Scott Simmons, the outgoing CEO of Golf Canada after 10 years on the job, doesn’t want to talk about a “legacy.” He prefers “framework.” He also discounts “challenge,” substituting “opportunity” whenever the former word is mentioned.

When Simmons took over in 2007, he might have done well to recognize Charles Dickens’ opening sentence in A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

A decade ago, the landscape of golf was shifting, as it continues to do. The demographic, economic and related tectonic plates that had hoisted the game to historic levels were settling, even faltering.

But, typically, Simmons saw not a challenge, but an opportunity.

The year before he took over, the Royal Canadian Golf Association had been anointed as the National Sport Federation for golf.

“I saw this as such an exciting time for the game to leap forward in Canada,” Simmons said in an interview. “It was a unique opportunity for a traditional association, which had been known only as the ‘governing body of golf’ to evolve into the National Sport Federation [NSF] for golf in a country which has such a love of the game.

“If I had to give one reason for taking the job, that would be it.”

In full disclosure, I have known Simmons for more than 20 years. We worked together in the early 1990s at the RCGA. I was director of communications. He was my counterpart on the marketing side. We both left to pursue other interests eventually. He to private industry, me to, well, I remain unsure.  It was a pleasure, and I mean that sincerely, to work with him on many projects, including the infancy of what now is Future Links and Golf in Schools. I was always impressed by his passion for the game. That passion was, and remains, genuine.

If you want the boilerplate checklist on what he is most proud of as he departs, you can have a look at his sayonara message in Golf Canada’s annual report. It’s impressive.  Of course, he didn’t do it all on his own. It required the valued input of Boards of Directors, provincial associations, national associations and other contributors.

Nonetheless…

The thumbnail sketch of his “legacy” includes developing an ongoing strategic plan for the association, a much-needed revision of the organization’s governance model, introducing “Golf Canada” as the public-facing brand, securing long-term sponsors for our men’s and women’s national Opens, introducing a new membership model, revitalizing the Golf Canada Foundation and numerous other checkpoints.

“I love this game and I thought, 10 years ago, that I could bring a different perspective and energy and give something back to golf,” says Simmons. “Aside from building on the NSF designation and the other achievements, I am most proud of the success we have had in getting kids involved in golf.”

When I spoke to Simmons recently, he had just returned from a meeting with the folks looking for his successor.

He suggested to them that, among other items, their criteria should include the ability to continue to expand the framework he established over the past decade, specifically to strengthen the relationships with all international, national and provincial golf associations.

I would suggest some other criteria. Visionary, communicator, diplomat, marketer, ambassador, administrator, hide of an elephant…

But not golfer.

Simmons’ advice to his successor is that they prepare to “see a lot of golf courses and not play any of them.”

“The cry for the simplification of the Rules of Golf is a stock-in-trade of the journalist during the winter months. Countless words on the subject have been poured out to an ever-tolerant public, but still the long-sought simplification does not come.” Henry Longhurst, 1937

And here I thought I had come up with a novel idea for this blog. Turns out iconic golf writer Longhurst was 80 years ahead of me.

His quote can be found in the opening pages of a small volume called The Rules of Golf in Plain English. Now in its fourth edition, the book is co-authored by two Texas lawyers. Jeff Kuhn is a top-rated Rules official. Bryan Garner is a renowned expert in reducing legalese to something understandable by any layman.

Their book does exactly as the title implies. Approved by the USGA, its contents are organized in a more logical, understandable and readable manner than the standard Rule book.  (You can purchase it online.)

But, with all due respect to Mr. Longhurst, history has proven one of his assertions false. The golfing public is most definitely not “ever-tolerant.”

The fact that The Rules of Golf in Plain English exists is an indictment of the complexity of the Rules of Golf. The result is that while many golfers have a real interest in the Rules, they lack the inclination to spend hours scratching their heads over the convoluted regulations. (I am not saying this simply because I am bitter about doing miserably earlier this week in my first sample exam as I study for my Level 3 Rules of Golf certification. Really, I’m not.)

If you don’t believe me, take it from Adam Helmer. Few are more qualified to comment than Helmer, Golf Canada’s Director of Rules, Competitions and Amateur Status. He holds the highest possible Rules certification from Golf Canada, the R&A and the USGA and has officiated at elite tournaments such as the RBC Canadian Open, Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, the U.S. Open and The Players Championship.

