In a surprise announcement that even blindsided the recipient, Kanata’s Joe McLean was announced as the latest inductee of the Ottawa Valley Golf Association Hall of Fame on November 25, during an association end of the year dinner at Rivermead Golf Club.
McLean, who spent many years on the board for the association, including time as the President and Tournament Chairman, said he was delighted by the unexpected honour.
“I am humbled and honored to be inducted into the OVGA Hall of Fame. This was a complete surprise to me. The Ottawa Valley Golf Association has been and continues to be near to my heart.”
OVGA President Dru Lafave says the induction of McLean in the Builder Category was an obvious one. He explained to Flagstick.com, “At the OVGA Board meeting in October, we discussed Joe’s retirement from Flagstick. His reporting on our tournaments for all these years really helped support and promote amateur golf in our region. His contributions as our OVGA Historian have been immeasurable. The Board unanimously decided that with his retirement, it was the perfect time to induct Joe into the OVGA Hall of Fame.”
This was the 2nd major award that Joe received in 2022. He was previously honored at the 69th Annual Ottawa Sports Awards held at the Canadian Golf & Country Club on June 16th with a Special Recognition award for his involvement in golf in the Ottawa Valley.
McLean has been a constant in the golf scene in the Ottawa Valley for nearly four decades, recently retiring as the Editorial Assistant at Flagstick Golf Magazine, and a constant presence at PGA of Canada – Ottawa Valley events (also acting as their historian), and carrying on OVGA affiliation as their historian as well. McLean is also the former editor of The Jigger, the newsletter of the the Golf Historical Society of Canada. He still plays occasionally with century-old hickory shaft clubs. Joe’s wife, Paula, is also a hickory aficionado as she is a two-time Ladies Eastern Canada Hickory Champion. He is also the author of 100th anniversary books for the Rivermead and Mississippi Golf Clubs as well as co-author of a 50th anniversary book on the Kanata Golf Club. He recently published a comprehensive history of the PGA of Canada – Ottawa Valley Zone.
Speaking on his interest in the history of golf, Joe has said frequently, “If I would have had this interest in history when I was in school, I might have amounted to something.”
Joe McLean first got involved with golf in 1970 when he played his first game of golf in a City of Ottawa Health Department golf tournament at the Gatineau Golf Club. He has been a member and involved in many capacities at Poplar Grove, Rivermead, Kanata, Glen Mar, Mississippi and Greensmere golf clubs since then.
Joe was introduced to Ottawa Valley Golf Association Tournament Director Gord Scott at an OVGA event in 1984 and was asked to come out and volunteer at tournaments. This led to him eventually becoming a rules official and a Director of the OVGA, serving as a Director at Large (1987-88), Tournament Director (1989-91 / 1996-99), Vice-President (1992), President (1993-94) and Immediate Past President (1995-96). Since 2000, Joe has been the archivist / historian for the OVGA since 2000, and in 2021 assisted in founding the OVGA Hall of Fame and serves as the selection committee’s co-chair.
It was during his time with the Ottawa Valley Golf Association that Joe was introduced to Jeff Bauder, President/Group Publisher of Flagstick Golf Magazine when Jeff came to Ottawa to pitch his idea for a golf magazine to the OVGA Board. The magazine came to life the next year, in 1996.
At different times Joe wrote a column, covered a few events and helped with delivery for Flagstick Golf Magazine while holding down a full-time job. In 2001, after thirty-one years of service with the Ottawa Carleton Health Department as a public health inspector, Joe went to work full-time with FGM. He likes to say that when he said yes to writing for FGM, there was small earth tremor in the Ottawa area. No, it wasn’t an earthquake; it was his English teachers rolling over in their graves.
Joe McLean recently retired from Flagstick Golf Magazine. During his time with the magazine he covered many of the amateur and professional golf tournaments in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec as well as writing travel stories, along with personal and course profiles.
“I would like to thank Jeff Bauder and Scott MacLeod for their friendship and mentorship during my time with Flagstick Golf Magazine. They both allowed me to pursue storylines that were of interest to me and hopefully to our Flagstick Golf Magazine readers.”
Joe has been married to his better half and best friend Paula for 51 years. They have two married daughters (Tania & Doug Bonfield and Leah & Rob Champagne) and two grand-daughters, Kaiya and Avery Champagne.
“I would like to thank my wife Paula for allowing me the time to work with all of these organizations. My awards are as much for her as they are for me.”
