The Battle of the Battered Ball is a golf tournament played between two teams made up of brothers and in-laws and their most recent game was played here in Olds at the end of last month.
Since 1980, the lefties (Ed Wilkins and Jack Beswetherick) and righties (Don and Dennis Wilkins) have split up into different teams to win a homemade trophy for an 18-hole tournament.
On top is a destroyed old elastic filled golf ball and the bottom of a golf club. Plaques denote who won in what year.
Dennis Wilkins and Jack Beswetherick reside in Olds while Don and Ed Wilkins reside in Kelowna.
They’ve played all over the country from Kelowna B.C. to Strathmore and of course here in Olds.
In the history of the Battered Ball tournament, the righties have won 10 times, the lefties nine and there has been one tie.
When asked what inspired them to make the trophy, the eldest brother, Dennis Wilkins, simply laughed and said, “oh, a couple of beers.”
“We were meeting with Don (one of the brothers). He was in Winnipeg at the time and we were meeting in Waterton, that was the plan.
“He came in a day or so early and that evening we had a few drinks and whatnot. Then my son found this old ball. We decided that we’re just going to have something to play for. That’s how it all started,” Dennis Wilkins said.
Usually, the game is played between the four of them but there has been a time where someone else has had to take up a spot on one of the teams.
“There was one occasion where Ed couldn’t make it and my son, who’s left-handed, came. That was only a one-time substitute,” Dennis said.
“Through the years it’s become another catalyst that kept the family and families all together, at least every once in a while so our children got to know their children and our grandchildren and so on,” said Don Wilkins.
Beswetherick recalled a time that they played while their respective spouses visited with family. They were confronted upon their return.
“We went out and played golf and the girls are at an aunt's house, and we came back and the girls scowled at us to say ‘where the hell have you guys been?' We said ‘we were golfing,'" said Beswetherick, “They started chewing at us pretty good, so we left and played another 18 holes.”
