The Starters’ Shack—Waiting, Listening . . . and Dick Grimm

By Chris Fry
PGA of Canada

When you arrive nearly three hours early for your flight to Orlando, you’re left with a lot of time sitting, watching and thinking outside your gate. 

Luckily my flight companion to Orlando, Fla., Jeff Dykeman, is sitting beside me and if you know Jeff, you know he owns one of the best talking games in the business.

But amid all this waiting and listening, I’m left thinking about something,  or rather someone, entirely else. 

It was less than a week ago when I visited Dick Grimm at his Toronto home for an afternoon of conversations. And, in just a few days, the PGA of Canada will honour Grimm with the inaugural George Cumming Distinguished Service Award at Canada Night.

Unfortunately, Grimm won’t be in attendance Friday night in Orlando to personally receieve his honour due to some health concerns when flying. That being said however, a wonderfully heartfelt and earnest acceptance speech from Grimm will be showed at Canada Night. (We’ve also got another incredible video message in the works, but I can’t let that one slip . . . yet.) 

I’ve only had the pleasure of speaking with Grimm on a few occasions, but each time I come away admiring the man even more.

Grimm, who has miles and miles worth of stories but never pushes to get mileage out of a stock set, told a few beauties last week. One of the best parts about listening to Grimm tell his tales is that he never HumbleBrag’s—meaning, his stories aren’t about himself, but rather other people. He has such a respect for people, whether it be his pal Jack Nicklaus or the countless volunteers he worked with over the years,

Fortunately I had the camera rolling the entire conversation, so expect some videos to start popping up on PGA TV in the near future.