments this year. And I’ll play some tournaments next year.”

At the Ontario Summer Games on Aug. 4 at FireRock GC, Hudson won U19 Boys silver, as did the Hudson-led Tyson Tour team entry who included Talbot, who finished T14, Zander Battaglia of Parkside Collegiate Institute in St. Thomas and Will McEachern of Glencoe District High School.

At the Tri-County Boys high school championship Sept. 23 at St. Thomas Golf and Country Club, Hudson fired a 3-under 69 to repeat as A-Flight champion and help his SDCI squad win the team title. The Saints, including Talbot and Woodiwiss, shot a three-player combined score of 228, five shots better than Parkside.

Returning to Union Sept. 30 for the WOSSAA Boys Championship, Talbot finished T8, Woodiwiss 14th and teammate Dominic Nagy T34. Landers was disqualified for playing the wrong ball near the end of his round – read that story here.

“It was a tough day out there for everyone on our team,” said Talbot of how Hudson’s DQ emotionally affected the entire squad. “Not everyone would have done what Ben did (admitting to playing a ball not his). That was pretty special. He walked us through it. He could have ignored it. It sucks, but he did the right thing.”

Hunter Talbot (second, left) with top Junior Boys competitors at Tyson Tour’s 2024 FireRock stop. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.

Talbot has also competed in Canadian Junior Golf Association and Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour events. Through local qualifier wins at Optimist Club golf tournaments last year, he was in the field this year in Miami at the Optimist International Championship where he finished T70 amongst 150 golfers. Although he won the Boys 16-18 division and overall championship at the Alvinston and District Optimist Club zone qualifier at Arkona Fairways Golf Club this June, his schedule didn’t allow for him to move onto qualifiers.

In fact, Talbot is much more than a golfer. In addition to volleyball and hockey, he’s a competitive badminton player, track and field competitor in long jump and triple jump and soon an ultimate frisbee competitor.

“I enjoy track and field as a jumper and thrower – in Grade 10 I did shot put and missed going to OFSAA West by one spot. I was going to compete in javelin last year, but there weren’t enough spots for me. When I was younger, I played baseball but I stopped playing when I got into golf.

“If I had to pick one favourite sport, it would be golf,” Talbot admitted. “It’s what I’m best at. And there’s a lot more to it, being an individual sport, as opposed to hockey. Even environment-wise, I love golf – with golf, you can go play at 7 a.m. You can be all by yourself if you want to. With hockey, you’re with a lot of people and you get all hyped up. They are two very different worlds.”

Talbot’s sister, Leigha, 12, is a competitive gymnast. And while his mother, Bonnie, played high school volleyball, no other immediate family member, including his dad, Jay, plays golf nor any other sport.

Hunter Talbot. Photo: Facebook.

“I guess I am the athlete in the family,” said Talbot. That’s an understatement. He said he’s unsure where his love of sports comes from, but he does know that “since elementary school, if there was a sports team for me to join, I signed up. And I am pretty athletic. I love being outside, and I like to keep as busy as possible.” That’s another understatement.

When Mike Weir spoke of how playing multiple sports helped him in golf and in life, he could have been speaking about Hunter Talbot.

And today, when so many of our youth are glued to screens 24/7, it’s great to see someone like Talbot excel in sports and in life. His work ethic will go a long way in seeing him succeed, whether that’s in sports or in his yet-to-be chosen career path.

“At Gerber Electric, I work on the plumbing/HVAC side of the business. I really enjoy it. So who knows? I do know that tradespeople are in high demand. So that would not be a bad job at all.”

As for junior golf, Talbot will certainly be one of the favourites next year on the Tyson Tour. With Hudson and Woodiwiss planning to return, and other talent emerging from the Juvenile ranks, the Junior Boys division will be one to watch.

The great Ben Hogan once quipped that he found success on the golf course because “the secret is in the dirt.” Hogan knew that nothing substitutes for an unparalleled work ethic.

Neither does Talbot.

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Award-winning golf journalist Jeffrey Reed has covered the game in Southwestern Ontario since 1980. He’s the author of the 2018-published book, The Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association, Celebrating 100 Years of Golf 1918-2018. Reach him at jeff@londonontariogolf.com.