At the recent Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships in Puerto Rico, Bob Slatter was honored by being inducted into the Caribbean Golf Hall of Fame.
It was a fitting accolade for the 73-year-old veteran who has spent all his adult life immersed in the sport he loves.
Slatter arrived in the Caribbean in April 1965 from Canada in Bahamas and quickly got noticed by winning the 1965 Bahamas Amateur Championship, although he was not eligible to participate in the Caribbean Championships.
He started his long and distinguished representation at the Caribbean Championships in 1966, playing for the Bahamas Hoerman Cup team.
He also participated on the Bahamas Hoerman Cup team in 1967, 1968 and 1969, with Bahamas hosting for the first time in 1967.
In 1969, Slatter got involved in the administration side of Bahamas golf and become the Bahamas Golf Federation treasurer.
He also stayed heavily focused on his golf game and won the Bahamas National Amateur in 1970, 1973, 1975 and 1977.
He was a member of the Bahamas teams at the Eisenhower World Amateur in 1972 (Argentina) and 1976 (Portugal) while playing on most of the Hoerman Cup teams in the 1970s.
Slatter’s next Caribbean adventure took him to the Cayman Islands in August 1987. As one of the founding members of the Cayman Islands Golf Association, he helped Cayman join the Caribbean Golf Association in 1993.
In 1994, Slatter played on the Cayman Islands Hoerman Cup team at 53. He continued to compete for Cayman in the Hoerman Cup, Francis Steele-Perkins (Senior) and Higgs & Higgs (Super Senior) while often serving as team manager.
He most recently played last year in the Higgs & Higgs in USVI, 47 years after his first Hoerman Cup appearance.
In addition to his stellar playing career, Slatter was one of the pioneers who worked to establish golf at an elite level in the region.
As a member of the committees of both the local and regional golf associations for numerous years, he used his golfing expertise and accounting know-how to help grow the game across the region.
He continues to serve as the CGA’s honorary auditor and is a key resource to CIGA.
Slatter will tell you his most rewarding experiences with golf in the Caribbean have been the four times he has served as the CIGA tournament director hosting the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships and the Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championships.
His unstinting service and boundless enthusiasm has been instrumental in making Cayman successful and popular hosts of regional golfing events, the most recent event being the Junior Amateur, at the North Sound Golf Club last year.
His support for junior golfers, the future of the sport, has manifested itself in group coaching and attendance at events all over the region, and also in generous personal support of individual players, in particular the Widmer family.
Cayman Islands Golf Association President Jason Perras said, “Bob’s status in the golf world in Cayman has long been acknowledged. It is only right and timely that he receives this regional accolade. Congratulations, Bob, on this richly deserved honor.”
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