Sad to hear one half of the founders of Trivial Pursuit and Devil’s Pulpit Golf Association, Chris Haney, has died at the age of 59:
Haney, who grew up in Welland, Ont., invested his board-game profits into one of Canada’s top golf courses: the Devil’s Pulpit.
The Ontario course opened in 1990, and the following year it was named Best New Canadian Golf Course by Golf Digest. It was co-designed by golf course architect Michael Hurdzan.
A second course, called the Devil’s Paintbrush, opened two years later.
Haney built the courses with long-time friend, photographer Doug Ball, who described Haney as “shy and generous.”
“So we built the Devil’s Pulpit and Devil’s Paintbrush and they’re in the top 20 in the country,” Ball told The Canadian Press. “We loved golf, we always did that. We liked photography and golf and we worked out great that way. It was a lot of fun.”
Haney is survived by his wife, Hiam, his first wife, Sarah, their three grown children, John, Thomas and Shelagh, a brother, John, and sister, Mary.
To think that Haney and partner Scott Abbott allowed something as unusual as Devil’s Paintbrush to be built is quite fascinating… this is a sad loss. I wonder how it will impact the golf courses?
The courses will be fine. Maybe even better…Haney unfortunately drove himself into the ground with drinking and a poor lifestyle and this was something many close to him saw as something happening sooner rather than later.