“It’s very challenging for competitors in a sport where, for the most part, there are no officials, how are you supposed to play by the Rules if you don’t know or can’t understand them? It’s tough to do the right thing if you don’t know what the right thing is.”

But there may yet be hope.

Next month, at least a corner of the curtain will be lifted on the work being done by a Rules of Golf modernization task force.

The Joint Rules Committee, made up of representatives from the USGA, R&A and a Golf Canada delegate, is promising sweeping clarification of the Rules book from cover to cover.  After months of feedback and revisions, a new code will be published in 2020 at the latest.

“Nothing was untouched, nothing was sacred,” Helmer says. “The process is viewed as overdue by many, but I believe the result will be well worth waiting for.”

Helmer says important aspects of the task force’s mission included how to better educate golfers, both everyday golfers and elite players, with an emphasis on technology, a concept that was also mentioned by USGA Executive Director Mike Davis at his association’s annual meeting earlier this month.

“How come we can’t have an instance where someone can [use their iPhone] and say, ‘Siri, I hit my ball into a water hazard. What are my options?”

Sounds wonderful. Any chance they can speed up the process before I write my final Rules exam in April?

Among the scant few awards in my office is one that dates back to when I was coaching my daughter’s rep basketball team. This prized ornament features a basketball and a hoop encircled by wreath of leaves of some description.

The inscription reads: “John Gordon. Ontario Basketball Association. King of Technicals.”

It was given to me in jest by my team. Great bunch of girls. Talent, in addition to a sense of humour. Despite my best efforts, they won provincial gold in their division that season.

But their underlying message was clear. I knew (or I thought I knew) the rule book better than some of the referees and didn’t fail to take any opportunity to point out their shortcomings. With the expected result: Yet another technical foul, coach.

So it may seem counter-intuitive that I am studying hard to achieve Level 3 in the Rules of Golf certification this winter through Golf Ontario.

I successfully completed Levels 1 and 2 a couple of years back but, for reasons that remain unclear (OK, I got lazy), never progressed beyond that.  As I found out this summer while volunteering at a Future Links Championship at my home club, Midland Golf and Country Club, my situation was far from unique.

Ian Giles, who has volunteered at the provincial and national levels for more than 40 years, was a Rules official at that tournament. I’ve known Giles for many years and during one of our chats, between rulings he had to make, he asked why I hadn’t continued on in the Rules program. I didn’t have a decent answer. He said it’s not uncommon for avid golfers with an interest in Rules to go through the first two levels and then drop out.

The result is that while there currently are 587 individuals who have successfully completed Level 1 and 152 who have passed Level 2, there are only 30 certified Level 3 and 113 Level 4 officials in the entire country. (For an explanation of the four levels, click here.)

“We don’t have nearly enough officials in Ontario or across the country,” says Golf Ontario Tournament Manager Larry Longo, one of the country’s leading Rules experts. “Ideally, there would be enough to have an official at not just Golf Ontario events, but PGA of Ontario, local amateur and junior tournaments, even club invitationals and member-guests.”

Golf Ontario Rules Chairman Lee Griffin has been a volunteer Rules official since 1999 and says the rewards are plentiful.

“There’s lots of gratification,” she says. “As a Rules official, I’ve gotten to meet some fabulous people I would never have met otherwise, like people at host clubs, other officials and players.  And to see young players grow into adults who are successful not only in golf but in life is wonderful. “

Although I like to think of my desire to become an accredited Rules official as giving something back to the game, many folks (no doubt some in striped shirts reffing ball games) will see it as karma, as in the cliché, “what goes around, comes around.”

Whatever. I just hope I pass.  I’ll keep you posted.

More information about the Rules of Golf and Golf Canada’s Rules Education Program is available by clicking here.

And if you want to join me, visit  www.gao.ca or your provincial golf association’s web site.

The game needs you. Er, us, that is.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first and, hopefully, annual World Leaders Golf Tournament Presented by Those Who Hope to Live to See Tomorrow.

The first tee is a sight to behold.

