For Canadian amateur stalwart Dave Bunker, competitive golf had to wait.
The son of two school teachers, Bunker became one himself and had a 30-year career at Lawrence Heights Middle School in North York, Ontario, within view of downtown Toronto. Bunker taught a variety of subjects but spent most of his time in physical education with football and basketball being main areas of focus.
Between starting a passionate teaching career and raising twin daughters – Kristine and Sandra, who went on to swim in college at Cleveland State – there wasn’t time for serious golf until Bunker was well into his 30s. While he had grown up on a small nine-hole course that served as a summer break from the hockey rink, Bunker hadn’t immersed himself into competitive golf until his daughters were nearly teenagers and his teaching prowess was more developed.
“Once my daughters were older, I started to work on my game a little bit, started to hit better shots,” Bunker said. “And then you qualify for this event, qualify for another event and it kind of snowballs from there.”
Bunker is being modest. Playing a vigorous summer schedule while school wasn’t in session, he won almost everything you can in Canadian amateur golf. That includes three consecutive Canadian Mid-Amateurs, seven Canadian Mid-Masters (for players 40 and older), four Ontario Match Play Championships, one Ontario Amateur, four Ontario Mid-Amateurs (the most recent coming this year) and one Ontario Senior Amateur.
The 2018 Ontario Golf Hall of Fame inductee has also played in two Canadian Opens and two U.S. Senior Opens.
“You don’t throw this word around very often, but Dave is a legend,” said Garrett Rank, the No. 1 amateur in Canada who also calls Bunker “a great role model who I respect and appreciate for his commitment to his craft.”
Bunker, 56, has further cemented a special place in the Canadian amateur ranks with his performance in 2021. He retired from his teaching career in the midst of the pandemic as he became eligible for senior amateur golf and spent last winter in Fort Myers, Florida, as he took on a full, mainly U.S.-based schedule for the first time.
"It’s been a lot of fun, that transition from playing a lot of am and mid-am stuff to moving into the senior ranks.”
Dave Bunker
It’s gone incredibly well. He started the year by winning the Gateway Senior Invitational by four strokes, cruising past well-respected seniors like Keith Decker, Brian Keenan and Rusty Strawn. It proved to be a good omen for the rest of the season as Bunker would win the Florida Senior Amateur by three strokes, the Ontario Mid-Amateur on the second playoff hole and registered 10 top-10s overall in World Amateur Golf Ranking events.
“I feel like I do everything pretty well,” Bunker said. “I don’t have any glaring weakness and I don’t really have one go-to shot, either.”
Notably, Bunker made a terrific run to the semifinals of the U.S. Senior Amateur and was then solo second behind Steve Maddalena at the Senior Porter Cup. A couple of seventh-place results in the Timuquana Cup Senior and Jones Cup Senior, two events with impressive fields, also stood out in a memorable season.
And then came last week’s Stocker Cup, a marquee mid-amateur event he was playing for the first time. Bunker and his wife, Lisa, who often caddies and is a major part of his success, stopped in San Francisco before traveling down to the Preserve Golf Club in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where Bunker grabbed the first-round lead with a 6-under 66. He faltered a bit from there, finishing at 4-over par, good for a tie for 24th place.
It’s the latest in a stellar introduction to senior golf.
“I have a little bit more freedom where I don’t have to go to work every day,” Bunker said. “It’s funny, when I tell the guys I’ve played with for years and years that finally I’m retired now so I can start to play more golf, they tell me I’m full of B.S. because I’ve played quite a bit over the years.
“But it makes it a little easier to play in more of these events at different times of the year, and there are so many great senior tournaments and good players, too. It’s been a lot of fun, that transition from playing a lot of am and mid-am stuff to moving into the senior ranks.”
Most amateurs can say they love the game, but Bunker’s dedication and passion for golf is nearly impossible to match.
When in Canada, he extends the short golf season to its extreme on both ends before going to an indoor facility or hitting balls into a net at his Ridgeway, Ontario, home during the winter. When he goes to a tournament, it’s common to see him at a 7 a.m. practice round and a 6 p.m. after-dinner short game session on the same day.
He’s early to bed, but usually only after devouring caramel or butterscotch ice cream as part of his tournament ritual.
“He plays every tournament,” said fellow Canadian mid-amateur Drew Symons. “It’s quite shocking, actually. … I tell younger players to watch him because he treats amateur golf like a professional treats professional golf. He prepares, he’s very structured.
“He would play golf 365 days per year if he could. And he deserves everything he gets in the game. Nobody deserves it more than him. He is the definition of a grinder.”
One time, Symons flew down to Peru with Bunker for a tournament that was scheduled to include two practice rounds and four tournament rounds – six consecutive days of golf in a foreign country. Despite their nearly 4,000-mile trip, Bunker wanted to practice the same day they landed to make it seven consecutive days of golf.
How bad does it have to get for Bunker not to play golf? Rob Cowan, a friend on the Canadian mid-am circuit, only remembers one occasion. It was 2 degrees Celsius (about 35 degrees Fahrenheit) and pouring rain during a four-man scramble. On one hole, the team had about a 4-foot putt and Bunker stayed in the cart in hopes that his teammates would take care of the short putt.
“Everyone missed the 4-footer and you could just see it in Dave’s face that he just wanted to go home,” Cowan said. “I looked at him and I said, ‘I’ve never seen you not want to play golf before.’ That was his end.”
In other words, finding him not wanting to play golf is kind of like an unassisted triple play in baseball. When you see it happen, you won’t forget it.
“He eats, sleeps and breathes golf,” Rank said. “His last name is golf. You can’t get much more golf than Dave Bunker.”
It’s one thing to play with such frequency, but Bunker also competes with a certain level of freedom that most of us can never reach. He’s accurate off the tee and isn’t afraid to hit driver on narrow holes where most players would lay back.
“He’s not afraid to fail,” Symons said. “He’ll miss cuts sometimes, but that’s why he wins. His mentality is awesome. He’s just fearless.”
Having started his competitive amateur golf life much later than most, he’s been used to trying to keep up with youngsters and has the unique perspective of competing against future pros when they were teenagers.
Those kids have all learned a thing or two about accuracy off the tee and nurturing a well-rounded game.
“He’s so confident with his driver that what would be a risk to me, it’s not a risk to him,” Cowan said. “He knows where it’s going.”
Bunker takes his golf seriously and he still has boxes he would like to check. Playing in a British Senior Open, winning a Canadian Senior Amateur, getting back to the U.S. Senior Open and reaching the finals of the U.S. Senior Amateur are near the top of that list.
But more than the results themselves, Bunker is a person of process who cares deeply about the game. As Symons puts it, “When you play with Bunker, you’re going to have a good time.”
Like any great golfer, he isn’t above some good-natured ribbing. On one occasion, Rank, who is 22 years younger than Bunker, took out a rangefinder and lasered the sizable distance between where their drives had finished.
“It was 71 yards. He said he miss-hit it, but I don’t believe him,” Rank joked.
Bunker’s response said it all: “When you’re 56 years old, we’ll see if you can hit it this far.”
Rank would be very satisfied to do that. He would be even more satisfied with the start to senior amateur golf that Bunker has relished.
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