Every golfer, whether they are a seasoned professional or rank amateur, can benefit from lessons. I take lessons frequently to help my game and have high praise for my professional who provides the help. The best lessons I’ve learned about the game of golf don’t come on a range or even from a teaching pro. They are things I’ve learned along the way from spending a lifetime with the game.

The first lesson I learned is that where you play doesn’t matter as much as who you play with. The first time I ever teed it up was on a short course while on vacation in Prince Edward Island. It was with my dad who decided that since I’d reached the age of 10, it was time to introduce me to a game that he and his father had played together. That was the first of hundreds of rounds we’ve enjoyed together over the last 50 years.

On two occasions we’ve managed to win the Father-Son championship at our home course, the biggest and most cherished titles of my career.

More recently, during the pandemic pause, we’ve had a standing nine-hole game late on Monday afternoons. My father, at 88, can still bat it out there and I like to joke that he hasn’t missed a fairway since 1984.

Over the decades, no matter where we played or what we shot, the most important thing has been spending time together, talking about life and sometimes solving the world’s problems.

Golf has been our bond. It brings us together for hours at a time. I’m not sure there is another activity that can do that.

It doesn’t have to be a father and son, of course. It can be mother-daughter, sister-sister, a regular outing with the boys, or the usual foursome on Saturday morning. It can even be a chance to meet new people who may turn into longtime friends.

In every case, the course matters far less than the friendship.

Now I’m going to contradict myself. Courses are an important part about golf. In what other sport does the playing field change from one game to the next? There is a standard of 18 holes but beyond that, courses are short, long, hard, easy, flat or rolling.

In Canada, we’re blessed to have some so close to the Atlantic Ocean that you can feel the ocean spray and others so high up in the Rocky Mountains that clouds can sometimes be an issue with visibility. There are golf courses in cities and next to farms, some that are more than a century old and others that are brand new.

The point is a golfer should experience different courses in different parts of the world. It’s a shame if you never get to play on some of the most majestic and fun layouts that are spread out across Canada. This country is underrated when it comes to great golf.

When you’re traveling around to great courses, take some time to read up on the people who designed them. Canada has been blessed to have some of the best course architects in the world lay out our links. You should get to know people like Canadians Stanley Thompson and A.V. Macan from many years ago, to the likes Thomas McBroom, Doug Carrick, Les Furber, Graham Cooke, Rod Whitman, Ian Andrew and Jeff Mingay, all at work today.

There are are international builders from days gone by such as Willie Park Jr., Donald Ross, Harry Colt and A.W. Tillinghast to more current names ranging from Jack Nicklaus to Ben Crenshaw.

Behind every course is a great story of how it came to be. And behind every designer is a style, a personal touch that each brings to their work. Understanding this can not only be fascinating, it can help you lower your scores by knowing how to take advantage of the strategy laid out before you.

There is always a lot more going on at a golf course than just playing golf. My home course is on the flight path for Canada’s busiest airport so planes are a common sight. It’s also less than a mile from the country’s busiest highway and a train track delivering commuters north and south runs right through the course.

Yet despite all this urban sprawl the course is also home to the splendor of mother nature. Earlier this summer, as I walked up the third hole, a wild turkey that lives on the course appeared with 10 baby chicks in tow. A few weeks earlier, a turtle we’ve named Shelly waddled from a pond on the 13th hole across a fairway to a bunker on the 12th and laid her eggs before making the journey back to the water.

There are also hawks and owls and deer and coyotes and foxes that have called the course home. There are also trees that more than 350 years old that still look down over the wide expanse of green.

Every golf course provides a chance to enjoy the best that Mother Nature has to offer. Golfers are missing out if they don’t stop and look around at the beauty before them.

Once many years ago, I watched a friend on the range practicing. I asked him what he was working on and he told me – in all seriousness – he was trying to understand where the weight on his right big toe was at the top of his back swing.

That is an extreme example of someone getting way too deep into the swing. It’s also the exact opposite of what most of the world’s top professionals work on.

When I’ve interviewed the best golfers about what they’re working on to improve their games, the answer is overwhelmingly the fundamentals – grip, stance, ball position and alignment. It’s not about big toes.

No matter whether you are a seasoned player or a beginner, you can’t spend enough time working on those fundamentals. A golf professional can always help you out. They’re talented and know how to help.

Here are some more quick lessons you should consider:

  • Keep you handicap, it’s a great way to track your progress;
  • Practice your short game as much or more than your driver;
  • Sometimes nine holes is just the right number to play;
  • Riding a cart is not necessarily faster than walking;
  • It’s not wrong to politely tell someone they are a slow player. Most times, they have no idea;

Finally, whenever you have a bad shot, bad hole or bad round, remember that you’re playing golf, probably with friends, under the sun, on the grass in a beautiful setting. Things could be worse.