Apex: The Black Masters documentary celebrates Truro golf tournament

The Apex Invitational Golf Tournament in Truro, N.S., has been in Brittney Gavin's life for as long as she can remember.

In fact, Gavin jokes that she was almost born at the Truro Golf Club where the tourney tees off each summer.  

"My birthday is Aug. 9 and my mom told me she was at the golf tournament the weekend before. It's always the first weekend of August. So she was very pregnant," Gavin, one of the co-directors of the new documentary Apex: The Black Masters, told Information Morning Nova Scotia.

"Then filming this documentary, it's funny, I was also eight months pregnant that weekend. So [a] very full circle moment for our family," she said.

The documentary commemorates the tournament's 50th anniversary in August 2024. It also addresses the racism Black golfers faced trying to become members of the club decades ago. 

One of those golfers is Darrell Maxwell, who grew up next to the Truro Golf Club in one of Truro's historic Black communities and went on to be one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Apex tournament.

Maxwell began caddying at the Truro club when he was five.

"When he was 14, he was actually able to be the first Black member because he had sponsorship from two people that he had caddied for," said documentary co-director Amy Mielke. 

"He really broke the race barrier at that time being such a young, talented Black golfer."

Maxwell was named Nova Scotia golfer of the year in 1965, when he won the provincial junior championship.

The Apex tournament's website says Maxwell conceived what was originally called the Black Golf Tournament to promote Black golf in Truro. The first event was staged in 1974 over one day with about 10 golfers participating. It soon grew in size and duration and was renamed and opened to all golfers.

The tournament was initially for Black players, but now welcomes everyone.

In the documentary, Maxwell, the tournament's founder, says people ask if there's another name for the event.

"I said, 'Well, you can call it the Black Masters.'"

Mielke said making the documentary was a profound experience. 

"As a young person in schools, we're taught about segregation and it just feels like that was so long ago and in another lifetime, but in reality, it wasn't that long ago at all," she said. 

"So being able to interview community members and people at the tournament and them telling their first-hand experience of them living so close to this golf course and not having access to it was really moving and emotional."

The documentary is available on CBC Gem as part of a new season of Absolutely Canadian.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.