The contents of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s bag are reminiscent of that of Rodney Dangerfield’s in the movie Caddyshack, although his caddie certainly is of a different ethnic background than Dangerfield’s was in the movie.

Despite Trump’s best efforts, hundreds of spectators have managed to manoeuvre around the wall he had constructed around the golf course. Among them was Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto who just managed to make his tee time.

In the parking lot, tournament officials had to alert Justin Trudeau and Vladimir Putin about the dress code when they arrived. Neither was enthusiastic about wearing a shirt at all, let alone one with a collar. Trudeau elected to go with a “sunny days” motif tank-top while Putin chose to have a shirt-like tattoo engraved on his torso with a golf tee and a Sharpie. Red, of course.

British PM Theresa May appeared briefly at the starter’s tent but left when she sighted participants from the European Union. British fans appeared about evenly divided on her exit, but she left nonetheless.

North Korea’s Kim Jung-Un had been sighted firing suspicious, non-approved test balls on the range but, when approached by tournament officials, headed for the nearest bunker.

By luck of the draw (not popular vote), Trump hit the first tee shot which sailed, appropriately, far right and out of bounds. “This game is rigged!” he exclaimed immediately.

Despite the initial furor, all the players headed down the first fairway. When the final putts were holed on 18, hands were shaken and everyone headed to the 19^th hole to enjoy a beverage or two and work everything out.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, back to reality.

In the famous words of P.G. Wodehouse: “To find man’s true character, play golf with him.”

Imagine a world where everyone, state leaders chief among them, led their lives according to a code of conduct with which all real golfers are familiar. A code in which equity and fairness are paramount. Where “out of bounds” is clearly defined and where fair play is applauded.

Just imagine.

On my bookshelf is Stephen Potter’s The Complete Upmanship. Subtitled “The Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating,” I would suggest that politicians, full of mendacity, prevarication and obfuscation, are summa cum laude graduates of Potter’s school and instead would do well to study the Rules of Golf as they apply to life.

Section 1 of the Rules of Golf deals with etiquette, the spirit of the game, consideration of other players, preventing unnecessary damage and, significantly, penalties for breach. It shouldn’t be difficult to extrapolate those principles to daily life.

This is not to say that golf is without its own share of warts; misogyny, racism, and ageism among them. Not everyone plays by the Rules. But I submit that once those first tee shots are struck, the focus shifts from that which makes us different to that which binds us together—the love of the game.

Trump may not like this reference but thanks to the handicap system and its wide accessibility, golf is the most “democratic” of sports. It also, as Wodehouse posits, reveals much about not only others but oneself.

Sometimes, it takes a lifetime to figure that last part out. But that’s just another reason why it’s called “the game for a lifetime.”

As Carl Spackler (Bill Murray’s character in Caddyshack) said about his blessing from the Dalai Lama: “’When you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.’ So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.”

Hopefully, it doesn’t take all of us until our deathbeds to become conscious, to get an inkling at least, of how a civil round of golf, with its code of conduct, can be a metaphor for life.

Could Trump, with his connection to the game, eventually understand that? Could his peers around the world?

In the spirit of the game, and for the sake of the world, let’s hope so.

Some would call it sponsorship. I prefer to call it an investment in the future of the game.

Specifically, I am talking about Golf Canada’s Future Links programming.

Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer, says: “Future Links is a suite of national junior programs that serve as the foundation of a systematic development system for the sport of golf in Canada.  All programs have been developed utilizing Canada’s Long Term Player Development program as the basis, with each program with the Future Links family serving a slightly different purpose to assist in developing and supporting learn and excel through the sport.

“Thanks to our previous sponsors, we have been able to provide all of these resources to facilities and golf professionals at no cost.”

The phrase “previous sponsors” brings me to today’s theme.

Since 1996, more than three million Canadian youngsters have participated in CN Future Links programming, thanks to the railway company’s generous sponsorship of the multi-faceted “grow-the-game” initiatives.

But after more than a decade of underwriting the various programs, CN’s sponsorship is coming to an end after this season and Golf Canada is seeking support from corporate Canada to continue this admirable initiative.

“CN was a wonderful partner who shared the vision of introducing the game of golf to children across Canada,” says Gavin Roth, Golf Canada’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We certainly were blessed for the past 10 years to have them and we appreciate deeply their commitment to the entire spectrum of Future Links programs.”

