CLUB HISTORY
There was a little excitement at the club one Sunday in the past as told from an article from the Buffalo Courier-Express on Monday, August 19, 1940
Niblick Keeps Ferdinand At Bay on Links
Snorting bull chews flagpole on green at Aurora
A bull that escaped from a nearby farm nearly broke up a golf tournament at the East Aurora Country Club yesterday afternoon.
The animal, perhaps infuriated by women’s bright frocks dotting the course, is thought to have leaped a fence somewhere near the ninth fairway.
State Trooper Harvey Gregg and Robert C. Welty, special town policeman, said the bovine terrorized foursomes finishing the nine holes near the clubhouse and
gave the clubhouse throng, gathered for a buffet supper, some uncomfortable moments.
The bull, snorting as did Ferdinand when he sat on the bumble bee, came closest in his cavorting to a foursome made up of Mr. and Mrs. H. Townsend Hoopes
and Mr. and Mrs. Harold A, Lent, all of East Aurora. Mr. Hoopes managed to keep the animal at a safe distance with the aid of his trusty mashie niblick.
Their escape from the bull did not affect the Hoopes’ game. They were runners-up in the two-ball mixed foursome for East Aurora. Winners were Mr. and Mrs.
John Gowans.
Trooper Gregg and Officer Welty, summoned in the emergency, lured the animal from the fairway and clubhouse lawn. Only damage done by the animal,
Trooper Gregg reported, was a thoroughly chewed flag pole on the ninth green. He said the bull grabbed it and cracked it in the middle.
Ed. Note: A mashie niblick is a 7-iron. “Mashie” is derived from French massue, “club”, while “niblick” is diminutive of neb/nib, “little nose.”
Raymond Zorn, Club Historian