NORWICH – On Friday July 27, the Greater Norwich Golfer’s Hall of Fame inducted five new members at Canasawacta Country Club (CCC), the home of the Hall. The honorees were Alex Scott Law, Charlie Townsend, Christian Brown, and Brian Loomis.
Alex Scott Law – Alex was the first sustained head professional at Canasawacta. Founded in 1920 thanks to several early Norwich entrepreneurs. In an era where 11,000 new courses were built in the U.S. by such designers as Robert Trent Jones, A.W. Tillinghast and Donald Ross, another course designer, Walter Travis laid out Canasawacta Country Club. At that time, many great players sought to come to this country as professionals. Bill Moffat and Dick May held the head pro position at Canasawacta, but for only short periods. Thanks to Dr. George Manley, Alex Scott Law came next in 1925 and remained here for several years. He was a highly regarded player, teacher and club maker. One of his quotes from the time was that Canasawacta was “a wee bit hilly for the women unless they are greatly enthusiastic over the game”. He considered the natural hazards wonderful. Alex set up competitions with Utica, Oneida and Cortland for both men and women. He started the C.M. Dunne Cup, which was a club championship and also an annual Caddie Tournament as there were, “several promising players among the bag-toters”.
Charlie Townsend – Charlie first joined Canasawacta in 1963 as a member of the former Pharmacy handicap league. He subsequently moved to Douglasville, Georgia where he joined the St. Andrew’s Golf Club. While there, Charlie won club championships in both scratch and handicap divisions and had two holes-in-one. He returned to Norwich in 1995, was a flight winner in the Norwich Member-Guest Tournament with his nephew, Lynn Nearing more than once and won senior scratch club championships in 1997 and 2001. Comments made include that he was a gentleman golfer, very competitive, but always wanted his opponents to play their best. Charlie shot his age two times, aced the number eight hole in Oxford and recorded a very rare albatross (double-eagle) on Bluestone’s ninth hole. He was also a member of the Norwich High School Hall of Fame.