Future Links programs help young golfers develop the technical skills, appropriate attitude and self-confidence to succeed on the course while teaching them positive life lessons to succeed off the course. Through these programs, young girls and boys learn integrity, honesty, sportsmanship and responsibility. The gender split of participants is almost equal, with 55 per cent of them being boys and 45 per cent girls.

The scope and depth of Future Links are impressive, starting with the very young beginner and extending through high-level amateur competitions.

More than 500 facilities in 10 provinces deliver Future Links programming. More than 63,000 children were introduced to the game via more than 2,000 mobile clinic sessions across the country. This past year alone, there were 7,300 Learn to Play participants at almost 200 sites.

Another facet of the Future Links umbrella of programs is the Golf in Schools program, a national program that, since its inception, has been implemented in more than 3,100 elementary, intermediate and high schools.  Through a partnership with PHE Canada, the Golf in Schools program introduces more than 348,000 children to the game of golf each year.

Six Future Links Championships are conducted every year. These three-day tournaments expose more accomplished young golfers to top-level competition. Some of Canada’s best young golfers—Brooke Henderson, Maude-Aimée LeBlanc, Sue Kim, Graham DeLaet, Nick Taylor, and more—played in the Future Links Championships as part of their development.

“While we would love to have a single title sponsor for all Future Links programs, we welcome interest from sponsors who might want to undertake supporting a portion of the programming,” says Roth.

“The impact of Future Links has been incredible and we want to keep that momentum going to ensure the future of the game in Canada remains bright.”

Solid investments with guaranteed returns are hard to find. Future Links is the exception.

Time for corporate Canada to step up to the tee, once again.

Who wouldn’t enjoy reading a book written by “the luckiest man in town”?

Especially someone who “went around the world a few times on someone else’s dime.”

Who wouldn’t want to hear the tales of a guy who witnessed 58 of golf’s major championships, 10 Ryder and/or Presidents Cups, 10 Olympics, a dozen Super Bowls, 14 World Series, hundreds of NHL, NBA and MLB post-season games and thousands of regular-season games? Plus horse races, car races, boxing, and just about every other sporting endeavor.

For more than four decades, Dave Perkins, the aforementioned self-proclaimed “luckiest man in town,” covered sports and, in his new book, Fun and Games: My 40 Years Writing Sports, he shares a smidgen of what it is like to be in the media rooms, press boxes, bars and other haunts that his profession led him to.

Like the man himself, the contents are honest, irreverent, funny, entertaining, frequently off-colour and often politically incorrect.  And, occasionally, emotional and introspective.

And that makes for a great read from cover to cover, whether you are just interested in the “inside the ropes” golf insight or fascinated by behind-the-scenes revelations about the other sports he covered.

Golf is Perkins’s first love. Aside from being a devotee of the game, he says, “I most enjoyed covering golf because there were no night games. It took me to nice places, just about everyone was civil and the press was usually treated extremely well.”

As usual, he is being intentionally cavalier.

Ask him what was the best sporting event he ever covered and the response will surprise you. It did me.

It was the 2003 Presidents Cup in South Africa, for reasons that are not immediately apparent.  They are well worth discovering.

Overall, and I agree, he makes a compelling argument that the best event to witness in person is the Open Championship.

His brushes, often bristly like the burly hirsute man himself, with the glitterati are not confined to sports figures, either. Bill Clinton, Meg Ryan, and others had their moments with him. More memorable for Perkins, I assume, although I have not read the memoirs of either Clinton or Ryan.

In total disclosure: I know Dave, I like Dave, and I was there for some of the golf-related episodes he relates.

Many do not make the pages of his book. As he says, “Some of the subjects of those missing stories are not dead and neither are their wives. So best to let idle lawyers stay idle. There’s still plenty to go around.”

Uncharacteristically circumspect. But characteristically accurate.

Fun and Games just scratches the surface of his 40 years of newspapering which began at The Globe and Mail and flourished at The Toronto Star.

I hope there’s a sequel.  Lawyers be damned.

Just leave my name out of it.

Fun and Games: My 40 Years Writing Sports (288 pages, paperback, $19.95) is published by ECW Press and is available from book retailers everywhere, as well as online. It can also be found online.

