Having recently played some golf in Canada, and travelled across the country, it’s reaffirmed what I seek in my ideal golfing experience. With time, experience, and the more golf you play throughout the world, the sharper your vision and description of a perfect golfing day and location gets. And this includes much more than the golf course itself.
Golf has a huge selling point over most other sports in that it takes you to some of the most scenic outdoor settings in the world. Personally, this is certainly one of the main attractions to the game.
I’ve narrowed my thoughts down to a number of points. All of these ingredients ultimately mix together to create much more than a golfing experience. The score you take on each hole becomes an afterthought, as you’re deeply lost in the experience.
Unfortunately, these types of experiences can be difficult to find, but once you find them, you’ll know, and you’ll want more.
My keywords and thoughts on Canada as a country and golf destination are as follows:
‘Present’ – you know you’re playing somewhere with meaning when it makes you fully ‘present’. In a world obsessed by screens and technology, the correct location drags your eyes and attention away from the device and out into the world. You forget about the past and future, as you are fully engrossed in the moment of what stands in front of you. This quality is ever-present in the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies. It forces you to be present. Your mind is where your feet are, as you are constantly looking ‘up and out’.
‘Ignites thought’ – I’ve always thought there are certain environments which will be unique to each individual, that get the creative juices flowing. They stimulate bigger thoughts and ideas of what may be possible outside the constraints of conventional thinking. They make you want to write, share and create. The outdoors, wilderness, mountains, and oceans, have always been that place for me, so Canada passes the test with flying colours.
‘Wonder’ – looking out towards the surrounding mountains, forests, oceans, or rivers often makes me ‘wonder’. Wonder how the landscape was created. Wonder how it may have looked in the past. Wonder what the future may hold for it. Wonder how the area would be without a golf course and human interruption. And in Canada specifically, I wonder what wildlife might call this ‘home’. I link the ‘wonder’ quality to being ‘curious’. The correct settings encourage curiousness, a quality I associate with those who ask the best questions, which in turn often leads to development and progress.
‘Vast’ – the size and magnitude of a setting should blow you away. The sheer vastness of Canada is mind-boggling. The drives to the golf courses. The backdrops of the golf courses. And the golf courses themselves. Travelling to a golf course is part of the experience. In Canada, you travel through mountains, national parks, lakes, and along never-ending highways. It makes you feel small. Anyone that thinks they’re ‘important’ or a ‘big deal’ in life should visit for a reality check. No one human or their ‘status’ in life is bigger than what’s out there.
‘Medicine’ – I would imagine many might not ‘get this’, but I’d certainly hope a few do. Some places are just good medicine for the soul. They calm you. They put you at peace. They allow you to catch breath. They stimulate you. And relating to my earlier point, they make you fully present. Golf in Canada, and Canada as a whole, made me feel good. The amount of settings and moments that made you ‘stand still’ were endless. You internally feel better after experiencing it.
‘Peace’ – it’s only when you play a golf course in the middle of a mountain range, that you experience true peace. No city or traffic noise in the background. No ‘hustle and bustle’. No artificial noise. Just quiet and nature, with the odd sound of a golf ball being struck or a bird chirping in the sky. You get used to ‘noise’ living in a city. It becomes second nature. It’s only when you go to a rugged, isolated, far out location in the middle of nature that you find out what true peace is. Irish links golf, sitting by the sounds of the crashing sea, provides a similar experience. Any unneeded noise created by humans is stripped away, which results in calm and peace.
‘Slow down’ – life can become a race of rushing from one task to another, one job to another, or one location to another. You often don’t get time to enjoy the moment and properly savour it. Golf can often be like this. Instead of enjoying the positives like a great shot, or hole played, or score, our minds go onto ‘what’s next?’. It can be difficult to be ‘still and slow’ in a society that demands production at an unrealistic pace. Standing on a tee box with the biggest mountains I have seen in my life on one side, and a flowing river on the other, brings you down to their pace. Instead of rushing onto ‘what’s next’, let your surroundings dictate the pace. The correct setting will slow you down, mainly because you are so in awe, so you stop and stare.
‘Freedom’ – the correct setting should make you feel ‘free’. Driving along a 200-mile stretch of highway like the Icefields Parkway, without any cellular service, frees you from the suffocation of outside noise, phones, laptops, screens, work, worries and demands. You can move at your own pace and aren’t living by the clock. I generally wouldn’t look forward to a long-distance drive, but my god, that’s a drive I would not tire of.
‘Company’ – those who you share the golfing experience with are far more important than you may think. Playing with people you have known for years; have a ‘backstory’ with; have been with you from the start of your golfing journey; who see golf and the experience in the same light; who connect with your surroundings on a similar level; and who simply ‘get you’, all add up to forming a much stronger memory, that will last much longer. Playing golf in Canada with my ‘original playing partners’, my dad and brother, and my mum in the buggy, made the experience complete.
‘Wildlife’ – a quality that I may have overlooked in the past, partly because we’re not exposed to a massive amount of it on golf courses in Ireland. Wildlife is part of Canadian golf. You move through your round with the hope of possibly seeing elk, deer, eagles, bighorn sheep, and even bears. This, probably not on purpose, adds to the feeling of staying present as you are constantly on the lookout for your surroundings. It adds to the ‘playing golf in the wilderness’ feel, as you feel like you are a guest in their home, not vice versa. I know it’s not feasible for all golf courses and countries to have wild animals roaming around the golf course, which further adds to the uniqueness of golfing in Canada.
As you get a bit older in life, think a bit more deeply, and stop to fully look at what’s in front of you, you can appreciate places and experiences at a much higher level.
Surely the goal in life should be to strive for as much of this as possible? The first step is having an idea of what or where might make this possible for each individual. The second step is getting in a car or on a plane, and going there.
And yes, if it isn’t obvious by now, I would recommend a trip to Canada, with or without the clubs.
