“I’m still not certain why I stayed away almost 30 years from a game I had loved passionately as a kid. I know I never stopped believing that in so any ways golf is the most rewarding of sports, and I fully intended to one day make my way back. It just took me a little longer than I expected.”
Thus Brian Kendall begins his unforgettable journey through the world of Canadian golf, a mid-life voyage of discovery that any golfer might envy. At the Banff Springs Golf Course and other world-famous courses, readers walk in the footsteps of Stanley Thompson, Canada’s most celebrated golf course architect. By tracing his own personal history with the game, Kendall introduces us to the legends such as Marlene Stewart Streit, who relives her meteoric rise five decades earlier, and his boyhood hero, the great George Knudson. Here, too, are the stories of Ben Kern, Canada’s top instructor; senior golfers Bill Hardwick and Doug Robb, who made their own mid-life dreams come true on the European Senior Tour; and King of Aces Steve Johnston, who has scored an astonishing 47 holes-in-one. Not forgotten are the unsung heroes of Canadian golf: the kids who caddy at the historic Hamilton Golf and Country Club; a colourful gang of fanatics who get their wintertime fix in a covered dome; and two young professionals desperate to make their mark on the Canadian Tour. From the oceanside fairways of Cape Breton’s Highlands Links to a midnight tee-off at Yellowknife’s famous Midnight Classic, Northern Links tells the story of golfers whose passion for the game fuels a nation’s obsession.