To find out how you can grow your business by Adopting a School, visit golfcanada.ca/adoptaschool or call 1-800-263-0009 ext. 475.

There’s been much hand-wringing recently over the “future of the game” and where golf is headed if more youngsters don’t get involved.

For those of you who really care about the future of the game, the solution might be to stop wringing your hands and use them to open your wallets. Here’s your chance.

Sept. 19-23 is national Adopt a School Week, created by Golf Canada and supported by the PGA of Canada, provincial golf associations and the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada.

Adopt a School is an offshoot of the successful Golf in Schools program created by Golf Canada in conjunction with the PGA of Canada and PHE Canada with support from the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada as a program partner. It provides courses, companies and individuals with the opportunity to “adopt” one or more schools of their choosing to introduce the Golf in Schools program at that school. (Schools can also enroll in the program on their own if they wish.)

In a very generous gesture, for a limited time the Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association is matching all adoptions, giving donors the option to select two schools to receive the GIS program, while donating funding for just one.

The GIS program, currently in more than 3,000 elementary and high schools with more than 336,000 students participating from coast to coast, includes a “best-in-class” learning resource as well as child-friendly golf-specific equipment.

“It’s a fabulous program and the equipment is so well designed,” says Enid Botchett. A retired educator in Edmonton, she has a long history in volunteerism including serving in many roles with Alberta Golf, including president. In 2012, she was named Golf Canada’s volunteer of the year.

But as excellent as the program materials and equipment are, Botchett says having a local champion for the program is equally vital.

Fellow Edmontonian Patti Christensen agrees. Now an elementary principal, she has shared her love of golf at every school where she has worked.

Like Botchett, Christensen says the Golf in Schools program is unlikely to achieve its ultimate goal of not only introducing kids to the game, but keeping them in the sport unless there is a connection with a golf course or driving range.

“For Golf in Schools to really work, you must build a community partnership with golf courses. It’s not just about showing the kids what golf is about for a day or a few days, but helping them make the connection with the real golf experience.

“Another important part of the program is to teach them not just skills but values that come along with golf, like perseverance, etiquette, sportsmanship and character.”

For golf courses participating in the Adopt a School program, there are tangible benefits. Call it “enlightened self-interest.”

“My motivation [to support GIS]  is to grow the game because, otherwise, who is going to play golf?” says Jason Harris, owner of Orr Lake Golf Club near Barrie, Ont. Harris is heavily invested in the program, having adopted four schools in the area and paying a pro from a neighbouring course to visit those schools. Harris then busses the kids to his course to swing a club for real and get some pointers from a PGA of Canada member. Over the past few years, his support of the program has introduced more than 550 kids to golf.

“As great as the GIS concept is, Golf Canada can only do so much and they are doing their part by subsidizing the GIS packages and providing the grants to go into schools and to bring schools to the course,” says Harris.

“It is the ultimate responsibility for golf course owners to step up and continue or take over the school sponsorship by offering the in-school visits and bringing the classes to the golf course. We have to realize this is a top priority for the future of the game as well as for our business.”

Harris has seen ancillary benefits to his support of the Golf in Schools program.

“Sure, the kids come out to the course, but then they bring along mom and dad. Then there’s a whole family dynamic. Not only the kids want to play golf and take lessons, but so do their parents. We had 140 people go through our Learn to Golf clinics this summer. That’s 140 new golfers, so that’s a positive thing for golf.

“This entire program was great PR for us in the community plus we have definitely seen an increase in the number of juniors and families playing our course this year.”

Every journey starts with a first step, as the old saying goes.

With your support, Adopt a School just may provide that first step for thousands of youngsters to be introduced to “the game for a lifetime.”

While I remain confused and dismayed that the LPGA has not re-designated the CP Women’s Open as a major, I do agree with LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan’s assessment of this week’s tournament at Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club near Calgary, Alta.

“Someone asked me in Rio, “How do you go from the Olympics to a regular Tour event?,” Whan said earlier this week.  His response: “We’re going to have 30 countries in the field at the CP Open … so we’re going to put on another version of the Olympics this week.”

