‘I\u2019ll miss a lot of the people and certain things, but I\u2019m still going to be involved in the game, I just won\u2019t be teaching,’ says Smith, who was a golf pro for 30+ years<\/p>\n
After more than three decades in the game, Orillia golf professional Terry Smith is set to put down his teaching clubs for the last time.<\/p>\n
Smith, 61, will give his final lesson this Saturday at Hawk Ridge Golf Club, where he\u2019s spent the past 11 years as the club\u2019s Teaching Professional. For him, the decision to retire was simple;\u00a0it was just time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was time to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cMy wife\u2019s been retired for three years now, and we\u2019re in a position where it\u2019s a good time for me to do it,\u00a0take advantage of the time we can have and do some summer travel.\u201d<\/p>\n
After decades of working straight through the season, Smith smiled at the thought of having his first true summer off in more than three decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t taken summer holidays since 1990,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it will\u00a0be nice to be able to do some stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
He began thinking about retirement about a year ago, and says the decision came easily.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really a difficult decision,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll miss a lot of the people and certain things, but I\u2019m still going to be involved in the game, I just won\u2019t be teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
He let his colleagues and students know gradually after deciding in late May that this would be his final season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did it in stages,\u201d he said. \u201cTalked to different people at different times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, Smith said his proudest achievements aren\u2019t trophies or milestones, but the relationships he\u2019s built through the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the relationships,\u201d he said. \u201cI teach a lot of kids, and over the years I\u2019ve met a lot of families and worked closely with them. Just the relationships that I\u2019ve made, that\u2019s what stands out.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the successes he\u2019s seen over the years belong entirely to the golfers themselves.<\/p>\n
“The successes belong to the golfers,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI can give them the basic tools, but they put the work in to achieve success.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Smith, the joy of teaching has always come from seeing a student\u2019s breakthrough moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part is seeing when people kind of get it,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they start to hit better shots, you can just see the satisfaction they have. You can tell they want to get out and play more. They want to practice because they feel like they\u2019ve got something that can help them enjoy the game more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over time, he\u2019s seen the game change dramatically, from technology to the price of a round.<\/p>\n
“The cost to play is the biggest thing,” he said.\u00a0“When I started, green fees at your average course were probably in the $20 range. Now they\u2019re $80 to $100. And technology, the size of a driver head when I started was about the size of what a hybrid head looks like now.\u201d<\/p>\n
If golf has taught him anything, Smith said, it\u2019s patience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hard game,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody ever gets it completely. You can play\u00a0your best and worst within the same round. Things just have to go right, and you learn to be patient with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
With teaching behind him, Smith said he\u2019s looking forward to playing again,\u00a0even competitively.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll probably play a little bit more on the competitive side now that I\u2019ll have time to work on my game myself,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a senior tour circuit with the interior PGA, a few events each year, and I may look into some of those.\u201d<\/p>\n
His family, wife Kelly and sons Dawson, 26, Donny, 23, and Jack, 20, are happy to see him slow down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were happy to know they\u2019d get more of me,\u201d he said. \u201cThere will\u00a0be more time with them, but mostly more time with my wife, Kelly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even in retirement, Smith won\u2019t be far from the game, or from the rink. His winter months remain filled with hockey, both as a referee and mentor.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy winter activities will stay the same,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sitting on the board of directors for the Orillia Minor Hockey Association\u00a0now. I work for the OMHA as an officiating coach,\u00a0what used to be called a supervisor,\u00a0helping new and experienced officials refine and tune their game.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s his third stint on the OMHA board.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first one was back in the \u201990s,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s nice to be able to stay involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
As his final day at Hawk Ridge approaches, Smith said it still feels like any other end to a season, at least for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like it\u2019s just another day,\u201d he said. \u201cThe end of the year is always the end of the year, you finish up, and then you come back in the spring. So it feels pretty normal.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith says it will truly hit him when the next golf season rolls around in the spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked how he hopes people will remember him, Smith paused before answering.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatience,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ability to work with different levels of players, and just trying to work with the kind of player they were, overall, as opposed to trying to change them. Trying to help them be the best they can be with what they have.\u201d<\/p>\n
For young people hoping to follow in his footsteps by making a career out of golf, his advice is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe available, communicate well, be patient, and be positive,\u201d he said. \u201cTry to be as positive as you can with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if he could offer one bit of wisdom to his 13-year-old self,\u00a0the young golfer who once won the Ontario Bantam Championship,\u00a0it would be to\u00a0\u201cenjoy the game, and enjoy the people.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘I\u2019ll miss a lot of the people and certain things, but I\u2019m still going to be involved in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82,111496],"class_list":["post-235654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-terry-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}