For generations of golfers in Nova Scotia, the name Lawrence “Butch” O’Hearn carries a special resonance, part lore, part legend, and entirely earned. The boy who grew up behind Brightwood Golf & Country Club’s second tee would go on to carve his name into Atlantic Canadian golf history as the first and still the only Nova Scotian ever to earn a PGA Tour card. His journey to the highest level of professional golf wasn’t crafted in academies or under celebrated instructors. His accomplishments were carved by deep family roots, unwavering competitive spirit, hard work, and a relentless love for the game.
Image by the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.
Butch O’Hearn is one of eleven children, four boys and seven girls, raised in a house backing onto Brightwood’s No. 2 tee. The course wasn’t just nearby; it was the family’s extended backyard. “We used to play three, four, five, six, seven,” O’Hearn laughed. “There was no fence back then, so we’d sneak on. Seven years old, just kids playing golf where the clubhouse couldn’t see us.” Brightwood wasn’t simply part of his childhood, it was where he spent all of his time. By age six, he was swinging clubs, and at the age of ten he became an official member of the club. Caddying soon followed, and with it, the foundation of his game.
Back then, there were no swing coaches, no structured junior programs, no YouTube tutorials. “I learned all by myself,” he said plainly. But his siblings, especially his brothers, provided fierce competition and inspiration. Their skill, their reputation, and their love for the game created an environment where young Butch thrived. Many of his siblings and family members were very accomplished golfers who excelled in the sport. Butch’s aunt Maggie McNeil (O’Hearn) became the very first female golf professional in Canada in 1927. In her early days, she was a caddie herself at Brightwood and later became a teaching pro at the Nova Scotia Hospital, where a 9-hole golf course had existed around the grounds.
His natural talent bloomed fast. At the age of seventeen, he won the Nova Scotia Junior Championship, a year after making the provincial junior team. At the age of eighteen, he repeated as junior champion and claimed top provincial honours again. He quickly transitioned to men’s amateur competition, making the 1962 and 1963 Willingdon Cup Teams and winning both the 1964 Dartmouth Open and the Maritime Amateur Championship. Despite the achievements, O’Hearn’s path to professional golf was anything but conventional by today’s standards. In his early twenties, nudged by Brightwood’s golf pro, Sam Foley, he made a decision that shocked even his mother. “I told her, ‘Mom, I’m quitting school.’ She said, ‘You’re what?’ I said, ‘I’m going to Florida.’ She told me to go ask my father and yeah, well, I had an old car, and I took off and just left.” Butch did what very few young Maritimers had ever done at the time: he got in an old car and drove from Dartmouth to Florida, despite never having left the Maritimes before.
While in Florida, he worked at a golf course and played whenever possible. Fate soon stepped in when a Denver businessman spotted his potential. “He said, ‘You want to play golf for a living?’ I said yes. Next day we signed a contract. He paid me every week, bought me a car, and I went around playing tournaments.” After early attempts at qualifying school, O’Hearn returned home, found his game again through long practice sessions hitting 400-500 balls each day over the hill at Brightwood. Determined to compete on the Tour, he returned. In 1964 he turned professional. Butch added that, “back in those days qualifying school was a competition over eight consecutive days, it was a grind. In 1968, he finished 11th out of about 150 players at PGA Tour Qualifying School, comfortably inside the top 30 who earned their PGA Tour cards.
At that moment, the kid from Brightwood made history: the first Nova Scotian ever to hold a PGA Tour card. A distinction that, over 57 years later, remains solely his. Butch didn’t realize at the time how unprecedented it was. “I thought somebody else must’ve done it before me,” he said. “A couple years ago, I found out, nobody had.” The PGA Tour of the 1960s was grueling. There were no guaranteed starts. No player perks. No private jets. You traveled by car, slept inexpensively, and had to qualify each week just to tee it up. If you didn’t qualify, you drove to the next event. If you didn’t make the cut, you earned nothing. Still, he made his mark. His best finish was 28th in a professional tournament, one in which he recorded two holes-in-one in the same week. He accumulated six aces in total across his career.
Although he lost his PGA Tour card after the 1968 season, common in that era, he went on to compete on the Canadian Tour and remained one of the most accomplished golfers the region had ever produced. After stepping away from the tour grind, life brought O’Hearn back home. He worked at the Austenville Owls Club as a bartender and caretaker, raised a family, and became a steady presence once again around Brightwood. He never sought the spotlight. He never boasted. In fact, it was not until decades later that he fully realized the magnitude of what he had achieved. The Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame inducted him as an athlete in 2000. A recognition well deserved for a champion career that began with sneaking onto golf holes after school.
Today, at 81, Butch O’Hearn still lives near the fairways that shaped him. He remains a living piece of Canadian golf history. His story is equal parts talent, determination, community support, and Maritime grit. In an era without modern coaching, without financial backing, and without a roadmap to professional golf, Butch carved his own path straight to the PGA Tour. From the boy behind the second tee, to the first Atlantic Canadian to ever carry a PGA Tour card, his journey stands as one of the greatest underdog stories in Nova Scotia sport history. His advice for any young Nova Scotian golfer aspiring to become a PGA or LPGA member, believe in yourself and if you want to do it, do it.
Kaydem Al-Samawi, Golf Nova Scotia
December 4, 2025