Unlike him, I might have taken umbrage at his questioner’s offhand reference to “a regular Tour event,” because the CP Women’s Open is anything but. A major from 1979 to 2000, the championship now has a reputation that—not just in my mind but those of other observers and participants—rivals or exceeds the majors.

Aside from the impressive international component, consider that its US$2.25-million purse is the highest of any non-major on the LPGA Tour and that 95 of the top 100 golfers in the world committed to the event. It routinely features one of the best, if not the best, field of any LPGA event, including the majors. Ponder the enthusiastic comments of the players, the caddies and the spectators about the amenities, the organizational and logistic excellence, the quality of the courses, and the hospitality.

Much of that can attributed to the vision of one man, Hunter Harrison. As CEO of Canadian National Railway in 2006, he partnered his company with Golf Canada to sponsor the championship after BMO ended its support. In 2013, Harrison had moved to head up Canadian Pacific and, in turn, when CN ended its title sponsorship, Harrison persuaded CP to step in.

(Having said that, CN has continued its generous support of an entire suite of national junior and related development programs including CN Future Links, CN Future Links Championships, CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge and more.)

“Hunter has always emphasized that every touch point has to be perfect,” says Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons. “His attitude is that this is the most important women’s golf event in the world and he expects everyone involved to buy into that philosophy. Obviously, it’s worked.”

Another “major” aspect of the CP Women’s Open is the commitment to charity.

This year, the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation is the official charity beneficiary and all funds raised through the tournament will support pediatric cardiac care and research at the hospital. The goal is to raise at least $1.2 million, which seems reachable based on the fact that $2.3 million was raised in total in 2014 and 2015.

In total over the past 10 years of CN and CP sponsorship, more than $15 million has been donated to health-related charities across Canada through our women’s Open.

Although Harrison has announced his retirement, to be succeeded next year by COO Keith Creel, CP’s sponsorship is in place through 2018. Next year’s tournament will take place at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club and it is widely speculated that Regina’s Wascana Country Club will play host in 2018.

As I write this, Englishman Justin Rose has just won the first Olympic gold medal for men’s golf since Canada’s George Lyon did so in 1904, and I am eagerly anticipating the start of the women’s competition on Gil Hanse’s magnificent course in Rio.

That may surprise some who follow me on Twitter, as I have voiced opinions on the field and the format, not to mention the abysmal “world feed” broadcast we are subjected to here in Canada thanks to an obtuse and incomprehensible decision by the CBC not to allow us access to the excellent Golf Channel coverage.

But my purpose is not to revisit those quibbles, which hopefully will be rectified over the next four years before golf is again contested at the Tokyo Games.

Speaking of “games,” the reappearance of golf in the Olympic Games has reignited a most polarizing debate topic: Is golf a sport or a game? The corollary is: Does golf belong in the Olympics?

Two Golf Canada Twitter polls were conducted over the weekend.

One asked: “Do you consider pro golfers to be athletes?” Ninety-six per cent of the respondents said yes.

Do you consider pro golfers to be athletes?

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) August 14, 2016

The other asked: “Do you think golf should be in the Olympics?” Seventy-seven per cent responded in the affirmative.

Do you think #golf should be in the #Olympics?

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) August 13, 2016

Granted, those who follow Golf Canada on Twitter are most likely keen golfers with a bias. That puts them in a worldwide community of an estimated 60 million people who golf, the vast majority of whom live in one of the 118 countries that are members of the International Golf Federation.

The vast majority of that vast majority no doubt considers golf to be a sport.

At this point, my inclination is to grab my dictionary and recite the definition of a “sport.”

But I will resist that trite and predictable urge and instead quote Gary Belsky, former managing editor of ESPN the Magazine and co-author of the book On the Origins of Sports.

“You don’t need a definition of sports,” Belsky said in a recent Newsweek article. “It’s more quantum physics, like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. There are simply too many variables.”

Critics cite overweight golfers riding in carts, puffing on cigars and cigarettes, enjoying a refreshing ale or six. That’s not a sport, they claim. At that level, focussing solely on that narrow and unattractive demographic sliver, they are right.

But if they widen their focus and clear their bias, they will see they are wrong; that they have ignored, intentionally or not, the variables Belsky mentions. Like the difference between the recreational and professional (or elite amateur) levels of any other sport, from soccer to basketball to hockey and baseball.

