Golf, like life, has many stages, a lesson I learned years ago from a couple more than twice my age. One night, my husband and I were playing nine holes after work. As we left the final green, an elderly couple walked slowly onto the first tee. We watched them silently as they hit their first shots. The gentleman limped as he walked off the tee box but you could tell he was pleased with his drive. His wife waved and smiled at us, then followed her husband, carefully wheeling both of their pull-carts down the path. The sun had set, but their latelife enthusiasmfor the game was positively inspiring.

Encouraging and supporting golf across a player’s lifetime is one of the goals of the long term player development (LTPD) initiative, an approach developed and adopted by the Royal Canadian Golf Association in partnership with the Canadian Professional Golfers’ Association. The LTPD model makes sense quite simply because it recognizes – and celebrates – the beauty of golf’s different stages. A golfer’s participation in the game generally falls into one of three categories:
Enter. Players new to the game learn basic skills and the fundamentals of golf.
Enjoy. Whether novice or advanced, golfers play simply for love of the game.
Excel. Competitive players focus on performance and tournament results As the following golfers attest, enjoying the game at every stage is what matters most.

ENTER

Over the last two years, Nolan, 11, has taken part in local nine- and 18- hole tournaments; he also went to the Southern Alberta Games last year. “Nolan shows a really strong interest in competitive golf,” says Tracy. In the summer months, he plays a round a day, more if he has time. Nolan practices an hour to an hour and a half a day, usually before and after his round. He also takes lessons: “Our pros offer weekly lessons to juniors,” he says. “They’re really good teachers.” The course also offers a “Super League” in which four juniors are chosen weekly to represent the club and play at other courses.

Nolan finds Tiger Woods inspiring and enjoys watching him in action. “I always try to get better after watching him. I try to do my best,” he says. This summer, Nolan plans to take more lessons and compete with teams at other courses in southern Alberta. “He’s ready to take off,” says Tracy. "He’s really excited about it."

ENJOY

He started competing in junior events in 1975, did well, and was awarded a scholarship at the University of North Carolina in 1979. After earning his degree in business administration, Mailloux returned to East-Angus in 1984 to help his father with the family business. He made the Willingdon Cup team in 1985 and won three Quebec match play challenges. In 2000, Mailloux earned a position on the Quebec mid-amateur team.

Though Mailloux stopped golfing competitively in 2003, he still plays both Saturdays and Sundays and two evenings a week after work at Montreal’s Le Versant golf course. A sales executive for Canon Canada, he practices regularly and hopes to return to tournament golf one day. “I still have the desire to play well, but it’s not as heartbreaking now if I don’t,” he says.

While he admires Fred Couples for his relaxed demeanor and skill, Mailloux says he owes his passion for the game to Putter Bernier. “He instilled good values in me, teaching me not only about golf, but also about life,” he remembers. “The game of golf means everything to me. It’s really helped me out in life.”

Jane Hefler, 54
Halifax, Nova Scotia
RCGA Handicap Factor 26
Jane Hefler hails from a family of golfers but she had no real interest in the game until her father landed her a summer job at his club, Brightwood Golf & Country Club in Dartmouth, N.S. “I was the girl in the canteen at the turn,” she says. Despite her initial misgivings, Hefler quickly got hooked on the game. She played golf for about ten years, then stopped for another ten. “I was single, and I just didn’t have the time,” she explains. Then she married and her husband became interested in golf. “I thought, ‘If you’re game, I’m back,’” she remembers. “That was 20 years ago, and we’ve joined different courses and taken many golf vacations since then. We both really enjoy it.”

For the past eight years, the CTV executive and her husband have lived in the Glen Arbour golf community near Halifax. She played between 35-40 games last summer, mostly on weekends and golf holidays. While her current practice regimen consists of hitting a few balls and chipping and putting before the round, Hefler says that once she’s retired she plans to play and practice. She takes lessons occasionally, when “things go off the rails terribly,” or when there’s an opportunity to attend a special clinic. “I had an opportunity to meet Sandra Post a few years ago during the Canadian Women’s Open at Glen Arbour,” she says. “She had a few of us there hitting balls and watching her hit balls. She was very gracious.”

Hefler appreciates golf for the exercise, fresh air, quality time with her husband and good friends, and sense of accomplishment. “I can get frustrated, but I’ve mellowed out with age and maturity,” she laughs. “Golf ’s a wonderful experience. I hope it’s a part of my life for many, many years to come.”

