The Greatest Profession of All
By Larry Whelan
CGTF Member, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Living in Canada’s most northwestern area presents a unique challenge to life at the best of times. Activities most common to southern areas and especially the lower forty-eight are available to us here in all but a limited way. To say the least, participating in what most take for granted presents a unique and sometimes arduous task for even the most dedicated. Golf is no exception. With only two golf courses in the area for years, we have recently expanded to three in the main city area (35 miles radius) with one of them a remote sand green links that challenges even the gophers.

As a career civil engineering consultant, I spent most of my life designing municipal infrastructure and town planning. Today as project manager for the government, I administer departmental facilities design and expansion plans as well as facilities maintenance programs involving capital expenditures. Seven years ago, the game of golf was furthest from my mind until my son bought me a beginner set of golf clubs for Father’s Day. I was somewhat disappointed to say the least and let my feelings be known with the statement, “golf is as interesting as watching paint dry.” I was not about to jump for joy but decided to not disappoint him for his thoughtfulness at least. We set out to play a few rounds during his brief stay and I was not impressed at all. I could hardly wait for him to head back to Calgary so I could dispose of those damn clubs. His car was not out of the yard before I threw them under the workbench in the garage.

A few months later an accident left me unable to participate in a long time sporting activity, hockey, which I played each winter. During the three or so month’s recovery, I decided to see if I could learn to hit a ball. I thought, “All my hockey buddies can do this, maybe I can learn enough to not make an ass out of myself and do a round or two with them.” I built a tee box and put it on the ice in front of our home (we live by a lake) and proceeded to try and hit a golf ball.

That winter, I spent about three hours every day on the ice hitting balls and retrieving them with the skidoo. When the ice went out in the spring, I continued to hit balls along the shore until the rising spring water levels forced me to leave the shoreline. At this point, I hung two tarps in the trees in the backyard and continued to hit balls into the tarps until I was able to drive them through the tarps and become a danger to my neighbors. I vacated this spot at my wife’s insistence and took refuge in an abandoned gravel pit where for the balance of the summer I continued to drive balls all over the place.

For a professional man, I was beginning to look pretty stupid and would cautiously look around me each time I ventured toward the gravel pit for fear my neighbors would think I’d lost my mind. I was determined to learn so at least I could compete without being a total embarrassment to my friends. During the next winter, I continued to practice on the lake as well as putt in the living room. I read everything I could get my hands on and practiced until my wife took issue that it could not be during family prayer time.

After the second season, I felt that this would be a great way to pass the time when I retired, teaching kids and recreational golfers.

I applied to the USGTF in Florida and commenced over the past two years a preparation program to become qualified to teach. I attended and very much enjoyed the certification program offered by the Canadian Golf Teachers Federation held in Burlington, Ontario.

Today I teach in my spare time at the Mountain View Golf Course in Whitehorse and have clients from Washington State to the state of Alaska, as well as a considerable number of locals. During the winter over the past two and half years, I teach young juniors and wee golfers at an indoor facility where they have a virtual reality golf machine. I thoroughly enjoy the chance to teach and each day feel blessed because of it. If I were qualified to give advice to anyone it would be: Never feel too old to try anything. Let how well you want to play be the standard you measure your success against, not someone else’s gauge.