For the record, most recreational golfers walk. Over the average 18-hole course, that equates to an eight-kilometre hike, sometimes over challenging terrain, burning about 2,000 calories. Carrying clubs, using a push cart or a caddie makes little difference in both numbers.

And that is just recreational golfers.

Those fact-challenged critics (including one click-bait artist who demonstrated his ignorance in a piece published on the host broadcaster’s web site) conveniently disregard that today’s pros are without question athletes, with personal trainers, nutritionists and sports psychologists among their entourages. I defy the naysayers to play 36 holes of matchplay in a single day or challenge Henrik Stenson or Dustin Johnson to arm-wrestling.

Golf is a sport. Period.

Ignore the trumpery (look it up because it’s a perfect use of the word) of those critics, and I paraphrase here, with apologies to a line from the old movie Time Bandit,  who are mercifully unafflicted by the ravages of intelligence and/or facts.

Here’s a suggestion for those knuckleheads. Do some research. Play the sport. Try to attain a level of proficiency that will elevate you to the elite level and put the Olympics in your sights.

Then belly up to the table and prepare to eat your words.

I wasn’t there in 1976 when Jack Nicklaus proudly presided over the opening of his first solo design, Glen Abbey Golf Club, in Oakville, Ont. It was a purpose-built course, providing a test for the world’s best players but, innovatively for that era, putting the needs of the spectators right up there with those of the competitors.

“I sort of came up with the idea of putting the clubhouse in the centre of the property and then having like spokes of a wheel going out, playing holes out and having the gallery go out on those spokes,” Nicklaus has said.

Three years later, I covered my first RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey and have only missed a couple played there since.

During my tenure in the early 1990s as Golf Canada’s Director of Communications and Member Services, my office in Golf House overlooked the course. I delved into its genesis and design philosophy when I included it in the first volume of my Great Golf Courses of Canada books.

Over the years, I have played it dozens of times. The more I played it, as the course and I matured in a golfing sense, I increasingly appreciated it. Safe to say, I know Glen Abbey.

So it irks me somewhat when I hear the often uninformed criticism of Glen Abbey and the fact that since 1976, it has been the semi-permanent home of our Open championship. Next week, it will play host to our Open for the 28^th time.

Focusing on the five holes in the valley is like focusing just on Amen Corner at Augusta National. There is no denying they are something special: The tee shot from on-high at 11, the tough par-3 12^th, the do-or-die par-5 13^th, the risk-reward 14^th (often ranked as one of the toughest holes on the PGA TOUR) and the short but confounding par-3 15^th.

But the holes “up top” on the tablelands, present their own challenges and to write them off is facile.

Subjectively, I love playing The Abbey, typically cruising (with any luck) through the first five holes before confronting two tough par-4s on 6 and 8, with the maddening par-3 7^th tucked between them. Although the ninth presents water in front of the green, a short- to mid-iron gets you home. Hole 10 is a breather before heading down into the valley. Then up the hill and on to 16, a par-4 for the Open, and then 17 with its multiple fairway bunkers and its controversial amoeba-shaped green. On my second (more likely third) shot on 18, I always pause to look at the fairway bunker on the right from where Tiger Woods hit that astounding 6-iron to win in 2000. “The shot of the year,” according to Golf Channel.

I am no fan of course rankings. I prefer instead to evaluate each course’s overall experience.

In my estimation, Glen Abbey ranks right up there from a number of perspectives. When the rough is up, the greens are fast and the fairways are narrowed, it provides all the elements for a PGA TOUR venue. It welcomes spectators with a fan-friendly design. The site is logistically ideal for a TOUR event. Gate receipts and corporate sponsorships provide revenue for Golf Canada to underwrite its many “grow the game” initiatives.

I will not argue that Glen Abbey is the best, most difficult or most beautiful course in the country. But it is iconic nonetheless.

Like Nicklaus and Rod McIsaac and Dick Grimm and Bruce Forbes, whose vision gave birth to Glen Abbey, it deserves to be in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, as the old saying goes.

Glen Abbey Golf Club will play host to the 2016 and 2017 RBC Canadian Opens. For more info, visit www.rbccanadianopen.com.