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Golf a lifesaver for Fort Smith man New president of community golf and country club loses almost 200 pounds by playing the sport
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, July 22, 2013
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
For Mike Gervais, golf is much more than just a game. In fact, Gervais believes golf has helped save his life.
The Fort Smith resident and the new president of the Pelican Rapids Golf and Country Club said golf helped him lose weight and get his health back.
"I didn't get serious about golf until it was when I started losing all my weight," he said. "I used to be big, real big."
That was when he weighed 407 pounds just four years ago while living in Ontario. It took him about two years to get down to about his current weight.
Gervais, who now weighs 222 pounds, has photographic proof of his transformation.
"I carry this around because nobody believes me," he said, taking out his wallet and flipping to one of his pictures - showing the face of a very overweight man. "That's my old ID picture."
Gervais said he started playing golf - and walking the course - with the intention to lose weight.
"It worked," he said. "It wasn't easy, don't get me wrong. It wasn't easy. Obviously, there was a lot more to it."
Golf is probably a top-three reason to explain why he lost weight, he said, adding the number one reason was changing his diet, his whole way of life and his thought process about food. The second reason was his two young children and a desire to be able to watch them grow up.
Gervais, now 44, said his doctor told him he would be dead sooner than later if he didn't lose the weight.
"I was diabetic. I had high blood pressure. I had severe sleep apnea. I had high cholesterol. I had them all. I had flippin' pills every day, and I take nothing now," he said, adding that even the diabetes is gone.
These days, Gervais plays golf - usually five days a week - to try to get better at the game.
"I probably play 72 holes a week."
In April, he became president of the Fort Smith club at its annual general meeting.
Since he arrived in the community two and a half years ago, he has been a member of the club and served as vice-president last year.
The golf course was one of the reasons Gervais chose to live in Fort Smith when he came to the North for the first time. The Northern store company, where he worked as a manager, gave him a choice between Fort Smith and Arviat, Nunavut.
"I knew there was a golf course," he said, explaining it is something that just adds to the quality of life in Fort Smith, where he now works at Lou's Small Engines.
"We've got a really nice course," he said. "We don't have a lot of money out here, but we do the best we can and try and keep it up and try to get new members, especially the young kids."
The club, which is just outside of Fort Smith on the Alberta side of the border, employs about eight to 10 people, including groundskeepers and workers in its restaurant.
Gervais said he loves the 2,835 metre, nine-hole course.
"It's challenging," he said, adding the greens are half the size they are down south and the artificial putting surfaces make it difficult to land on without the ball bouncing off.
"Your bump-and-run game is going to get a lot better," he said.
Golf is not the only thing that keeps Gervais involved in the community, since he also plays old-timers' hockey, referees hockey and is a volunteer firefighter.
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