Golf Straight Talk

With John Piccolo

     Where do I start? What can I say about golf that will mean anything to anyone right now. Myself and two friends left last Monday morning for Prince Edward Island to play some golf, relax and for me to do some research for future columns. We played one of the most beautiful golf courses you’ll ever see at Green Gables the afternoon we arrived and had four more rounds planned at various courses over the next three days.

     The following morning we headed out from our beautiful two bedroom cottage at the Brudenelle River Resort to play the first of our two rounds that day. The course was Dundarave and it was magnificent as well. The fairness of some of the greens could be questioned but it also had golf holes of absolutely stunning beauty.

     It was a beast to walk and we dragged ourselves into the clubhouse to grab a bite before we headed back out to play the older, more serene, neighboring course of Brudenelle. When we went into the clubhouse there was a group of people huddled around the television watching what appeared to be coverage of a plane crash. We headed to a table in a far corner and waited to be served. One of my cohorts remarked to the waitress that she didn’t seem to be in the brightest of moods on this fine day and then we were told what had taken place in the U.S. while we were out for our morning stroll.

     We did go out and play golf on Tuesday afternoon and the course again, was a gem. Please don’t ask me to recall it in detail. After hearing what had happened that morning, I have never in my life had so much difficulty swinging a golf club and paying attention to my surroundings.

     The next day we were scheduled to play The Links at Crowbush Cove, one of the most highly rated courses in Canada. We did play and the surroundings on the north coast of PEI were spectacular. I was not a big fan of the golf course itself. It is one of those courses set up to reward a perfectly struck shot and penalize anything else unless you get a very lucky bounce. It takes forever for the average golfer to play and frustrates them to no end. One little par three looked like it belonged in a Conklin Carnival. I don’t want to be too critical because again, my heart just wasn’t there.

     By Wednesday evening it was pretty evident we weren’t going to get out of Charlottetown by air come Thursday at 6 pm. We started to make some calls to find an alternative route but not a whole lot is happening after eight at night in PEI.

     We made it to our appointed tee time Thursday morning at eight at a brand new course called Glasgow Hills. If you make it out to the Island put this place at the top of your wish-list. Complain about the lack of landing area for your second shot on #14 but aside from that, sit back and enjoy a golf course you may never see the likes of again. It’s a hellish walk but to get the full effect; I highly advise being a pedestrian.

     By one o’clock the round was over and it was time to face the reality we had been avoiding since Tuesday. After a lot of phone calls we ended up taking a cab from Charlottetown to Moncton New Brunswick to try to catch a train. We arrived two minutes before our scheduled departure time, piled on with what seemed like thousands more, and I sat back and tried to piece together what kind of world we were returning to.

     Personally, not much has changed. I still have a beautiful wife and two incredible children with a third and final one(this time I mean it) due to arrive in a few weeks time. My golf business does better every year and my teaching schedule is chaotically busy. If I were ever to be granted one wish to improve my personal life it would be a wasted gesture. If I could use that wish to change anything in the world I’d know exactly what to ask for. The world needs a leader who understands that no one wins wars that you only have varying degrees of loss. What we witnessed last Tuesday happens to thousands of people around the world each year. Bombing one, two, five, or ten countries into dust with perhaps thousands of children being killed in the process isn’t going to change any of this; it will likely make it much, much worse than we can even imagine.

     I know this is supposed to be about golf and a comparison between what kind of competition Niagara is up against in the race to become the Myrtle Beach of Canadian golf destinations, but unless we take our time and think our way through our reactions to last week’s tragic events, it may be a while before you get to decide about traveling anywhere to play golf.

     If you have a God you’re on particularly good terms with, pray. More importantly educate yourself and then your family and friends about the reasons for these attacks, not to justify them, but maybe, just maybe, to help guide our leaders and lessen the chance of them happening again. Take care of yourselves.

     (John Piccolo runs Piccolo’s Custom Golf Shop and is the Golf Instructor at Eagle Valley Golf Club In Niagara Falls. E-mail him at picgolf@vaxxine.com)