Gold Medals, Caitlyn Jenner & Great Canadian Golf
Canadians are too nice at times. We let our confident brothers to the south show more bravado. We don’t often stand up and beat our chests to say, “Hey, we can win golf medals and have beautiful golf too”. But things are a changing…
The world knows about our past Winter Olympics in Calgary and Vancouver. Words like luge, triple axel jump and bitter cold poured through announcers’ voices. But did you know that we also hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics? That is right. We had one in historic Montreal. This was the same Olympics where darling Nadia Comaneci won gold in gymnastics with a perfect 10.0, Bruce Jenner won record-setting gold in the decathlon and Greg Joy, the American-born Canadian won silver in high jump. We seemed quite content to be the maid of honour. And we were the first country to host the Olympic Games and not win a gold. Maybe this was the impetus to change our Canadian sport psyche so O’Canada could be sung more frequently.
We are now making giant strides in sports and investing more money so Canadians can be known more for gold. Even the successful Pan Am Games that just finished in Toronto had us rank second in the medal count including 78 golds. Just look at the success of 2010 when our hockey team won the Big One with Crosby’s golden goal against those tenacious Yankees and the partisan crowd roared its approval and clapped with those cute Hudson Bay mittens. I hope our tourist boards hop on board too for the other great Canadian pastime, golf.
As for this entrenched Canadian game, we possess beautiful golf courses in places like Whistler, Vancouver, the Okanagan Valley, Banff, Toronto, Lake Muskoka, Niagara Falls, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. 5.7 million golfers in a nation of 35 million will make people stand up and note, “Darn that is a high percentage”. Indeed it is, and many hockey players like slap shots just as much as smashing big Taylor Made drives.
And how about our new gold medal links courses in Inverness, Nova Scotia. Cabot Cliffs was just opened for limited play in July and Cabot Links just a mere few years ago. The press about this new Coore/Crenshaw design is gaining rave reviews with comparisons to other great courses spanning the globe. We are now becoming world class and with the Canadian dollar sinking over 20 percent versus the American in only one year, it is time for the world to visit our vast, safe and happy land (we were ranked fifth after those fellow happy nations of Scandinavia). Think of elks smashing heads in Banff, Alberta and deer minding their own business while munching on food off British Columbia fairways.
Brooke Henderson, the 17 year old golfing prodigy is making large noises and pushing to get into the LPGA winner’s circle. Graham DeLaet and David Hearn are lurking on the edge of winning on the PGA. Masters Champion Mike Weir’s successors are trying to borrow some of his magic from yesteryear.
In speaking with proud Stanford Cardinal graduates at the magnificent Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Course I asked them what they found so appealing about Whistler. They said, “Well beside seeing a bear on the preceding hole!” The one gentlemen just spread his hands as though saying, “Look around at the wonderful scenery!”. He had bought a property here because he sees it as special. His comrade said he was considering doing the same. Amazing to think of their comments since they now reside in beautiful southern California.
So next time you think of Canada don’t just think of polar bears, ice and those swanky Roots outfits in the closing ceremony of the Olympic games. See the nation that has transformed itself from a passing thought and a winter destination to one that is a nation of gold medal winning hockey players and golf courses. Things can always change. Ask Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce.