A former hockey player turned golf player, who’s described as a “real-life Happy Gilmore,” is gearing up to help defend the UVic Vikes golf team’s title at the CAC Men’s Golf Championship.
On April 29 to 30, reigning champions Aiden Craig-Steele and the Vikes golf team will be playing at Paragould Country Club in Arkansas.
Steele, a long-time hockey player, didn’t start playing golf until his grade 11 year of high school while working at a golf course in Fort St. John.
As he prepared to attend the University of Victoria, he expressed his desire to compete in golf, and he spent his summer working on his game in hopes of cracking the men’s roster.
After a qualifying game, which he came in second, he approached the Vikes head coach seeking guidance on how to get a spot on the team.
“[Head coach Justin Clews] set me up with a junior membership at Uplands [Golf Club] and laid out what I would need to do to make the team. From there, I just played a ton and focused on improving my game. I’m naturally pretty athletic, but I knew nothing about the technical aspects of the sport,” he said in a new release.
After delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Craig-Steele played in a B.C. amateur tournament, where he beat most of the current Vikes, but when he got his opportunity to earn a spot on the Vikes roster through a play-in tournament, he fell short.
“The mental part of the game is everything and it’s something I’ve really had to work on. I’ve always struggled with confidence. One minute you’re full of adrenaline and the next minute you’re wondering why you even do this,” he noted in the release.
By the spring season, he improved and done everything Clews had asked of him and he asked for another shot, which he got.
According to the Vikes, teammates like to say he “athletes his way around the course”, and Craig-Steele concurs with that assessment. Until this semester, in his final year as a Vike, he held the club with a baseball bat grip.
“I’ve learned so much over the past few years, but I still rely on my athletic ability. I plateaued last year and had to change some parts of my game, including my grip. It was like taking five steps back to take six steps forward,” he said in the release.
He helped the men’s golf team win the Continental Athletics Conference in 2022 and 2023 and the Canadian National Golf Championship in 2023. He also helped lead the program to its highest-ever finish at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Men’s Golf Championship in 2023.
As he prepares for his last three tournaments in a Vikes uniform, he hopes to finally see himself on the podium.
Read More: A newer sport is growing in popularity in Victoria