After taking up the game of golf at the age of 14, Brian G.T. Gilhuly dedicated himself to giving back to the game he loved.
Born in Selkirk, Manitoba on July 22, 1940, Brian joined the Selkirk Golf and Country Club in 1956 and was a member of the Club until his passing in 2017. In 1966, Brian became a Chartered Accountant and his expertise in finance would be just one of the many qualities he brought to his golf volunteering career.
Brian became a member of the Board of Directors of Selkirk Golf and Country Club in 1960 when he was 20 years old and served until 1974. He did a second term on the Board from 1986 until 2017 during which he was the Club Treasurer from 1988 to 2017. When a disastrous flood damaged the course in 1997, Brian was instrumental in its re – building.
In 1986, Brian began volunteering with the Manitoba Golf Association (now Golf Manitoba). He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1989 where he continued for 21 years including from 1990 to 2005 as the Finance Chair. Brian was also the Handicap and Course Rating Chair from 2001 to 2017.
A frequent volunteer at both Golf Manitoba and Selkirk Golf and Country Club events over all these years, Brian’s commitment, expertise and passion for golf led to his involvement in course rating when the current system was adopted. From 1991 until his passing, Brian participated in the rating of over 300 golf courses in Manitoba and North West Ontario. Course rating is a very time consuming process that requires the rater to attend at the course, usually as part of a team, and analyze the entire course in accordance with the exacting standards of the current course rating manual.
Brian received a number of honours in recognition of his selfless dedication to golf. He was named an Honourary Life Member of Selkirk Golf and Country Club in 2004. In 2010, Golf Manitoba awarded him the Golf Manitoba Dedicated Service Award. Brian also received the Manitoba Order of Sport Excellence for 25 years of Dedicated Service to Amateur Golf.
Brian passed away on September 8, 2017 but left an additional legacy to golf by donating in excess of $100,000 to both the Selkirk Golf and Country Club and to the Golf Manitoba Scholarship Fund the latter of which has now created The Brian Gilhuly Memorial Scholarship for students continuing with post-secondary studies.
When he was awarded the Golf Manitoba Distinguished Service Award, then Golf Manitoba President Harvey Goehring said: “Brian’s long term dedication to the game of golf exemplifies what it means to be a Golf Manitoba volunteer”.
Brian Gilhuly is an inductee into the Manitoba Golf Hall of Fame and Museum Inc., May 10, 2022.