Claude Denault, 57
McMasterville, Quebec
RCGA Handicap Factor 12
A family membership at Club de Golf Beloeil got things started for Claude Denault. “I was nine, and worked as a caddie there from 1960 to 1964,” he says. Denault and about 15 or 20 other young boys sat outside the pro shop on a long bench, telling jokes and waiting for players to come along. “It was a great way to spend the summer while making a few pennies,” laughs Denault. “Eighteen holes were worth $2.50 in those days.” While Denault and his young friends learned how to caddie, they also, of course, learned how to play. “The pro and his assistant taught us how to select the right club and how to give advice to our player on distance,” he says. “We also learned the etiquette of the game.”

Forty-seven years later, Denault still plays at Beloeil, chalking up about 70 games a season. “My wife and I spend a lot of time there,” he says. “During the week, we’ll go to the club at five, play nine holes and then have dinner. It’s a great way to finish a workday.” He practices every weekend before he plays, for about two hours a week. “I like to take lessons from our pro, Constant Priondolo,” he says. “Then I try to focus on my weak points when I practice.”

When it comes to a golfing hero, Denault says he has long admired the great Jack Nicklaus. “Tiger is still young, and he may surpass Nicklaus yet, but Nicklaus is everything you could wish to see from a human being and a golfer.”

Denault has volunteered extensively at Beloeil and served on several committees and boards. In 1999, the former caddie became president of his club. “It goes without saying for me that you have to contribute when you’re a member of a private club,” he insists. Looking back on his long association with the game, Denault describes golf as a “way of life,” but also a way to know himself. “I’ve learned my weak points and my strong points,” he says. “Golf is a way of learning the lessons of life.”

EXCEL

Now a sophomore, Taylor plays and practices throughout the year, with more emphasis on practice than play during Washington’s wet winter months. He tries to play two rounds of golf a day in the summer and practices from two to four hours a day. “I’ve come to realize that you can get a lot more done in an hour on the range than you can on the course, playing four or five holes an hour,” he explains.

As a junior, Taylor was coached by Sean Richardson; he started seeing Rob Holding last summer. “They’ve helped me a great deal with the fundamentals,” says Taylor. As a member of the national team, Taylor also takes advantage of the coaching, training camps, and support from other sports science specialists provided by the RCGA. But when it comes to golf heroes, it’s Tiger Woods, all the way: “I model everything after him,” he says. “He’s the best. It’s pretty sweet to watch him.”

Taylor says that golf has taught him important lessons about honour and sportsmanship. What he loves most about the game, though, is the fact that it’s an individual sport. “If you mess up, you take all the blame. If you win, you get all the fame.”

Alena Sharp, 27
Hamilton, Ontario
Professional
Alena Sharp’s father introduced the future LPGA player to golf at an early age. “He brought me with him to a course in Mount Hope [Ont.] while my mom worked the night shift,” Sharp remembers. By the time the Hamilton native was ten, she had graduated from hitting balls with Dad to playing local ninehole tournaments. Determination and commitment earned Sharp many junior and amateur victories, as well as a scholarship at the University of New Mexico.

Now in her fifth season as a professional, Sharp is Canada’s no. 1- ranked player on the LPGA Tour. She recently made the Top 100 in the Rolex World Rankings and was inducted into the University of New Mexico’s Hall of Fame. She plays golf six or seven times a week and practices daily, placing the emphasis on quality rather than quantity. “I always try to set a goal and when I reach it, I move on to the next thing I want to achieve,” she says. She consults with her coach, Craig Harmon, four times a year and talks to him on the phone throughout the season. “If I need to, I’ll also send him a video of my swing,” she says.

On tour, Sharp values her friendships with LPGA veterans Juli Inkster and Pat Hurst. “I know that if I ever had a question to ask them, they’d be there for me. It’s wonderful.” Sharp also believes in giving back; she is the 2008 ambassador for the RCGA Golf Fore the Cure program and raises money each year for the Alzheimer Society through her charity tournament. Like most elite athletes, Sharp has made many sacrifices to become the player she is today; she even missed her own college graduation. Still, she insists: “Golf is a passion of mine... It’s a matter of taking little steps and reaching goals, then making the goals bigger, like winning a professional golf tournament,” she says. “I believe I can do that.”